Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 248, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 October 1918 — Patriotic Women of America Are Urged to Buy Less Clothes and Save Wool [ARTICLE]

Patriotic Women of America Are Urged to Buy Less Clothes and Save Wool

By MISS E. M. HYLE,

University of Miuouri, College of Agriculture

- The patriotism of American women will be ffested this year by the way they solve their clothing problem. The woman who buys a new wool suit or dress, when s])e has an old one which she .can freshen up or remodel, is a slacker. America produces only enough wool to supply one-half to two-thirds her normal needs. The average amount of wool required for a civilian is eight pounds a year, while for a fully equipped soldier it is about thirteen times this amount, or 106 pounds. When the army is increased to five million men it is estimated that no civilian can have any new v°pl clothes. Even at present it is not .possible for soldiers’ blankets and suits to be all wool. The army blankets now contain 35 per cent reworked wool, and there is 25 per cent cotton and 25 per cent shoddy in some of the material used for soldiers. - The manufacturers of women’s clothing are doing their part in helping it this Wool situation. They have agreed to limit themselves to a few styles, to garments with little or no wool trimming, such as extra poeketfi, belts and straps, to use material for garments which contains some reworked wool, to use models which require a small amount of goods, and to reduce the use of samples. It is estimated if sample giving is eliminated 67,000 soldiers can be clothed on what is thus saved. The government by cutting six inches from 7,000,000 .soldiers’ overcoats was able to make 31,200 more coats. ; If a woman finds nothing in her trunk or attic yhich she can make over for herself this winter and finds that she must buy a new woolen garment, she should buy, if possible, a garment which is not navy bine or khaki color, because the government needs these dyes. If possible she should not buy cloth of the weave found in soldiers’ garments, since the looms which manufacture these weaves need to be kept busy on materials for soldiers’ supplies. She should chodse a design that is not extreme in style. • Women should ask themselves this year, “How few clothes can I get along with?” and not “How much have I to spend for clothing?” Nonessential clothing should be eliminated because the production of any such material means that labor, machinery, fuel and transportation are being diverted from war purposes. Nonessential clothing is that which ifi npt required to maintain physical efficiency. ' ;