Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 131, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1920 — LONDON WOMEN DRINK [ARTICLE]

LONDON WOMEN DRINK

Common Sight to See Therp Imbibe Liquor in Public. ' Many Under 21, Without Any Escorts, Test Merits of Restaurant Wine Lists. London.-4-It is no unusual sight in London nowadays to see a young girl with her hair in a plait ordering wine in restaurants or in public houses, or venturing into a wine house for sherry or burgundy. London blames this condition on the war, when London women, deprived of male escorts, had to go on exploring trips alone and discover the merits of the wine lists. By this it should not be imagined that it is a usual, thing with all the young girls of London to drink wine with their meals or to drink it at all. However, it is only necessary to make a survey of the restaurants, the wine houses and public houses in the West End to discover many girls less than eighteen years of age there taking stout or wine. Many of these places discourage custom from girls who are unattended by men .or older •women, and this is sending them into the, restaurants. where they can obtain w in e with their meals. Indeed, in London today girls of eighteen may be seen drinking liquors which not very long ago one seldom saw a woman under thirty years of age drinking. A social worker discussing this situation in the Daily Chronicle declared that it should be made impossible for a woman under twenty-on? years old to buy liquor. “Probably the desire of young girls

for wine arises from bad feeding,” she said. “Many business girls arise so late in the morning that they have not time for a good breakfast before they start for work. At luncheon time they feel tired and out of sorts, and then they think that they need a stimulant. What they really need is better food, outdoor exercise and plenty of rest. Perhaps I am old-fashioned, but I don’t like to see girls with their hair down ordering wine in restaurants.”