OVERALLS FOR ALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 158, 3 July 1920, Page 17

OVERALLS FOR ALL.

DENIM FOR ECONOMY. EVERYBODY WEARING IT. ("Star" Special.) SAX FRANCTSCO, Mar 27. Donning the denim, or the wearing of overalls, to combat the high cost of clothing, is now in full swing all over the American ■Continent, all th" populace having adopted the cheaper class of wearing apparel with an eagerness that lias driven the profiteering clothiers almost to a state of frenzy. Prom an almost insignificant commencement the wearing of overalls spread all over the continent with amazing rapidity, for, once pedestrians "condescended" to don the lowly workman's industrial attire, everybody appeared anxious to be in the run, and daily the discomfiture of the irate tailors ■was added to. and the newspapers exercised an overpowering delight in adding to the misery of the disconsolate clothiers, whose appeals for censoring the news had fallen on the deaf ears of the publishers, who eagerly sought nil details of the movement of the donning of the denim. It was in Alabama that the overalls first had the big vogne, and there the lowly -workman's garb immediately supplanted the well-known "pinch-back." ■Rainy ■weather there served to fortify the wavering intentions of those who had resolved to "see that the other fellow did* before they donned denim themselves. As a result the pledge to put 'em on was universally kept from an early stage in the movement. City commissioners functioned in denim: judges applied the law in the same uniform, banlcers. doctors, lawyers and merchants wore their overalls with tin assurance which could only have been acquired after long practice beiore the mirror! In Birmingham. Alabama, the women had quietly "organised"' at-home. Towards nooii on the first day many appeared in dre-ees of calico and gingham, and the variety of colours gave the down-town section the appearance of a carnival. (From all parts of the nation came reports of new "Overall" clnbs formed. Bisbee?, Arizona, had two strong clubs functioning. Chicago had a b'.g club, and in New York City tbou*inds nocked to the banner of "General Overall." The De Witt Clinton High School students and Columbia University, numbering more thaa 5000, all swore to wear ! denim, whilst another dozen or more strong organisations of. a scholastic character joined the movement heartedlyJust because they did not trust the merchant, scouts in New Tort quietly bought overalls at wholesale in large quantities in order to offset any concerted move to boost the price. Naturally the new styles promised to be a bit varied, hut a popular one just after the movement wa'3 initiated included a neat little jacket, accompanying the trousers, belted in the back, the "suif costing the usual six dollars. PREACHERS USING THEM. The first Siinday of the movement witnessed the overalls invading the pulpits, and it was peculiarly significant hat the clerical overalls mounted the pulpits first in that city of cult Tire, Bos;on, where Rev. Louis L. Dunnington appeared in hie pulpit at Orient Heights Methodist Episcopal Church, wearing overalls and jumper. With such a worthy example, the congregation to the number of over 200 eigned the "overalls pledge" and on the following Monday overalls headed the list of the shoppers in Boston. At Meedford in the same Eastern State the Rev. Rollin S. Tuttle, clad in white denim, preached his first sermon as pastor of the Hillside Methodist Episcopal Church, and here also the congregation emulated his example throughout the following week. Reports continued to arrive in New York indicating that the overall campaign to combat the high cost of living was receiving semi-official recognition by State officials at various points in the United States, many of whom had joined the movement. At El Paeo the judges wore overalls while dispensing justice, as the result of the formation of a club at the county courthouse, where all attaches from judges down to office boys' adopted the denim, as their daily garb. Judge Kennedy wore a 6uit of overalls at Cleveland "when he occupied the bench. Prosecutors, deputy sheriffs, clerks, and bailiffs followed the example of the judge, appearing in blue denims and jumper jackets. One hundred State officials appeared in the State capital in Austin donning the cheaper attire, whilst fifty State officials and employees at Santa Fe pledged themselves not to. buy new clothes until the ruling prices declined. A dozen cities and towns in Arkansas reported clubs organised, including one formed of employee? of the State capital and county courthouses, at Little Rock. Several hundred high school boys at Little Rock also took the pledge. Waiters numbering 330 appeared in one of New York's largest restaurants clad in denim, and an entirely new line was struck at Newark, New Jersey, where a fad sponsored by a club of young lawyers wae responsible for the appearance there of overalls with creases sewed in, evidently as a protest against the high cost of pressing! SURPRISING NEW YORK. Naturally New York sought to outstrip the rest of America and succeeded in staging "something different." Started as a publicity "stunt' , by the irrepressible Press agents of the Broadway Cheese Club, the T>ack-to-overal!s fad in New York outgrew its original design, spreading to Court benches, class rooms of exclusive schools, thn V.M.C.A., and the Y.W.C.A., aa well a3 the municipal offices, and even to head waiters. The prettiest things in overalls yrt seen in New York emerged on the fir" , : Sunday afternoon single file from tl/? stage door of the Capitol Theatre, twenty in number, and strolled down Broadway, picking up scores of new follower? every block of the way. They wore the regular old-fashioned kind, without any silken frills, but each dainty coiffure wae crowned with a wide-brimmed hat composed of ribbons, cherrie?, and stuffed birds resembling Long Island ducklings. The demonstration probably attracted more attention to the occupants of tUp overalls, and to the overall craze itself than an}- other single enterprise up t» that time undertaken in connection with the New York swatting of clothing profiteers. On returning to the theatre li.r girls were followed by a man wearing overalls of trousers and juniper, together v.ith a fedora hat. chamois gloves, silk socks, snakewood stick, and a biu' , denim overall dress. This individual did not fail to attract the notice of New Yorker?