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Established 1844. The Press and Banner Abbeville, S. C. The Press and Banner Company Published Tri-Weekly Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Telephone No. 10. Entered as second-class matter at post ?ffioe in Abbeville, S. C. Terms of Subscription: One year $2.0C Six months 1.0C Three months .3C Monday, March 8, 1920. THE PHILOSOPHY OF DRESS In recently glancing over an American newspaper of some thirtyfive years ago, we stumbled on an article by Oscar Wilde, the Britisher, on "Thp PhilosoDhv of Dress." This article appeared a short while after Wilde's visit to America and before his popularity waned. While Wilde is usually thought of by Americans for his affectations of masculine costume, his knee breeches and wearing the large chrysanthemum, yet as his article of years ago shows, there was the soundest arti >tic philosophy in his general theories of dress. While we do not deem ourself authority on everything a woman wears, we do pride ourself on the fact that we believe we know when a woman is sensibly dressed and when her costume is becoming and especi** "* *A ?-? rli'cfnvfinn nf any wnen it requires nu uwtvuiuu v... the body to wear the costume. It is the fact that the new style of feminine fashions seems to us to conform considerably to what Oscar Wilde plead for years ago that we are giving extracts from his "Philosophy of Dress." In his plea against any distortion of the figue by pinchinir in the waist or cramping a foot he say.;: "A waist is a very beautiful and delicate curve?the more delicate, the more beautiful; and not, as the milliner fondly imagines, an abrupt right angle suddenly occurring in the middle of the person. Size ha? nothing to do with beauty. This, I uarc say. ssoms u v?rtv uuvwuj osition. So it is. Aii truths arc perfectly obvious since one So* them. Sine? is a mere acciutui of existence; it is not a quality of beauty ever. A great cathedral is beautiful, but so is the bird that flies around its spinnacle and the butterfly that settles on its shaft. A foot is not necessarily beautiful because it is small. The smallest feet in the world are the-;, of rhe Chinese ladies, and they are t^e ugliest also." Wild^ next argues for vertical iine^ in dress, as long as possible, as against horizontal lines. The waist -l l.i U ~ Rvniwl nilffpfl M1UUIU UC piawcu J sleeves should be avoided because of the dwarfed effect they give the figure, such sleeves as were disliked by Petruchio in "The Taming of the Shrew," who questioning the laiior, says: "What's this? a sleeve? 'tis like a denii-cannon; What, up and down, carv'd like an apple-tart?" Wilde again referring to the general structure and the human figure lays down this principle: "That first and last rule to this, that every separate anile oL appall is to be suspended from the shoulders always, and never from the waist. Nature, it should be noted, gives no opportunity at all of sus pending anything from the waist's delicate curve. Consequently, by means of a tight corset a regular artificial ledge has to be produced, from which the lower garment may be securely hung. "Where there are petticoats tiiere must be corsets. Annihilate the former and the latter disappears. And I have no hesitation in saying; that whenever in history we find that dress has become absolutely monstrous and ugly it has been partly of course, through the mistaken ides that dress has an independent existence of its own, but partly, also through the fashion of hanging the lower garments from the waist. "In the sixteenth century, for example, to give the necessary com pression Catherine de Medici, th( high priestess of poison and petti coats, invented a corset which maj be regarded as the climax of a careei of crime. It was made of steel, had < front and back to it like the cuiras! of a fire brigade man, and was se cured under the left arm by a hasj 7 " and pin, like a Saratoga trunk. Its object was to diminish the circumference of the waist to a circle of j thirteen inches, which was the fashionable size, without which a1 I lady was not allowed to appear at tho court; and its influence on the, health and beauty of the age may be j estimated by the fact that the nor' ma! waist of the well grown woman ; is an oval of twenty-six to twentyeight inches, certainly." The New York Tribune in com-1 ''? ? 'Phiinsonhv of mentmg un ?? mn: _, 'Dress' adch: 'There are still bail lines in dress, but the 'ledge' against which Wilde1 declaimed seems to have pretty well1 disappeared?and with it the bulky , petticoats that caused it. Fashion is never to be trusted long. Eternal i vigilance is the price of beauty and' common sense in dress. (Man, alasl' has not even begun to achieve' i either.) But we think, on the whole,] ,-the dress of woman has taken a long! ; step forward in the thirty-five years j \since that distant 188") when waistsi jwere still wasped, sleeves puffed andshoes tight beyond all rea?on or I use." I ,j ______?; , 'PREMIERS CHANGE | ECONOMIC POLICY TO SUIT FRANCE Paris, March 5.?The French foi*-| eign office announced today that the i economic decisions of the council of; premiers, with regard to Russia andj Germany, had been modified to meetj the French viewpoint. The text of the economic notes will >e given out soon. | The French government had taken j !the position that the European eco-j 'romic party, as agreed to by Pre-j liiers Lloyd George and Nitti, will 'lead to the rehabilitation of Ger-j many'.>! industries more quickly than1 France's according to an authorita-j t'v? statement today. The government's position may be! outlined as follows: : Germany's industries were little' affected by the war, because German territory was not invaded extensively. Hence, German manufac-l turers face a much easier problem I than do the French, for, the French assert, France's greatest industrial cities were laicl waste and her factories wrecked with typical Teuton thoroughness. Should the proposed economic poli v be nut iii effect a rapid rise in I the value of the German mark is j Mire io follow, because German industry will come rapidly back to-1 ward normal. The French franc, on j the other hand, cannot increase in) value until France has rebuilt the' ,devastated areas and has her fac-j 'tori?* again in operation. As to Russia ,the French feel that! ithe policy of the allied premiers' show a lack of. knowledge of the 1 ;.i ?lt.iution. Before Russian com-; merce ar.d outside nations can be ideveloped to any extent the French! hold, Ilu:' 'an railways must be rebuilt. This, the French assert, will lcquiru at least one billion francs and i;ix months' time. And, further, the French do not believe that Russia has extensive stocks of cereals and raw material to supply to other countries. Russia, they point out, have emphasized that promised that she can supply food stocks in any quantity. The soviet?' they point out, have ebphasized that \ Russia needs manufactured goods,1 particularly farm machinery, and! !that they stand ready to pay for! these products in gold and precious! stones, not in food stocks. ; If the allies conclude peace with' the soviet government and prepare j for full resumntinn nf trade rpln-l tions, they declared France, Italy I and Great Britain will find them-! selves with another big consumer on I their hands, while that consumer! will not be able immediately, at' least, to supply those proods which the allies most need. Public and press joined with the1 officialdom in condemning the allied ' plan. The newspaper saw ' in it a; - dangerous tendency to deal with Europe as a whole, instead of letting! > the vanquished pay the price of 1 what the b rench consider their Tony " in starting war. > CO-OPERATION IS PROVING HELP TO FARM PRODUCTION Washington, March 5.?Through - co-operative societies, farmers now - are selling approximately $1,500,f 000,000 worth of produce annually, r according to reports to the national i board of fajyn organizations. ' Board officials today were making - plans for a drive on congress to lift ) restrictions they say anti-trust livvs impose on farmers who wish to extend their co-operative activities. ,g| The purpose of the co-operative!g movement is to sell form produce cli-jM rrct from farmer to consumer. This.g tends to reduce living costs, farm; g board ofllcials said. r ninvp- 3 Many iarni "w *?- ?- s= i.tents r.ow arc saving consumersj M .from in to 20 per cent, boar;! offi- 'M { . == ,cials said. Despite this reduction tojg consumers, the farmers arc receiving H I J ==Z= an increase of from 15 tn 20 per.jj cent in the price of their products. :B This comes through elimination of jj the middle man. The co-operative movement is be- g ng extended to cover the marketing ,?g of raw staples as well as table pro-< jg duce. In Kansas, farmers co-1 ??j perative societies own and operate '?j 300 wheat elevators. This gives them! M an advantage in dickering with mill-J 5 ers. 15 In several western states the co-j|| operative societies have begun to ar-1 gj I quire interests in flour mills thus I g eliminating the middle man, accord-j 5 Jii'g tu tnu iupui w. . -j? The co-operative movement is'g proving an influential factor in IM keeping the rural population on the ?g farm, according to reports to the ?? board. In Kansas, where it ha? boe.i jj| nost developed, the drift from farm I J| o city mill ?. ]e;\; pronounce:1 thr.r. |j|| in many agricultural states, con.-u^ j jg bureau reports indicate. Kansas, the j ^ census bureau reports show, ha|jl ess absentee landlordism. COUNTY TEACHERS MEET (Continued from Page One.) ? ?( this county last year was several M collars less than the general average j| of the state. He also emphasized th( gj fact that of the recent equanzauoi = appropi-iation of $150,000 passed b\ jjg he general assembly, Abbevillt jjB county would receive practically |j none, as one of the conditions re j p quired, was for a school district t< ' maintain at least eight mills specia ! tax. By not having progrrssiv ! S school districts the county \\ ml Jjj i ose $5,000, probably, next year a j J lily one district in the county ha , g unformed to the eight mill specif ig tax condition. The speaker also emphasized th. ?j , ieed for consolidation of the school ?j : n thv county, stating that there ig 1 vc re '! i one-teacher schools still i? j H | he various districts. It is possible, jjl .nd would be beneficial both from < J inancial and general improvemen' : W. I ( === tandpoint for many of these school.-Jg o be consolidated. Mr. Gunter gave a brand new an is prints to drive home the noint of th> j H outstripping of this county by other -1H more alive to the needs of better I jjf educational methods and better ;H schools. "A rooster was one day strollingjE bout his barnyard and came upon <i|| goo.se egg lying on the ground. He m s;opped in amazement, then began I ?| to examine the immense white ovallS more closely by handling it and roll- pi i lg h about. Having satisfied him- j gi elf that it reaily was an egg, Ik*is ounded the assembly call. When all I III all his hens had appeared on the li#? hade them look at the egg.; = Then he calmly but impressively j |gj said, "I don't mean to be criticising, j HI but I just want to showN you what j P| some folks around are doing." Ii is hoped that the point \va> i ^ seen by the teachers present and j H hat they all returned to their i IS schools with a determination to do: j|| heir part toward bringing Abbe- j B ville county out of the depths andjlj setting her upon the high pinnacle of Jg progressive and successful eduea- jai tional methods. It was decided to hold the next S meeting of the association in thcjS court house the first Saturday after-1 s noon in April at 1 o'clock instead of f= 2. This decision was reached after B the consensus of opinion among thejHl county teachers was ascertained, t.u | J city teachers' declaring any houi 1B convenient for them. A splendid ami ig helpful program is to be given at the | ?jjj next meeting. It is proable that some B actual class room methods Avill bejS I demonstrated by having small clasps jg f pupils present to give a recitation. 5 i The nresident stressod the point gf j, .... r . that while only those actually .>n- g gaged in educational work are rli- M gible to membership, yet it was per- M fectly permissible and indeed de- H sired that any parents or trustees of g 'schools attend the sessions of the S association. The teachers experssed their || I thanks to Capt. Perrin, clerk of m court, for the use of the court = house for the meetings and for the jp interest he exhibited in their com fort during the meeting. I j The R< ] D Four Ab Stores | - GRC A n assortm \ your pantry a I when the cook I folks" will enjc This store is j both staple anc ! est quality, at i Large shipn received, inclua Peaches, i \ Pineapple. | Catsup, Salad | Crab Flakes, " I Mince Meat. | Lobster, Fish F j Lima ^Beans, ? \ Asparagus Tij | Pork and Bea | Peacock, Brer 1 j NationallBisai j "Aunf^Mary's' ! I : ? | Come in and it Rosen smmmm?h WW??? innnlin?'/ir IVI/w* IdCMUCI g lVICl epartment Stores ibeville, S. C. KERY STORE. ent of our cannei nil save you from fails to arrive, and >y the change. full of good thin I fancy groceries oi Tiost reasonable pn * 7 merits ot canned ling; \pricots, White Dressing, Chili Sat 'Premier" Salmon, toe, Tuna Fish. itrlngless Beans, P< >s, Canned Sweet ns, Van Camps Si babbit, and Karo ? it Company's Crac !_>/ CUU. ispecf our sfocfe, oi THE Kpira Mftr. Pa I \jV. | | artmnets i cir\nAc in 1 JL gWUO III p a "panic" | the "men j gs to eat; | : the highices. I goods just | ??? Cherries, j ice, Olives. ? Sardines, | eas, Corn, Potatoes, | oups. | >yrups. | kers. p I r r phone 38. gg V 8 Co. |