Evening Star Newspaper, October 18, 1931, Page 49

Can Women Outwit Hard Times? BY KATHLEEN NORRIS. If she will avail herself of this scare to find a reduced rent, and to take advantage of the much lessened cost of food, then these dark y some day to be the brightest of her lite. T°O stop waste would not stop spending; it would not mean ruin for any manufacturer or the collapse of any line of business. On the con- trary, it would restore prosperity so fast that this panic of 1931 would take its place in history with the panics of 1893 and 1901, and ail the others that have ever come along to show us how badly our social and economic scheme is adjusted after ail It is only the families that will not change, that cannot retrench, that won't give up the old neighborhood and the old neighbor: that will not even admit that there is less money than there used o be. who will suffer. In any dramatic siege, or in & time of plague, fire or pestilence, women would see this fast enough, and every one of them would'rally to the de- mand. and face the emergency with But there is something intense tlosophy and courage dull in just being poor, and few and fortunate are the wives and mothers who can savor the drama and the opportunity it offers Some women will have a hard time this Winter, feeling poorer and more burdened and less. fortunate and more anxious all the time, with present conditions hard and humiliating, and no special promisc of easier days ahead. Other women will face the dragons this Winter, and conquer them, and emerge into more prosperous days feeling richer than they ever did in the too-prosperous, too-eas gone by. PEAKING of hard who isn't. these days?—I had a very stimulating afternoon at a certain San Francisco woman's club a few weeks ago, when a quiet. business-like little woman arose to read a paper upon “What We Can Do About the Depression.” And, by the way, if your club hasn't given an afternoon to this subject yet, it would be a wise thing to do. For | there is no use in saying impatiently, “Oh, do let’s get away from it when- | ever we can!” We can't get away from it. or around t, or under it—we have to go through it. Depression rolls like the waters of the Red Sea before us; as the old hymn says. “There is no other way but through.” The little woman at the club was all ready for hard times. She was too young to remember, as I do, two other such crises in our national history— | the bread-lines and bank panics of 1893—my father was a country banker, and his older children shared the gen- eral anxiety—and the harder times in | 1901. Factorles were closing every- | where then, and there were unemploy- | ment parades in San Francisco. Jack | London wrote “The People of the " at about that time, and a few years later Tressall wrote, of these times the terrible “Ragged Trousered Philanthropists” and we who were young and ignorant read them with trembling hearts. It was to the trembling hearts of the newer generation that my little practical friend of the club was speak- ing the other afternoon. She was not afraid, she could see the light beyond the darkness, the dawn beyond the night “We'd gotten entirely away from the good solid earth,” she said. “We've got | to get back. Even last vear this coun- | try spent more on mortor cars than on food, and more on theatrical amuse- | ments of various sorts than on rent. | Fven last vear, in this city,” she said, “men spent thousands of dollars ad- vertising bread and motor cars.” | * K kX ‘ HESE are sensational statements, aren't they? But if you care to investigate them, as I immediately did, you wili find them true. More money. per capita, was spent on motor cars last year in California than on food. more money was spent on theaters than in rent. We've been educated up to these high standards of amusement and tran: portation, and a good thing. too. We're nevr going back to the Old World stand- | ards most of our grandparents kne we're not going back to dark, upsani- | tary basements of cabins, to coal stoves and gaslight, to long weary tramps to and from work. to evenings without the theater, the movie, the radio or the | phonograph. | But. as this little lady pointed out, even in spending every cent of our | money, even in living up to our old standard, we can change the way of | living and spending. Still paying rent | regularly, on the first of every month. | we can find a lower rent. Still eating | three good meals a day, we can (‘.’!l} quite different meals. No matter where we go, in America, we can't get lwn.\" from a thousand things thaf to the | Furopean woman of the poorer classes still seem luxuries—windows, floors, | gas stove, electric light. bath room, hot water, free schooling, free clinic treat- ment_—and probably sewing machine, telephone, radio—all the things we take for granted ‘ These changes, and the sensational | reduction in the cost of foods, ought | to meet half way that frightening de-| — crease in income—ought even to make | it possible to weather that uneasy time | when some member of the family is out of work. | ] NE of the wisest of our social author- | ities says that the really serious| trouble just now is that so many fam- | jlies will not make those changes.| They have grown accustomed to the | salaries and income of an inflated time, and with complete simplicity they con- tinue to pay their high rent, to keep their car, to charge purchases at the market, and to hope that somehow things will presently return to what was_never a ncrmal state. These persons continue to live in crowded and fashionable neighbor- hoods; they must have apartments on Park avenue, even though rents on the infinitely more charming Riverside yirive are about half what the Park ‘avenus rents are; they must jam into the high-priced first-run movie houses, even though the same identical pictures will be around the corner in a few weeks. Even in the very hardest times, Jast Winter, there were long lines of | plainly-dressed folk waiting outside the | expensive New York movies—they | couldn't walt the few necessary weeks to save four-fifths of the price. Stggest to & San Franciscan that he - times—and move to South City or Oakland to cut his_rent_in half—suggest Brooklyn to {who is anxious and fearful about the ars will prove THE SUNDAY STAR. WASHINGTON, | it. To stop waste would not stop spend- ing; it would not mean ruin for any manufacture or the collapse of any line of business. On the contrary. it | would restore prosperity so fast that this panic of 1931 would take its place in history -with the panics of 1893 and 1901, and all the others that have ever come along to show us how badly our social and economic scheme is ad-| Jjusted after all. If this reaches the eye of any woman Winter ahead, and troubled because the long-fixed salary of the bread-winner has been reduced by a third, and if che will avail herself of this scare to find a reduced rent—thousands of them have been reduced—and to take advant>ge of the much-lessened cost of food, then these dark years will prove some day to be the brightest of her life. It is only the families that will not change, that cannot retrench, that will not give up the old neighborhood and the old neighbors, that will not even | admit that there is less money than | there used to be, who will suffer. In any dramatic siege, or in a time of plague, fire, or pestilence, women would see this fast enough, and every one of them would rally to the de- mand, and face the emergency -with | philosophy and courage. But there is something intensely dull in just being poor, and few and fortunate are the wives and mothers who can savor the drama and the opportunity it offers. Some women will have a hard time this Winter, feeling poorer and more burdened and less fortunate and more anxious all the time, with present con- ditions hard and humiliating, and no special promise of easier days ahead. Other women will face the dragons this Winter and conquer them, and | emerge into more prosperous days feel- ing richer than they every did too-prosperous, too-easy days gorle by. (Covoyright, 1031.) Cook-Galloway Wedding | Preceded by Parties Miss Roberta Belle Galloway, daugh- ter of Dr. and Mrs. Charles Calvin Galloway, will be at home this after- noon, from 3 to 6 o'clock, at a trous- seau tea. Miss Galloway's marriage to Mr. Claude Allen Cook of Oklahoma will take place October 20 at th> Na- | tional City Christian Church, the Rev. | Dr. Petep Ainslie officiating A miscellaneous shower was given for Miss Galloway, Wednesday, October 7. at the home of Miss Dorothy Ellis, by the Myrtle Barger Circle. Those pres- ent were: Miss Hazelle Drake, Miss | Rosalle Melton. Miss Katharine Wil- fley. Miss Mildred Smith, Miss Mildred Wick, Mrs. Beulah Graham, Mrs, Nelle Estes, Miss Helen MacFate, Miss Helen Speare, Miss Dorothy Ellis, Mrs. Lillian White, Miss Pear] Henry, Miss Martha James, Miss Beth Row W. D. C., OCTOBER 18, MRS. WILLIAM E. BORAH, | Wife of Senator Borah, who is chairman of the Patron and Patroness Committee | for the Armistice day jubilee of the Veterans of Foreign Wars at the Washingten Auditorium the evening of November 1 I Weltner_and Miss Vivian Barnard. Miss Galloway was the guest of honor at a dinner party given by Miss Mildred Wick at her home. Guests were Miss Dorothy Ellis, Miss Margaret Weltner, Miss Mary Beatrice. Gwyn, Miss Max- well Galoway, Miss Rosalie Melton, Mis: Helen MacFate, Miss Irene James, Miss Rachel Miller, Mrs. Nelle H. Est~s and Miss Martha James. A bridge party toilowed the dinner. A surprise kitchen shower was given Miss Galloway by the members of her bridge club, when the guests included J Another chaptér in the remarkable selling of 1 the members of the registrar general's office of the D. A. R. Those present were Miss Isabel Allmand, the hostess; Miss Charlotte Hanson, Miss Rea Kauff- man, Miss Mary Moler, Mrs. Dorothy Roberts, Miss Myrtle Campbell, Mrs Margaret Lee, Miss Ida Jenkins, Miss 1931—PAR'T THREE. };Iuon, Miss Lillian Nix and Miss Ruth ryan. Many .others, who were unable to at- tend sent kitchen articles. Refresh- ments were served from & beautifully appointed table. A large White shoe, filled with pink roses surrounded by tall white candles, filled the center of the table. Dorothy Hanct;ck CEl_pter Annual Card Pnrty Friday ‘The annual bridge benefit of .the Dorothy Hancock Chapter, U. S. D. A. R, will be held Friday after- noon at 2 o'clock in Wardman Park Hotel. National and State officers have been invited to act as patronesses. Mrs. John W. Townsend is serving as card party chairman, with Mrs. Ru- dolph T. Harrell and Miss Helen Tay- lor, assistantss Members serving with them ere Mrs. H. Chester Merwin, |chairman of Prizes; Mrs. J. Craig King, chairman of Tickets; Mrs. Ed- ward L. Morrison, chairman of Tallies |and Cards, and Miss Annie Tuohy, | chairman of Candy Sale. The regent, | Mrs. Eliot C. Lovett, and three former | regents, Mrs. Edward L. Morrison, Miss | Mary Harlow and Mrs. Vernon E. West, | will act as hostesses. Beacon Inn 1801 Calvert St. N.W. Col. 10028 |5 Course Dinner 85 Fried Spring Chicken Tenderloin Steak, Roasi Theodore Wingate, Mrs. C. H. Broug- | ham. Mrs. Rossalyn h, Miss Lucy S. Black, Mrs. Elizabeth Jones, Miss Stella_P. Hardy, Mrs. John Maxwell, Mrs. Elmer F. Curry, Miss Mary Mit- chell. Mrs. Hallie Chunn, Mrs. Agnes Taylor, Miss Fay Sullivan, Miss Virginia S L O 1330 G St A N E a New Yorker, and they look at you with horror and resentment, mingled with commiseration. Where were you raised, their pained glances seem to ask, that you could imagine a self-re- specting person living in such a place? And all this is of course supremely silly—an expensive instance of our gen- eral sheepishness. For aren't the es- sentials of life food, shelter, clothing, after all, and relatively speaking does it motter much whether one's neigh- borhood is a little less, or a little more clegant? We are all doing uncomfort- able things, all the time, to convince perfectiy unimportant persons of our own pitiful magnificence. * ok ox % AST Winter in a Fifth avenue bus T daughter smart and furred and lip- redded like all other girls, the mother sweet and shabby and gentle. The mother said, “We get off here, dear, if youre going to get your hat at the—" “The— Mamma!” the girl said with a laugh and a glance at me. “You mean at— The one being a big department store, and the other a smart hat shop whose cheapest beret is $20. Of course this bluffing. if it made one tke Queen of England. or a great rovie star, or some one else of fmpor- tance. would be worth while. perhaps But_whatever toe average woman pre- tenis about hersclf or her possessions doesn't affect the fact that she is we ing_her old hat, thinking what dessert to have for dinner, and worried about the dentist bill. In short, she might as well be living on her income, whatever that implies, as running 20 per cent over that in- ome, and trying to impress some one who is not in the least impressed. * ok ok % "THE Government, as I write, is attack- ing the situation in a fashion that promises a cure—eventually. But long before this big national machinery gets to working, any woman who wili take the trouble can solve her own indi- vidual ~depression problem—and be grateful all her life for the hard times that awakened her to a sense of the values of life. Just to save what we. as a nation, waste would accomplish —to have your hat cleaned and remodeled in the fash- ion you like, especially when comfort and style are desired. Reasonable Prices Bachrach Hc::——Created—Renewed 733 Eleventh St. N. W. NAtional 4194 Burlington FHotel 1120 Verment Avense N.W. Sunday’'s Dinner—$1.00 October 1%. 1931 MENU Blue Point Oyster Cocktail Fresh Hawalian Pineapple Cocktail Hearts of Celers — Sweet Pickles Ox Joint Soup Consomme. Hot or Frappe Brolled Stripped Bass and Lemon Butter Sauce %2 Fried Young Chicken Country Style Baked Virginia Ham and Apple Jelly Roast Long Island Duckling, Dressing_and Apple Sauce Roast Prime Ribs of New York Beef Au_Jus Philadelphia_Capon. Giblet Gravy and Cranberry Sauce Mashed Potatoes Eresh Spinach Imperial Sweet Potatoes Lettuce and Tomato Salad Hot Mince Ple and Cheese Baked Agme Dumpling and Hard Sauce ‘each Preserve Parfait Banana Roval Vanilla, Chocolate or Peach Ice Cream Home-Made Cake Tokay and Concord Grapes Vegetable Dinne 1 fresh Vegetables an = ed Egx Hot Rolls Corn Sticks Coffee Tea Milk 8pecial Luncheons Daily. 12 to 2. Chicken Dinner every Day Ban from $135 uo Dance and Bridge Rooms Decatur 0500 for rvations saw & mother and daughter—the, High-type Bedroom Suites Offering ‘opportunity to save from $230 to $400 You have the assurance &f the Sloane reputation certifying to the artistic and intrinsic value in the suités comprising these four groups. They were designed and made in a factory dedicated only to the production of quality furniture — and it is reflected in every line and detail'of material and construction, With your selection we shall feel that you are benefiting by an event of outstanding importance — and unequaled saving. Genuine Mahogany Suite, of the colonial type—the inspiration for which came from antique pieces. Suite comprises nine pieces —Ilow-post twin beds, bureau with hanging mirror, chest and for standing mirror, dressing table with hanging mirror, nite $575 table, side chair and bench. : Actual Saw’ny‘ of $230 Made to sell Of mahogany con- struction, with satin-' wood bands. Distinct- ly an American Hep- plewhite design—with handsome hand deco- rations. Suite com- prises twin beds, commode with eagle f mirror, chest with or standing mirror, knee- hole dressing table $650 with hanging mirror, nite table, chair and bench. Actual Saving of $265 Made to sell Facilitate buying by opening a charge ac- count—and enjoy the convenience of our Budget Plan of pay- ments. . 385 709 Twelfth Made to sell for $975 W. & J. SLOANE Just Above G Beautifully figured walnut construction; finished in the rich American Queen Anne mellow tone. Exceptionally hand- some suite—compris- ing twin beds, bureau with mirror, chest, dressing table, nite table, side chair*and bench. Actual Saving of 3400 o Of the Adam periol created in satinwood; truly handmade; and with handsome floral decorations. Suite consists of twin beds, chest with standing mirror, dressing table with hanging silver mirror, commode with hanging silver mirror, nite table, chair and bench. Actual Saving of $380 hotels, houses, churches, etc. special facilities. The House With the Green Shutter Consult our Contract Department concern- ing the refurnishing of apartment schools, We have Superb Badger magnificent collar and cuffs on a Paquin copy coat 98 that would usually be $139 If you seek quality as well as fashion—this is your coat! Chardella, a famous Forstmann and Huffman rough woolen, in black, with a mage- nificent real badger collar—fur that is literally inches deep!—and cuffs. Truly a beautiful coat—and at this low price only because Brooks has an enviable reputation to maintain! Misses’ and women's sizes. Other Beautiful Coats, $49.50 to $159 Brooks Coal* Second Floor BROOKS G St. bet. 11th and 12th If What You Want Is a “Dressy” Black Dress— this transparent velvet with bril- liant silver-embroidered sash is “Just the thing for luncheon and bridge” “Just the thing- for five-o'clock dates” “Just the thing for a hundred occasions” % It’s so new, so smart, so much the perfect frock— with its simple, soft lines . . . with its adorable puffed sleeves . . . with that gorgeous slash of color in the embroidered girdle! Misses’ sizes in black. Brooks Dresses, Third Floor Other New Frocks, $15 to $39.75 BROOKS * G St. bet. 11th and 12th