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Newspaper Page Text
iiwwjtjyi ONE MAMS OPINIONS BY N. D. COCHRAN The Influence of UniformsJ- B Whenever I think of some book I read - years ago, if there is anything I re member at all it is generally one thing in the book that sticks out above all others. Any book that gives you one new thought to make YOU think is a book worth while. When I think of Carlysle's Sartor ' Resartus the-philosophy of clothes I think of a vivid description in one chapter of various .notables gathered together in some public place, each clothed in the insignia or -uniform of his office, or position in society or government Having got them altogether, Gar-' lysle has you imacinfi snmo twwcw suddenly whipping all the clothes off eveiy moiaer s son m tne crowd, leav ing all of them standing ther stark naked not a stitch of cloth on any of them. I don't recall now just what func tionaries he had in that illustrious group, but it serves the purpose to have the king, a cardinal, an admiral, a general, a chief justice and few earls, lords, counts, butlers, guards and servants of one kind or another thrown in to make the picture com plete. And if they all stood naked strip ped of their uniforms you would have a tough time of it telling a king from a butler, a cardinal from a pri vate soldier, a chief .justice from some thief who might have got into the gathering. Of course, in .order to keep wholly within the bounds of conventional re spectability, such a gathering would be for men only. Although if women had been included I suppose it would have been quite as difficult to tell a -queen or countess from a maid. We have improved somewhat on the customs of monarchies, and there is less of uniforming so far as clothes go; although we are influenced by pages, position and reputation for wealth much, m, the same -way people were influenced by Uniforms in those days. gtill, whenever I see Ta man who occupies a high place, or whose name often appears in the newspapers, I think of that story and wonder how he would' look naked. We don't uniform our president, or our senators or congressmen; and I believe the justices of our supreme court are the only judges "who try to disguise themselves to create the im pression that they are something more than two-legged ,-men. We uniform our admirals and gen erals, our butlers, chauffeurs, coach men, bell-hops, porters, -mail carriersr policemen, firemen, soldiers and other servants. 'But not our kings and princes. Old 'John D. Rockefeller wears no uni form except his wig; and any bald headed critter can wear a wig. Anfiy Carnegie wears no uniform except a set of whiskers thathave been well advertised in the news papers". Gov. Dunne, Mayor Harrison, Roger Sullivan, Ogden Armour, George Reynolds, Vic Lawson, Jim Keeley, Andy Lawrence and "Bath house John Coughlin none of these our rulers wear uniforms like the masters 'of old. That is, they don't wear uniforms of clothes. But we kow-tow to them just tie same be cause of the mental -uniforms they wear largely made and furnished by the newspapers. " But I wonder just 'the same how puzzled the average man' would be if these men were thrown into a room with common workingmen, with chauffeurs, porters, policemen, fire men, mail carriers,, street car con ductorst motormen and everylman stripped I wonder if trie average man who knew 'none of them could jtell which was the governor the mayor, the banker, the boss, the beef trust magnate, the publisher, theedi tor, the alderman, the conductor, the mqiorman, the pjjggman, jthe. fire- L -' ........ - -3