HIGH-HATTING THE WORKMAN

Consider the unhappy lot of the plasterer. When his daily task is done, he must return to his home wearing the vestments of his smeary occupation-- no opportunity to change to Sunday clothes, or to wash the caked mortar from his neck, even if he felt so inclined. No wonder the poor fellow has no pride of craftsmanship left!

Realizing the iniquities of this situation, a Mr. E. J. Mehren hopes by means of soap, water and snappy clothes to reawaken the old guild spirit of craftsmanship in the modern workman. And what a change that will make: relieved of the inferiority complex which his former garments made him feel, the new plasterer will step out with the pomposity of a banker, and lay plaster with the assurance of a hotel clerk. With this new complacency added to his already striking prosperity, the plasterer will be a man envied.

But to the cynical observer, the thought occurs that Mr. Mehren may be more interested in the clothing business than in the revival of mediaevalism, and that the dressing up which he advocates may imply success to tailors rather than better plastered walls.