COMMENT

Is "the old-fashioned girl", with all that she stands for in sweetness, modesty, and innocence, in danger of becoming extinct? Or was she really no better nor worse than the "up-to-date" girl -- who, in turn, will become "the old-fashioned" girl to a later generation. . . . The Hobart College Herald sums up the arguments of many of the attacks in this thoughtful fashion; "The outstanding objection to the modern dance is that it is immodest and lacking in grace. It is not based on a natural and harmless instinct for rhythm, but on a craving for abnormal excitement". The Dartmouth Jack-o'-Lantern: "We're a dizzy people. The shimmy proves that, without the ghost of a need for further proof". From the New York University News: "Overlooking the physiological aspects of women's clothing there is a strong moral aspect to this laxity of dress. . . . There is a minimum of clothes and a maximum of cosmetics, head-decorations, fans and jewelry. It is, indeed, an alarming situation when our twentieth-century debutante comes out arrayed like a South Sea Island savage", says President Murphy of the University of Florida: "The low-cut gowns, the rolled hose and short skirts are born of the Devil and his angels, and are carrying the present and future generations to social chaos and destruction."

On the other hand, several critics, not satisfied with denying the allegation that we are experiencing "an immorality wave", declare that, in spite of much talk and certain appearances, the younger generation of today is actually better than its predecessors. Such is the view of President Sills of Bowdoin College, who writes: "The undergraduate of the present day is, I am sure, as good as any of his predecessors". The Yale Daily News, in discussing the Yale Promenade, says that -- "From every side comes comment not only that a 'pleasant time was had by all', but that the pleasant time was achieved without the assistance of abnormal accessories. . . . Conditions in regard to dancing, costumes, and other objectionable features were far better-than they have been for some years. Possibly this is an indication of the inevitable reaction to the social excesses which have been prevalent since the war". The Princeton Pictorial informs us that with President Hibben, Mrs. Gerould, Mrs. Trowbridge, and Scott Fitzgerald, all of Princeton, leaders in the crusade against the "modern degradation" of youthful society, the university has become "a prominent battle-field upon which the youngsters and oldsters are fighting it out." --The Literary Digest.