P

ERHAPS mere men will be surprised to find a style section in SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE this month. Those men who haven't noticed woman particularly since the War-being either safely married or beyond the age limit-will want to know why this magazine condescends to devote so much space to woman's finery.

Those others who are alert will realize that it is another step forward in magazine publishing, another element to round out this magazine. To those who ask, Why a style section in SCRIBNER'S? we reply as did the Mad Hatter to some such query, Why not? Woman's interest is no longer confined to the pages of fashion periodicals. She reads magazines of current thought in other fields with as much interest and intelligence as does man. Even if she does not think of herself consciously as "emancipated," she has largely freed herself of the old bonds and traditions which demanded that she remain exclusively in the home, occupy her hands with housework and her mind with dress.

Woman has received the franchise, she is taking her place in the councils of political parties, she is proving a worthy rival to man in literature and the other arts, she is in the van in the advance of science. In every field, except the theoretic one of preaching and the barbaric one of fighting, she is fast catching up to or even surpassing man-and she does her preaching and fighting just as effectively, but by other methods.

It is in recognition of this advance that the Rotogravure Style Section is instituted. And the material presented therein is selected in view of the fact that woman now has no time to follow the bizarre creations which many fashion magazines exploit, but wants her styles sanctioned by authority and good taste, wants the styles which she can buy.

"On what authority is this selection. made?" the canny woman at once will ask.

The answer is "Upon the ultimate authority, the one which influences the merchant who serves you."

The Rotogravure Style Section is edited by The Dry Goods Economist, the paper by which the dealers doing seventy-five per cent of the business of the country determine what they will buy. It is a long and selective process by which the models found in this section finally are settled upon. First the styles are launched by the modistes of Paris and the other style centres. An expert staff at the Paris office of The Dry Goods Economist selects the most practical and salable of these models. These progress to New York, where the American manufacturers of women's requirements confer with the fashion staff of The Economist. In the pages of The Economist group 35,000 dealers read about the latest Paris styles. Thirty days later they read in the same periodicals how the American manufacturers have adapted these styles. Merchants doing seventy-five per cent of the business of the country in women's wear buy from producers on the authoritative recommendation of The Dry Goods Economist.

And the Rotogravure Style Section, edited by The Dry Goods Economist, brings to its readers, at the time the merchants are buying, the information concerning these latest Paris styles which are being featured by the American retailers.

Thus it is a strong and faultless chain which brings to the women readers of SCRIBNER'S the latest and most practical information about the prevailing modes, information eliminating the bizarre and extreme but emphasizing originality and good taste. In other words, the Rotogravure Style Section will tell you what the women of position and influence, the leaders in thought and achievement, will be wearing.

"Every word of it is true."

It was an experience from out of his long and varied career. Mr. Marvin led a quiet and peaceful life as a student at Harvard and a master at Groton until Theodore Roosevelt "upset the applecart" by suggesting that he go out and see the world instead of spending his sabbatical year as a student at Oxford.

himself appointed Vice and Deputy Consul-General to Mukden, Manchuria. From then until 1921 he had been in many out-of-the-way corners of the earth as well as along most of the beaten paths. For the last three years he has been living in New York and Virginia catching his breath, contributing to various periodicals and "admirin' how the world is made."

THE WRITINGS OF HIS SON KERMIT

The spirit of Theodore Roosevelt seems to be in this number of SCRIBNER'S somehow. "In the Land Where the Elephants Are," by Kermit Roosevelt, can well be called a direct and worthy descendant of the Colonel's famous hunting books. Kermit accompanied his father on the expeditions into Africa and the Brazilian wilderness, when the "River of Doubt" was explored. He was the official photographer upon these expeditions and in addition has written "The Happy Hunting Grounds" and two other books. Always wanting to hunt in India, Captain Roosevelt found the opportunity on his recent journey around the world with his wife. The two articles, published this month and next, are the account of his adventures. Hardly had he returned when he was off again for the East, returning this time by way of Siberia. A recent newspaper dispatch from Moscow dated February 18 tells of the arrival in that city of Captain Roosevelt and his mother.

A FIGHTING EDITOR

Charles Moreau Harger is another who came into direct contact with the former President. "The Changing Country Press," in this issue, is drawn from his many years' experience as editor of the Abilene (Kans.) Reflector.

"My first important magazine article," he says, "was published in SCRIBNER'S"The Great Cattle Trail.' The painting for the frontispiece used to hang over Mr. Burlingame's desk, and it may be there yet. Mr. Roosevelt was greatly interested in my article and cheered me up greatly by complimenting me on it. I remember I sat up all night writing that article and finished it at daybreak.

Mr. Harger is apparently such a man as Roosevelt admired, for in regard to his newspaper career he writes:

"I have steered an editorial course marked by rather positive ideas and innumerable fierce political scraps and have never been licked nor sued for libelthough I have come near both."

Sir Sidney Colvin, always a fine critic, and always loyal to his friend RLS, was no less loyal to Mrs. Stevenson, and shows his appreciation of her literary ability, which was to a certain extent set aside in her constant devotion to her husband's needs. Much of it went into the letters she wrote to Sir Sidney which are published in this and the March number and edited by him. His notes with her letters make plain her untiring efforts to persuade Stevenson to write those things by which he is known and loved to-day.

He had a tendency to turn his waning effort into writing about trivial or inconsequent things, or toward scientific investigations for which he was not fitted, either by study or by temperament. Mrs. Stevenson many times saved him from himself. Her own modest account of her efforts adds a new chapter to the explanations of R L S's achievement, and at the same time establishes both the critical and literary ability of Mrs. Stevenson.

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In Fraser, Colorado, a log cabin of three rooms shelters a telephone exchange that connects with the mountain homes of cowmen, miners, homesteaders and tiecutters. In the heart of New York City a new building of twenty-nine stories is to become the home of several metropolitan central offices serving some 120,000 telephones. This building will contain, as well, offices for executives and for engineering, commercial, plant and accounting forces, providing space for over 7000 telephone workers.

Each of these buildings helps to render adequate and economical telephone service in its own community. They stand at the extremes in size, equipment and

TELEPHONE

BELL

SYSTEM

TELEGRAPH

COMPANIES

personnel. Yet they both indicate the nation-wide need for adequate housing of the activities of the Bell System; and they illustrate the varied ways in which that need is being met. One of the largest single items of plant investment of the Bell System is real estate, comprising nearly 1700 buildings acquired, with their sites, at a cost of $180,000,000.

It is continuously the aim of the Bell System to construct and so to situate each new building-whether executive office, central office, storehouse or garage-so that it shall serve its community with the utmost efficiency and economy, and remain a sound investment throughout its period of life.