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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 9, 1904)
:r- j l m m Is N what trade In thin city are the prettiest Bins to he found? The question is fraught with room for argu ment and discussion wlthoirt end, yet there Is. according to the opinion of half a hundred union men in the city, one particular trad" followed by girls which should have the palm for the rreat number of attractive and beau tiful girls who are within Its ranks. " What trade has the prettiest girls?" The question was asked again and again of trades union lenders and memW rs. "Well. "t wouldn't like to say," was the Invariable pre lude to the reply. " Hut If It came to a showdown I belli vh the bindery girls would get the majority of votes In a beauty contest." ' It was a hard question to get a man to Venture a reply to. Fifteen labor officials and twice as many labor union members were approached and asked point blank to voice their opinion In the matter. Without exception they fro?... up Instantly and proceeded warily. They would not glv. their opinion freely. They had Ideas as to which girls were the prettiest In the city among the working girls, but it was another thing to get them to express the same. " I don't lit lleve I care to say." they said lamely at first. They have reasons for this, have these union men. There are many trades in the city which have pretty girls among their num bers and the men questioned had no desire to become mixed up in a controversy with the fair members of these unions and their admirers. Also, the men were nearly all married. Reason enough, forsooth! Vote All but Unanimous. Hut when they were assured that their names would be guarded as one guards his life they reluctantly consented to say Just whom they believed were the prettiest working girls In the city. At first they expressed themselves mildly, but as they thought over the subject they grew more emphatic until there could be no doubt as to their opinions. A poll was taken and a verdict of the various opinions reached. And the verdict was overwhelmingly in favor of the girl bookbinders. There could be no doubt of the vet dict. It would have been unanimous had it not been that one man, a union leader, swore by the candymakers and refused to yield to the majority who spoke for the bindery girls. It was discovered afterwards that this lone dlsientei had married a candymaker. Hence his 'advocacy of that ' trade. The rest of the men, however, after a certain amount of deliberation, admitted their votes must go to the bindery girls. There were apparently no ulterior motives in their decisions. They had no partlcufar number of friends In the ranks of the girl bookbinders, nor had they any special reason for favoring them. As one official said: " It Just happens that they are the best looking girls, that's all." ' Another said: "The girls who work In the binderies around town are undoubtedly the best looking of any girls who are forced by their trade to work Indoors all day. They may not have the regal color and complexion of the girl who spends her time playing golf or rowing on a lake all summer, but for regular features, pleasant expressions, and general good looks It will be hard to find their peers In any of the trades anywhere In the country. They are all of a particu larly brlsht and vivacious disposition, cheerful nnrl tnllv and beln'g blessed with sunny natures their faces always show the most pleasing expressions. These things, coupled with the fact that they all take great pains In their dress, help to make them the prettiest of any trade In the city." J Would Win Prize from All Chicago. A leader of the organized carpenters holds that the Nnd 'ery girls do not need to make any exceptions for any class of girls, whether working girls or not, when it comes to a ques tion of beauty. In his opinion there are to be found In their ranks girls who could properly represent the city In any kind of a beauty contest. "They're the best of all the working girls they're the best looking," said he. " I wouldn't care to hurt the feelings of any other working girls by slighting them, because there ure many pretty -girls among alt of them. There' are plenty of pretty candy factory girls, plenty of pretty girls who are garment makers, capmakers, or, In fact, who are employed In any number In any trade. But the bindery girls take the prize. Regardless of numbers or kind of union they are the best looking. Why, this Is I don't pretend to say. I don't see why the work should attract any unusual number of pretty girls. Hut it surely does. It must be that the pretty girls of the town started in to be binders at the beginning and have kept it up all the time." i ne lear inai me antagonism of any class of migm De incurred mrough the expression of was apparent In the replies of all the men seen tiiM.ti mo iti:i mui women noia over union men. The de hlre to do Justice to all fair workers was apparent with all yet whan It came to making a final decision there was little hesitancy In speaking for the binders. A member of the painters' union had a unique reason for the beauty of the blnd.-ry girls which he proposed with en thusiasm. '"TIs a fact the bindery girls are the prettiest In the town," he said, "and 111 tell you why. It's Just be muse there happens to be more Irish among them than any y. 1 17 , Tiding IV St" j"1"" " Jisw" ; -13 A VII i. 41- 5 tS? ( 'IV ff K ir t. 'fit of pleasant faces, without saying beauty, among the girls lies In the fact that most of the girls In this union are of American birth and training. There are comparatively few foreigners among our ranks that Is, the lower order of for eigners. In some trades the foreigners predominate, and with all that may be said to the credit of foreign born girls, I don't think any one will ever say that they are so good looking as those born and reared here. For that matter, the bindery girls of this city might be said to bo all Chicago girls. I doubt If there Is any class of workers In the city, male or female, which numbers among Its members so many native born Chlcagoans. As to the number of the girls get ting married, if It Is true that more bindery girls get married than any other class. It may be a sign that they are good looking and It may not be. Our organization la old and has wide circle of acquaintance. We make the social side of our union especially prominent. We give picnics and entertain ments In the summer and parties and dances in the winter, all under the management of the girls themselves. Now. you know these things all help the girls to get acquainted with a large number of eligible men. and, well, perhaps ft Is true that more girls of our union get married than those of any other." So here It appears again that the Chicago girl is to have further help in maintaining her claim to general loveliness. It Is established that the school teachers of the city are the most beautiful in the world, and now here are the tx.f.k tilmlern nrnrtirnllv all Chicago drift, leading nil other tradeM Jn the beauty race. I-ct It be known henceforth that the Chi cago girl Js It when it comes to a question of looks. J J Unionists' Decision Proves Correct. An inspection of any large bindery in the city will prove that the decision of the union men is a Just one. One Is struck not only by the favorable personal appearance of the girls, but also by the general air of refinement and cheerful- 'It? 7; Hi i 4 t.-rry J' if v m .77 r ' i tl, "In f.3- i ' t if 1 1 i workers an opinion a new light 15- 11 Typical Bindery Girls mm m Hi $yx. mm Ik h w ixxn 1 T a 34 t 5. 5 A T other nationality. Is that not reason enough?" This reason was not agreed to by any other of the men seen, although it Is a fact that a great number of the girls on the roll of the union are of Irish parentage. How large a percentage of the ones who have earned the union Its title as the beauty union are of this nationality It would be hard to say. Marriages Exceptionally Frequent. So this Idea will have to be listed with the theory espoused by an official of the machinists, who volunteered the opinion that It so happened the bindery girls had t'he best chances to get married of any girl workers, and so the pretty girls who were matrimonially inclined Joined their ranks Just as soon as they began to work.. This, too, was not Knout some foundation.1 for upon investigation It was found that marriages among the girls of the union are of excep tional frequency, hut the girls themselves scoff vigorously at -the suggestion that they Join the union In order to get married. When It comes to speaking about themselves and the pretty girls that are in their union the bindery girls evince a decided diffidence. Neither the girls themselves nor their officers wt dlscusfc the matter except to agree with the vet diet o-the union men. " I guess It s Just about the same here as In any other trade so far as. 'good looks are concerned," said the secretary of the union. "There are good looking girls In all trades. If there Is any extraordinary number of them in this trade I am sure I don't know of any reason for It." When prt-ssed for her own opinion In the matter the secretary smiled, '1 hi Khui of work thaTnak?s Beauty Doctors xixiTiecessfixy " Well," she aald. " the general opinion aeems to be the pretty girls are more numerous with us." Assigns Reason to American Birth. A delegate of the union, when pressed for a reason aa In why the pretty girls seemed to favor the trade of the bindery workers, said: "Probably the first reason for the prevalence nesa that Is evident in all of the girls. Good looking?" said the foreman of one large place. ' Well, look at them andl see. Many of them married? Well, sometimes we have a regular celebration here when two or more of the girls get married at a time and leave their Jobs to boss a home." So there must, after all, be, something in the statement of the man who aald the girls favored the trade because of the number of marriages among Its members.