l source of partial separation of
sacro-iliac joints--the cause of many backaches. Respiration is limited,
the free play of abdominal muscles is prevented, constipation is promoted,
and digestion is impaired. The strain on muscles and nerves caused by
high-heeled shoes is a prolific source of headache and backache and
reduced efficiency. Women have no conception how greatly their
susceptibility to fatigue is increased and their total efficiency reduced
by their methods of dress. The pity is that the majority will not learn
unless the decrees of fashion change.

The hygienic problems of girls in industry will largely disappear when it
becomes a matter of common knowledge that industrial efficiency is
dependent upon physical efficiency. The physical efficiency of the worker
cannot be maintained at its highest standard when the period allotted to
rest is too short to allow the body to rebuild its tissues and dispose of
the toxic products of fatigue. All activity must be balanced by rest. If
this equilibrium between expenditure and income is disturbed, exhaustion
ensues. If long continued, it results in permanent impairment of health.
The organism poisoned by its own toxic products is incapable of productive
effort and the output will steadily diminish as the fatigue increases. The
present long working day causes a progressive diminution in the vitality
of the worker, defeats its own end, and leaves the girl weak in the face
of temptations.

The housing of unmarried girls is a very serious question. Homes for
working-girls require skillful management and a matron of insight and
sympathy. The bedrooms may be small, but well lighted and ventilated.
There should be a sunny dining-room, a library, several small parlors,
attractively furnished, a gymnasium which could be used for dancing,
shower baths, and an assembly room for concerts, lectures, and moving
pictures. This should be in charge of a trained social leader who would
direct entertainments and stimulate wholesome interests. With an
establishment of this kind we should not find so many of our girls on the
streets or seeking diversion in cheap theaters and dance halls. When girls
are able to live,--not simply exist in the deadening monotony of
alternation between work and sleep,--their heightened mental activity,
interest, and enthusiasm will prove a valuable asset to employers.

One of the chief requisites of the mental training of girls is a
knowledge, supplied at th