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Show TO DRIVE OUT THE "HOBBLE. " The oblivion at hand for the hobble skirt, say eastern mcr- fl chants, will boom the sale of dress goods, double and treble the sales I of recent months when scant skirts slashed them and brought about R a dullness felt by the most enterprising manufacturers. For the I tube skirt is to give Avay to a loose and flowing garment of Grec- 8 iau cut. "This news," said the head of a big dry goods house, i "should be well received by textile manufacturers and dealers throughout the country generally. At the present time it requires only about 40 per cent material to make tho average gown as compared com-pared with the gown of a few years ago. This .means that retailers must sell to two and a half times the number' of people to do the same volume of business. The present severe lines also have made a marked reduction in the sales of dress trimmings, linings, interlin-ings, interlin-ings, insertions and such like, many of which are so dear to the female fe-male heart and lend to individuality not possible with tailor-made or straight-lined gowns." There is conspiracy to drive out tho t "hobble," now seen as an angel incognito trying to reduce the I costs of living at an unexpected point, as witness the frank words of another merchant: "Large buyers and manufacturers generally are doing everything they possibly can to further the new tendency so that dress goods and accessories will again come into their own, thus making it possible for women to more strongly emphasize their personal individualities m dress." . |