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In 1938 America.
I just got around to emptying out the drawers of an old secretary brought home from the Rattery months ago. There are two or three newspapers from 1938. This story is from the November 16th, 1938 issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune:
Los Angeles, Cal Nov. 15- UP
Helen Hulick, a school teacher, was sentenced to jail for five days today because she wore slacks into municipal Judge Arthur Guerin's court. The young woman was released on a write of habeas corpus after being locked up one hour. She then climbed out of the blue denim blouse and skirt the jail matron had give her and got right back into her slacks.
Yesterday Judge Guerin refused to permit Miss Hulick to testify against two Negroes accused of robbing her house because was sitting gray-green slacks and a form fitting orange sweater. He told her to go home and change to "Women's clothes" and to come back later.
Today she wore the slacks and a red and white blouse. Judge Guerin let her testify and then imposed sentence.
Miss Hulick's lawyer, William Katz said his client had a street dress but no silk stockings He said she refused to buy silk stockings "Because the silk comes from Japan and every pair means a dead Chinese."
In his order committing Miss Hulick to jail, Judge Guerin devoted seven typewritten pages to the offense against his court. He said she had appeared in a "Tight fitting sweater and tight fitting pants, commonly known as slacks," and that the "effect of this on the orderly procedure of the court was not acceptable." Answering the publicly expressed contention of the school teacher that she still didn't believe the court had the right to tell her how she should dress, Judge Guerin said: "According to your argument, nudists might enter the court unclothed because they felt more comfortable that way."
Miss Hulick said she had received at least 500 phone calls since the controversy started, tell her, in effect: "Don't give up the slacks."
Judge Guerin said he had been swamped with communications praising him for his demand for womanly dress in his courtroom
