[Illustration: "Shoes and Feet" showing an image of "Good unspoiled
American feet," and "A bunion is in the bone."]
All organizations and publications keenly interested in the welfare of
young women are making a strenuous effort to produce better American
feet, and this is to be done directly through the shoes worn by our
girls. The Y. W. C. A. during the war discovered that lack of endurance
among girls could be traced back directly to misshapen feet, flattened
arches, weak backs and abdominal muscles. In almost every case these had
been caused by wearing high-heel shoes.
The human body is built and strung so that a person may walk and stand
with natural grace and ease. When the equilibrium of this delicate
mechanism is disturbed by inserting a spindle heel directly under that
point responsible for most of the human weight, it is not surprising
that physical ails result that must be carried through life.
A French or spindle heel is absolutely inconsistent for any occasion
when walking or standing is to be done and is certainly not artistic
when worn with a tailored dress or suit. Vanity, gratified by a foot
that seemingly is a bit smaller, should not compensate for the loss of
good health, good sense, natural grace and efficiency. An elaborate
evening dress may call for a higher heel than the one worn on the
street, but it will not excuse the wabbly spindle heels sold girls by
many ruthless concerns.