Apron Strings

A woman of firm portliness, resolute and cheerful, talked to reporters in Philadelphia last week, who went away and dubbed her "The German Apron Queen."

She is Frau Gertrude Frehse, potent textile industrialist, member of the House of Burgesses of the State and Free City of Hamburg. She said in a burring, rather pleasant voice: "I entered an apron factory, which I have now owned for 18 years, as an ordinary worker. Why should I tell you how long ago that was? . . . Today my husband has his business, too, but we keep all that separate from one another. I expect my two daughters to join me in my business when their education is complete; and my only son intends to enter his father's business. . . . [Smiling] He is not tied to his mother's apron strings.

"Very few German girls stay at home now. The younger men accept this as a necessary condition partly due to the War; but of course some of the older men object to seeing women in offices and public positions. . . . My own interests are divided between industrial problems and the Hamburg Burgerschaft (House of Burgesses). Most of its other women members are teachers. . . . Oh, we are not so different from Americans. There are few Germans like my husband and myself, but we are happy so. . . ."