Evening star., 1881-12-28
SMALLER HATS BOUGHT.
The Reason for which il Not Salts.
factorily Decided by Hatters.

From the N. Y. Sun.
lis the average human head growing smaller?
is question that hatters are asking. They
have come to notice that the same sort Of per-
sons that bought hats twenty or twenty-five
years ago now buy hats much smaller The
difference is estimated as at least one whole
Size, which is equal to Is Of an inch in circum-
ference. Since 1862 the shrinkage appears to
be about 0.1 of the technical scale of the halter
as usually employed by the trade, of which
o.I25 represents difference of one size; but in
the circumference Of the head difference of
O.375 of an inch. Twenty years ago. the hatters
say. hats with q circumference of az to 235
inches were POPULAR (size SIG to TX J, but now
the popular sizes are 81 to 22A inches. mostly
II to 22as, which in hatters' sizes are OK to ~
These are English sizes, which are reckoned
about size smaller than American sizes.
as formerly, and they are only made to order.
If hat of ~ size is called for block has to
be purpOsely made by most hatters.
Hatters are at loggerheads concerning the
cause for this contraction in the size of hats.
Some of them insist that men have their hair
cut shorter than was tormerely the fashion, and
thus smaller hats are needed but other hatters
object to that, saying that it is not a sufficient
explanation, inasmuch as no common shock of
hair when cut Off will allow the wearer to fit a
hat whole size smaller to his head Besides,
Il Is argued that when man has his hair cut to
fighting length he wants his hat looser than
before, because if it fits him closely it hurts
him.
It is suggested that the mode of wearing hats
has changed of late. and that the present fash
ion admits OF smaller size. Hats are worn
down over the eyebrows and far up on the
back Of the head, so that they rest on the
head but cannot be said to fit it. Long ago all
hats had cloth patch sewn on the under side
of the brim at the back that the shirt collar
| as it rubbed on the hat should not be
soied. Thirty-five years ago. especially
in England, that was the universal Gus
| tom But this theory, as it is advanced in
England, is also denied by many hatters in Lon
don and Bristol. They say that the change from
larger to smaller hats has taken place within
twenty five years, and in that time the fashion
in wearing hats has not greatly changed. In
some cases the ObectOrs admit the wearing OF
the hat on the top of the head might account
for the difference in the size of the hat. but in
the majority Of wearers. it is claimed especially
in the dOlicho cephalic shaped head, it will be
found that it requires quite as large hat when
worn on the back of the head as when worn on
the top
In England. where the discussion is much
more active than in this country. it is nooted
whether it. is the brain or the Uranium which is
diminishing. In support of the theory that it
| is the brain which is becoming smaller, an in
| genlOus halter remembers that there have been
within twenty-five years an accession to the
| hat wearing community of large number of
| small-headed persons. such as clerks and shop
keepers, who formerly never wore hats, whereas
large number who formerly wore stiff hats,
| such as clergymen. now wear soft felt hats.
1t is only very recently that American hatters
| have noticed that the sizes OF fashionable hats.
| especially the lOw-crowned Derby hats are de-
manded i'm the smaller sizes. The oldest prac-
| tica halter in Dunlap's manufactOry accounts
| for the demand tor small sizes by the shape OF
the crown. which is so flat thatit will not allow
| the wearer to pull his hat about his ears as he
| once did. Knox says that he makes to order
now for a clerk in Fulton street the largest hat
he has ever built. 1t is S33s size. For Quaker
| in California he makes every year a hat number
| 81. The hat block on which Daniel Webster's
| hat was made is in the possession of Balch
| Price Co., of Brooklyn. The following table
| gives the sizes of the hats worn by some emf
nent men in this country and in England. The
English hats are one size smaller than the
American, l. e., an American hat. size 73ss would
be called II size hat in England: