Passaic City record., 1891-10-03
MAKING CAPS.
MILIIoNs TURNED OUT ANNUAL.
LY IN NEW YORK.
How the French Quarter of the Me-
tropolis Covers Bare Heads All
Over the Union-The Pay
of Cap-Makers.

New York furnishes headgear for
nearly nine-tenths of the American heads
that wear caps. Perhaps the inhabitants
of this town think they have seen good
many yachting caps within the past few
weeks, but as a matter of fact the vogue
of the yachting cap has only just begun.
It came from Europe, took the Atlantic
coast by storm and is now sweeping
westward towards the Pacific. Thou
sands of girls that never saw navigabie
water will presently be looking saucily
forth from beneath this sailor headgear.
Comparatively few caps of any sort are
sold in the East. Nearly all of them go
beyond the Alleghanies and few are
sent as far as the Sandwich Islands.
In that oldest, nest-like part of New
York, the French quarter, 1000 or 5000
men and girls make annually S5, 900, 900
worth of caps exclusive of the 81, 0OO,-
900 worth made by the furriers of that
region. At least 1000, 900 dozen caps
are turned out in this quarter every year.
AS to styles there are nearly 500 varie-
ties. Of yachting caps alone there are
something like two dozen kinds, if, in
deed, twoseore is not nearer the correct
number. A few leading styles, however,
persist with little or no change from year
to year. The West constantly demands
a cheap cap with ear coverings. Every
year sees some caps for girls the rage.
Such caps sell by the hundred thousand
dozen. A hint comes from Paris and in
a few weeks the new caps swarm in
every street.
Cap-makers are fairly we'll paid class
of workmen. The trade is minutely
sub-divided. One man cuts the material,
another sews the peak, another blocks
the crown, another sews the sides and
still another presses the seams, while the
small finishing touches, such as cord and
tassel. are given by girls. Work is done
by the piece and cap-makers earn from
fifty cents to 50 per dozen caps. The
most skillful men in busy seasons earn as
high as $50 week, and occasionally
men have been known to earn $50 per
week. Wages, however, may run down
to $40 week or less. The season for
making winter caps begins in April and
ends in October. Then comes lull, and
in November begins the season for max
ing summer caps. About three-quarters
of the work is done between April and
October.
Materials are as varied as forms. Silks,
velvets, and cassimeres are some. Among
the most expensive caps are those made
for yachtsmen and for naval officers.
The bullion embroidery adds considera-
bly, to the cost of such caps. Much OF
this is imported, but some of it is made
by girls, who work together in small
shops or at home, earning from S6 to
$14 per week. 1t is one of the prettiest
of the many dainty trades that flourish In
the French quarter.
The fur-cap trade is centered in the
French quarter. This warm work is now
at its height. Sealskin caps are less
popular than they once were, but some
thousands of them are annually made in
this city. They are made from portions
of skin too small to be used in The best
sacques. The trade is highly sub-divid-
ed, as in the case of the other cap-mak-
ing industry. 1t requires knowledge
of furs, and many of those engaged in
the business are foreigners. Much OF
the trade is carried on in comparatively
small shops such as are usual in the
French quarter. Often the costliest and
most beautiful goods are produced in
shabb- little shops, where one would
expect to find no more important industry
than that of the cobbler.
The cap trade is largely In the hands
of jobbers who buy from manufacturers
and distribute the goods. Ever~ con-
siderable city west of Pittsburg has
large jobbing houses that deal in caps,
and the widest Rocky Mountain hunter
often wears cap sent him through jobber
and retailer from the cap manufactures
of the French quarter. The taste of
Western folk does not easily change, and
this fact gives to the cap trade a certain
steadiness that it would not have were it
entirely dependent upon the vagaries OF
people on the Atlantic coast. You may
see by the goods in the cap houses of
this town every variety of frontiersman
cap, along with the beretta of the priest,
the shovel hat of the bishop and the
mortar-board of the university student.
Curiously enough, there is little or no
demand for the odd headgear that
reaches this town upon the heads of
newly arrived immigrants. Foreign caps
and all the outlandish peculiarties OF at
tire that thus come in rapidly disappear.
The Italian women cling to their gay
handkerchicfs, but men and women OF
l. e..
to the customs of the country. In few
Western States, where there are large
colonies of foreigners, especially Ger
mans, living in communities of their
own, peculiarities of dress survive, and
for these people the cap makers design
distinctive headgear. It is not generally
known, by the way, that the new yacht
ing cap is an adaptation of the German
I military cap, made familiar in many por-
traits of Stanley.-New York World.