The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-14
PANAMA HAT RACE.
STORY OF THE BIG-PRICED HEAD
WEAR NOW so FASH
IONARLE
FROM FAR ECUADOR AND PERU

Hardly Any of These Fine stravys
Left UnsoId Here, and Dealers
Are Trying to Hurry In
dian Weavers.
The Panama hat has taken the world
by the throat. 1t has become the fash
ion, and the demand for it has grown to
be so far in excess of the supply that its
price has risen 300 per cent In month.
There are very few Panama hats in
the shops now, says the Philadelphia
Record, for the sales have been far be-
yond the expected. The dealers are be-
seeching the South American hat weavers
to send hither quickly hundreds of doz-
ems but the artistic South American VII
not hurry. They insist on giving as much
time and care to the making of Panama
hats today, when the demand for them
is overwhelming as they did five years
ago, when there was hardly a demand.
This is foolish on their part; it shows
a lamentable lack of the right CONNER
cial spirit; only it keeps the hat up to its
grade, keeps it the incomparably soft,
fine, light, elegant thing that it was
century ago.
For a century and over Panama hats
have been renowned, and rich, eldery
though, have they become fashionable.
The story of their coming into fashion
is odd
From Panama, up to 1886, only small,
round hats were exported. We all know
the small round hat with the sharp
crease, such as trousers have, rum ng
through it, for we have all seen 1t, main
ly on the head of some rich old man III
white linen. But five years ago, by way
% onY,E Do aT,1a daalor
shipped to London a case of the bigger
hats, a case of the broad-brimmed, high
crowned, swagger fellows that the
South Americans themselves wear, and
an ingenious London halter blocked tfee
hats into the pleasant Alpine or Fedora
shape that soft felt hats have. He put
them then in his window, and they be-
came fashionable at once in Lon ION.
John L. Conway, of this city, brought
one home and with it planted the germ,
as it were, that caused the violent Pan
ANA hat fever now raging here. For
century it had been recognized that these
hats were made of a beautiful material,
but the uglness of their shape had been
thought to be irremediable. 1t IS the
making of them in a becoming shape in
a Fedora or Alpine shape, that IS the
reason of their sudden leap into an i'm
mense popularity.
I
here, and hence there are not many deal
ers who know all about Panama hats.
One man will say they are made OF
grass another Of palm, and one w Il
say they are woven under water, while
another will deny this stoutly.
The Panama hats are made in Ecuador
and Peru out Of the leaf of the carlu-
dovica palm. This tender leaf is split
into fine shreds, and the shreds by the
weathers action from fiat become round.
Then the hats are woven Of them, great
care being used to keep them always
moist, because, If they dry, they become
brittle and split, and the knotting Of the
split shreds shows in the finished hat,
making it imperfect. The weavers work
only one hour In the morning and one
hour in The evening, when the air Is full
of moisture. They claim that the flbers
Of the carludovica palm are too brittle
to be worked during the heat of the day
Charles Richards Dodge, who Is the
United States governments expert on
fiber plants says of the carludovica
palmata, in one Of the catalogues that he
has prepared at Washington: THE plants
of this genus are found in tropical South
America and in Central America. Carlu-
dovica palmata is a stemless species COM
mon in shady places all over Panama
and along the coast of New Granada and
Ecuador The leaves, which are plated
like fan, are borne on three-cornered
stalks from six to fourteen feet high.
They are about four feet in diameter and
deeply cut into four or five divisions,
each of which is again cut. The leaves
are cut while young, and the stiff par
allel veins removed, after which they are
split into shreds, but not separated at
the stalk end, and immersed in boiling
water for a short time and then bleached
in the sun.
Specimens Of the prepared leaves in
bundles were obtained from the several
Central and South American collections
in 1888 These all have the appearance
of bundles of straws The leaf is split
in narrow strips, which are dried in the
sun. Under the action of the sun they
roll up into this straw-like form, and it
only remains to wash and bleach them.
''Uses-The leaves are plated into many
useful objects, the best known being the
celebrated Panama hats, which have been
sold as high as $3.50 apiece. 1t Is said
that the hats Of superior quality are
plated from a single leaf without any
Jennings. Cigar cases, small bags and sim
liar objects are also made from these
leaves"
From above 1t seems to be clear that
Panama hats are made of palm leaves,
not Of grass. 1t is probably because the
leaves when shredded look like grass
that this error has become so widespread.
A number of the shredded leaves of the
carludoVica palmata are on exhibition
in a case at the Commercial Museum,
and alongside them are some Panama
hats.
Now, as to the way the natives weave
/ the hats. This Is a picturesque sight,
| truly Read what has been written by
traveller, <in book of travels called
Five Years in South America"
THE plating OF these hats occupies
the whole of the Indian colony of Moyo-
banda, on the banks of the Amazon to
the north of lower Peru. In this village
/ men and women, children and old men
are equally busy. The inhabitants are
all seen seated before their cottages,
plating hats and smoking cigarettes. The
straw is plated on a thick piece of wood,
which the workman holds between his
knees. The center is begun first, and the
work is continued onward to the brin.
The time most favorable for this kind Of
work is in the morning of rainy days,
when the atmosphere is saturated with
moisture. At noon, or when the weather
Is clear and dry, the straw is apt to
break, and these brea.kings appear in
the form of knots when the work is done
1t takes native three months to braid
hat Of the finest quality, and I have
seen some hats which looked like fine
linen and were valued at $50 and 800
| apiece even here"
Once seen, a good Panama hat can
always thereafter be told from an imi-
tation. It's softness it's pliability, com
bined with the beauty of its weaving and
its lightneSS, cannot be copied 1t mounts