Evening star., 1901-07-30
PAN ANA STRAW HATS
ONCE AGAIN THEY ARE POPULAR
WITH. AMERICANS.
Expensive Headgear How Made
Skill Of the Makers-ImitatiOns
From Other Lands.

From the New York Sun.
The Panama hat is floating gayly on 6
mighty wave of popularity. Twenty years
ago 1t was a familiar sight on New York
streets, but later it was pushed aside by
various European and Asiatic rivals, and
not in those twenty years has Panama
straw been in such demand as now.
One or two of the hatmakers who arc
arbiters of masculine fashion are RESPONSE
bic for the resurrection, and presumably
South American straw weavers are rising
up and calling those autocratic gentlemen
blessed. The supply of finer grades OF
the straw Is already practically exhausted
and though the cheap straw can be woven
to order rapidly the finer quality Of Pan
anna cannot be produced in a hurry, no
matter what the urgency of the de.na nd
may be. An expert cannot make hat OF
the very best quality in less than seven or
eight months, and even the hats that are
not SO fine are matter of months.
Women do the weaving, the men never
having been able to master the art in It's
perfection, though some native men do
platt straw after a fashion The industry
is common in almost all the South Anleri-
can countries, but the lions share Of the
best Panama straw comes from Venezuela
The straw Is woven from a marsh grass
and the quality of the finished product
OepenQS as mucn upon the quality the
grass as upon the work.
Selecting the Straw.
For the best straw the grass is carefully
stored and selected, only the finest stalks
being chosen Then the woman who is
to weave IT squats herself down beside
big earthenware jar of water, takes a
handful of grass and begins her work,
under the surface Of the water livery
tY0 n fhn hot, fc @1,se,
care being necessary in order 10 keep the
grass moist and prevent it's splitting and
breaking during the plating.
Day after day and month after month
the woman sits by the water jar. working
with Infinite care, and In seven, eight or
more, probibly nine months, hat is ready
for the American or Englishman ho has
money to burn. Few Panama hats Of fine
quality are worn In South America To
be sure, little of anything Is worn by a
large part of the population, but even the
hat-wearing element cannot afford the
luxury Of fine Panama.
In fact, few of the best hats ever find
their way into the general market They
are picked up by individuals English and
American travellers, officers cn trading
ships or men-of-war, foreign consllls or
traders buy the hats for themselves or for
friends at home, and, Of course, the OUTPUT
er than ever within recent years, for the
demand has not been great enough to en-
courage the industry, and 1t has been with
the South American straw weavers as
with our Indian basket weayers. The
younger generation has not taken to the
art SO kindly as it's forbears did, and there
are few of the young women who can
compete with their grandmothers in weav-
ing skill
Even on its native heath a good Panama
nat Is expensive, one of good quality bring
ing about $40 in American money and often
more, tnough loosely woven. inferior straw
mats may be had for almost any price, even
as little as a few cents in our coin In
New York shops the price of a genuine
Panama straw hat ranges from So to $50,
put there are few Of the latter in stock.
and the $40 or $50 hats are about the limit
OF the New York mans extravaganza
The Price is High.
Many wife Is rejoicing over the ad-
vent OF the Panama, and it's a brave man
who dares to tell his wife that he paid $40
for his straw hat. Never again can he
indulge In the scathing satire anent
womens bonnets that is so dear to the
average husband. Never can he Dcint
with modest pride to the IS straw hat that
mas lasted two seasons, and demonstrates
gently but firmly, to his wife that woman's
extravaganza in millinery Is what is max
ing man bald and wrinkled and careworn
he mas put weapon into his enemy's
hand, and she's no sort Of woman IL she
doesn't use 1t.
Well: It's love Of toque. John OF
coure, $50 does seem a good deal to nay
for one rose and a fold Of chiffon but then.
you know, one pays for style You re-
member the summer that Panama hats
were the rage. you gave $40 for q per-
fectly plain one-not even an egret on IT,
she will say.
Oh, the men who buy Panamas are lay
Ing up trouble for themselves! Still, they
buy the hats and they retreat behind the
excuse Of durability. A man doesn't buy
a hat because it is the fashion, even though
1t Is bit Of mad extravagance. Perish
the thought! He invests In Panama straw
at $40 per because the hat will wear for
ever. In all human probability. never
again, In the course Of his natural Efe-
time, win he need to buy straw hat Say
he lives twenty years. One IS straw hat
q season for twenty years means $1OO
That is two and one-half times the $40 ex-
pended on the imperishable Panama. The
number Of men who are doing that sum
to convince themselves and their better
halves that Panama hat at $40 is the
cheapest thing they can buy, Is legion.
OF course they don't believe it, but 1t
salves their consciences to think they do
There are men who buy $50 Panama
hats without culver and are unasEamcd,
but they are the men who have unlimited
money or unlimited credit, which is much
the same thing.
The finest Panama hat ever seen in this
country, and probably as fine a specimen
Of the work as was ever turned out, be-
longed to Gen. Grant. It was given to him
during his first term and was worth $500.
The Native Shape.
Panama hats are bought by the New
York importers In the ordinary native
shape, with broad, fiat crown and wide
rim slightly rolled. In the hat factories
here they are bleached, cleaned and shaped
to suit the prevailing styles. the Alpine
shape being the superlatively correct thing
this summer.
The cheap Panama hat, SO called worn
by nine out Of every ten men on the street.
fs a poor imitation of the genuine article
Many of these hats are not made Of any
thing approaching Panama straw. The
rest are Of French Panama straw. Great
quantities Of Panama grass are exported
from South America to France, where the
grass Is split and woven into French or
split Panama. Even in South America
some split Panama straw is made The
grass is split SO carefully that often no
one save q connoisseur could tell the fin
fshed straw from genuine whole grass
Panama: but 1t Is far inferior In durability
and texture and Is not worth one-fifth the
value of the genuine Panama.
Next to Panama straw in value comes
a very fine quality Of split straw manu-
factured In Belgium. Some Of these hats
are very expensive, and the work upon
them is remarkably good. The superin-
tendent Of a New York hat factory is at