The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-08-31
TWENTY POUNDS OF HAIR.
Its Value and STRANGE Stories of
Where 1t Comes From.

From the New York World.
1t is not pleasant to have a bundle
of twenty pounds of human hair
thrown down on a counter before you.
There is not only the pervasive odor,
not necessarily offensive, but the at
tendant suggestion of it's origin, the
reminder of the squalid, unromantic
surroundings in East Germany or
Southern Russia, where reckless or
avaracious peasant girls come to the
fairs and voluntarily have their pig
tails cropped for ruble or a form an
ounce.
Looking at a row of boxes filled with
brown, chestnut, drab and golden
tresses, the air of the wholesale store
house redolent with the city, ineffable
human smell, ones thoughts is natur-
ally of a romance of Old World starva-
ton and women's sacrifice.
Such reverie Is undisturbed by the
wholesale merchants placid quota
tions:
You'd think France would buy most
hair, wouldn't you? Well, = it doesn't.
England does. But France comes next.
We're a warm third.
The best hair comes from Germany
and Austria-Hungary, Little Russia
and Italy. The cheapest hair comes
from China, and it is made up for our
colored people. Over there's a lot of
it,"
There was lot of it-bushels.
It's almost as stiff, you see, as
horsehair, and it's not worth much
more an ounce, only a few cents"
What is the most costly hair?"
That" said the merchant, holding
up a bunch of beautiful snow-white
and silken tresses. THAT, way beyond
anything. 1t looks like silver, but it's
worth it's weight in gold.
That's old lady's finest natural
white and it costs you $25 an ounce.
I'll sell you an ounce of Chinese hair
for % cents. That's the difference
Where do you get it?"
Where do you get anything that
brings money? Our agents look for it.
The peasant women in Europe don't set
great store by their hair; they all wear
caps and head-dresses, and even the
girls think nothing of cutting off their
coils of queues for dollar which they
can spend on trinkets or clothes at the
next fair"
What comes next to the old lady's
finest?'
Why, this" showing hair which was
neither so snowy nor glossy as the first
sample.
That's plain natural white and it
40 WI III dbOuI Sl0 an ounce 1n6n lilO
hair runs in a descending scale-dra5,
black, brown and dark brown, worth
from SIS to SIC a pound, about an aver
age of a dollar an ounce if there's no
drab in it. Look here, for instance"
He led the way to the end of the
long wareroom, opened a deep box and
drew from it and threw down on the
counter a heavy bundle of vari-colored
or rather tinted hair, most of the
strands shading from light brown into
dark brown or light black. The odor
was overpowering, but not offensive.
There are twenty pounds in that
bunch, and not two ounces of drab in
1t. Dhe whole thing came with a lot
from Russia. It's worth about $3.50"
Was it all cut from the heads OF
living, women"
Indeed it was. We don't touch the
other kind. It's no good. You can tell
II at a glance; it's coarse and brittle.
and it's dry and-well, il gives itself
awav."
The writer for the Sunday World
Magazine mentioned the Angora goat
farm which is about to be established
in the West
Yes" said the merchant. the An
CORA hair is good, very good. There Is
always a demand for II. But IL can
never compare with the hair Of the
YAK, and suppose we've seen the last
OF that. Its expectation from Asia has
been prohibited"