New-York tribune., 1905-09-24
THE FASHION OF HIS Hat.
Whence Came the Wearipg Of Head
Coverings by Man1Ho10 Made.

The time for buying fall hats has come around
again, and, as this period recurs with great
regularity every year. it becomes question OF
considerable interest to the man VINO mas 70
buy the hats: Where do the hats LETT over
from last year go? OF all the thousands and
thousands Of hats made and sold in NeW-York
never a one seems to be left over at the END
of the season. It is as nearly impossible to find
an out of date hat in Broadway store as to
get fresh laid egg in a Bowery restaurant
Yet surely, some hats are left over at the end
of the season
At casual glance 1t seems reasonable ex-
pisnation that the old hats gathered up
and shipped to the Far West or the tributary
country districts. But this Is denied by the
hat dealers They say that it would not pay.
Neither are the hats thrown away or given
to charity. The persistent inquirer then finds
the trap set for the needy, the penurious AMI
ths unwary. The old hats are mixed with the
stock and when comes along who
looks easy of deception who cannot afford to
pay the price asked for the styles one Of
the old hats is sold to him at reduced price
and both dealer and customer are pleased
Hundreds of hats put off this way every
year the unsuspecting public but they are
the occasional ones in the vast crowd and pass
unnoticed.
Here enters the interesting question of who
makes the styles. In the time of Queen Eliza
beth the fashion of mans hat changed with
yvery other day. It is not so bad now, to be
Eure. and, indeed, the hatters complain that
here Is SO little difference in the styles from
ear to year. Formerly, one manufacturer stood
re-eminent and all the smaller fry waited
Jnr his blocks and copied them. Nowadays,
King Edward sometimes INDUCES in gray stiff
hat and rich American follows him, but
otherwise there is no leader. All the big mand-
lecturers make up their own blocks at the be-
ginning Of the season and stick to them all
through, regardless of what their competitors
may be doing But none of them have had the
courage really to make a new style in the last
Ave years. Half inch in the depth of the
crown or quarter of an inch in the width OF
the brim; who can tell it? A bit more roll or
a bit less; what is the difference? They are all
the same. stiff, ungainly and uncomfortable
derbies or chimney pots"
In the good old days a hat was a hat, and
IL meant something to its wearer He rolled up
the brim. fastened it with flashing jewel stuck
8 feather in the band and staggered down ST.
James's, fine beau ever trod the streets.
Or he fattened the crown and broadened the
brtm, and sober a Quaker as could be
found in the length and breadth of England
Roundhead or Cavalier, you knew them by their
hats yellow beaver, with blue and red
trimmings; how would that look on Broadway
to day? Yet that was the style in the time Of
Edward ".
Who invented the hat, any way? 1t is for pro-
lection against the sun and the weather. Yes?
Then. where are the hats Of the African savages
and of our own American Indians? 1t was only
stth the Introduction of civilization that the
cssdian began to add the cast-off top hat to his