Alaska sentinel., 1905-08-03
BASKETS MADE BY GERMANS.
They Are Manufactured by Hand and
 Are Superior Product.


 Are Superior Product.
 Baskets are a speciality Of the east side in New York City, more particu. larly of the German quarter. It Is the ambition of every woman in the quar- ter to have a handsome and commo- dious market basket, and you may see hundreds of such baskets on the arms of men and women in Avenue A and the neighboring streets. Basket shops are more numerous in the German quarter than anywhere else in town, and the baskets bought and sold there are the very best to be had.
 Ordinary willow and split baskets sold In the quarter are made in this country. many of them right in the shops where they are exhibited for sale; but the finer baskets are mostly imported from Germany. These bas- kets are made of fine straw, sea grass. shredded palm leaf and some other materials. The best of them are hand some in form and attractive in color ing. In fact, there Is evidently an ex- cellent tradition among the German basket makers, for an ill-formed or crudely colored basket is rarely seen among the imported wares.
 Those baskets made of fine straw, together with sea grass, are the most beautiful in coloring The colors are pale green and warm yellow. In form the baskets are not quite rectangular with double lids and strong handles. They look soft and pliable, but are rigid and strong. Sometimes the han de is strengthened with strap of steel. The lids are secured by a catch of straw strongly woven or sometimes a hook of metal.
 Handsomest of all the imported bas- kets are those of shredded palmleaf. They are rectangular, roomy, beautiful ly woven with little rectangular inter- stices, ivory white in color and ex- tremely strong and rigid. The lids, of the same material, are securely hinged and provided with metallic catches. These baskets are in two or three sizes, of which the largest Is big enough for a market basket. Other baskets from Germany are fishing baskets big enough for hearty luncheon, baskets with domed lids suitable for carrying light bulky articles, work baskets for German housewives, cMldren's gayly decorated lunch baskets and variety of varously formed baskets for special uses. Few of the baskets are merely ornamental; most are designed to serve some useful purpose and none Is so del icately wrought that 1t will not long serve the user
 The German baskets are relatively cheap, say the New York Times, being made largely by women. children and guperannuated men, whose time would be otherwise almost valueless. A Ger man basket that sells here for S25O, the price of the finest imported bas- kets, could not be made in New York for half as much again. They are all hand made, and they cannot be profit ably produced in this country until ma chinery can be applied to the manufac- ture. The German housewife of the quarter counts her baskets as among her treasures. She buys only the best and has them for all uses, but they last her half lifetime and are repaired again and again by the skillful basket weavers of the quarters. These beau tful baskets are handled with the ut most care, are not loaded with what they are not intended to carry and kept scrupulously clean and dry.