The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1906-08-30
A FROM OLD HATS.
New York Firms That Buy Diiapidated
Headeear to Make Shoddy.

In Hudson street, not far from the
old New York Central's first freight
station, with Commodore Wander
bits statue in front of it. is a firm
that gathers in all the old hats it
can get from all parts of the United
States. In the lofts are thousands
upon thousands of old hats of every
size, shape, and description; hats that
have been worn by men, women, and
children in every part of this country.
San Francisco, New Orleans, Chicago,
st. Louis, and other western cities
send more old hats to New York than
fact, the old hats collected in New
are collected in the city itself. In
York cut slight figure in the market.
The trade in old hats is most pecu-
liar.> 1t actually has a quotation in
the wool market, usually two cents
a pound. But New York purchasers
pay much more than that when the
supply runs short, and also when some
man out west offers a few tons OF
damaged hats that have come to grlef
in a fire. The collectors in the west
do not stop to sort or strip the old
hats of their frames or Innings. n
New York firms must buy old hats
as they are, and have the trimming
done after the purchase has been
taken off the scales.
The old hats are put into steam
presses of tremendous power, and
--zI--l :zko LoIoo re C0n Mounds noph
and from that up to 500 or even to
1000 pounds. 1t is too expensive to
ship them by rail. There is no hurry,
so the cheapest route is the best. West
of Mississippi they are sent by river
to New Orleans, and from there up
by coast steamers or sailing vessels.
East of the Mississippi the great lakes
and the Hudson river are called into
service. But go as they will, the ship
per from San Francisco counts on
tuo cents a pound to get his goods
TO NV York, and the Chicago shipper
counts on one cent a pound. There
is no market for old hats out west,
comparatively speaking, because there
are so faw shoddy mills there. The
fasteners have a monopoly OF the
old-fat business.
When tie hats reach New York the
bales ere cut, and a gang OF women
put 1t work sorting out the different
sorts of material and casting aside the
frames. What is left of the old hats
is again put into a press, and packed
in bales of 500 or 600 pounds, much
tighter, and in a far superior fashion
than the bales received from the west.
When the bales from far-off cities
reach New York they are bound with
cord so loosely that n might cut
them assunder with a pocket knife.
When sent away from New York to
the shoddy mills, paper mills, or
wherever else a market can be found.
they are bound with wire as thick as
telegraph wire, and SO tightly fastened
that when one of them parts 1t is
with a spring and snap like a broken
violin string.
There are only three firms engaged
in the business in this city, and they
are very reticent about their affairs.
The fact that the n near the old
freight station has been there ever
since that structure was built is suf-
icient evidence of the fact that there
is money in the trade. The old hat
buyers won't tell where they sell their
wares, but one of them admitted that
n number of New Workers wearing
cheap suits are likely as not carrying
around small fragments of old hats
raked in from all parts of Uncle Sans
wide domains.-New York Times.