The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-10-09
THAT MAGAZINE
 BIRD STORY

BIRD STORY (FNrom October Issue of the Millinery
 Trade Review.)
 There was published in a recent num- Der of Hampton's Magazine an article by Reginald Wright Kaufman entitled ''The Bird Tribute to Vanity" which The Millinery Trade Review cannot allow to pass unnoticed; not because the article itself has any merit or value as a. literary production, but be- cause of the congregations, mlsrepre- sentations and imaginative figures given in reference to the effect upon agriculture of the few items of bird pIumage used in trimming women's hats.
 The article, says the author. is ad- dressed primarily to. the women of America. He charges them with committing a great crime, not only against humanity, but against the purse of the nation,'' and then at l tempts to apologize for the above statement by an effort at "jolly1ng | his readers-if they be women-by tell 1 ing them that he has faith in their gentleness, honesty, etc. With the writer of the story, we have nothing I to do personally, but with his contrl- button to the magazine and the state ments he makes therein we certainty have. He says that while attending l a church in Chicago, he saw women | bow their heads in prayer whose hats were adorned with the egrets of white l herors, and pew after pew was abiaze witt, the feathered beauty-dyed and disguised though it was-of the flicker. l the bluebird and the meadow lark As far as the .'egrets of white herons | are concerned, we will grant that the writer speaks the truth. as everybody can tell plumage of the egret (aigrette) 1 in the dark almost. as it has been pie tured and described so often by maga- zine and press, and on the lecture plat form; but we question the writer's veracity when he states that pew kafter pew was ablaze with the feath- cred beauty-dyed and disguised though it was+of the flicker, bluebird and meadow lark' The writer of the | article may be an expert ornlthologlst, but we defy him to pick out the feath- CTS he describes when worn in women's 1 hats, being dyed and disguised ana seen at a distance in the peWs Of a ] large church edifice. Whether he at- l tended this church to worship or not 1 we do not know, but if for worship his | piety must be of that sort that can be utilized to his advantage when writing l such articles as recently appeared in | the magazine referred to, and used TOT bis profit, otherwise he would conf1ne | himself more strictly to the truth ana | less to eXaggerat1on.
 | The people attending the church he | visited could not have secured such plumage, save the aigrettes, anywhere | in Chicago, as it could not have been on sale in any wholesale or retail house. as it has not been fashionable for many years.
 | As a political economist the writer draws greatly upon his imagination for I his material. He juggles with figures and makes a statement that IS ln- tended to be most startling, and start ling it is because of the great number of figures used. which are puzzl1ng 10 the average reader and which are useo
 to make the story readable. NO one
 can dispute the contributors right to indite fiction, but when he attempts to
 make fiction fact, then the people
 should be disi1lusioned and advised to
 give no credit to such stories. There
 is no one on earth who can furnish
 truthfully such statements as the
 writer uses in his article, which he
 gives as facts. No officials either m city, State or nation can obtain such figures after years of endeavor as th1s
 man rattles off at a moments notlce
 He makes other statements regarding
 the present use of birds, which, ne
 claims. are exterminated by gunners
 for millinery use, which are unqua-l- l fiedly false
 He stated that he asked a buyer re-
 turning from Europe what birds were
 to be fashionable on womens mats
 next year, and the buyers response was Among the native birds. the
 rose breasted grosbeak is coming 1T
 again. This is in our judgment ar
 invented story to make his yarn more l attractive. We brand it as down : right falsehood. A buyer would pc fool to make such a statement, or he was to use slang phrase, giving the
 author steer.
 ? The rnilliner has not sentenced the 7 bluebird to death, because it's plumage : is not used anywhere by wholesale ol
 retail millinery dealers, and the Ore gon pheasant, which he claims is kill
 ed by gunners for millinery purposes
 is shot by game hunters for sport only
 not for commerce.
 The statement that he makes that , Chicago dealer has been known t. ; handle 32, 900 humming birds in on . consignment is a lie, made out O whole cloth. It is the same story tha . . | other writers, lecturers and the pres : have used for dozen or more years 2 giving various cities credit for tn Y r | statement The trade lie'' that tn writer refers to in the article is in tn ! | article itself and cannot be. .attributet |, | to any one buying or seHng fanci feathers for trimming women's hats. ?, The birds mentioned by the autho or even their plumage are not use' : by milliners, for trimming or decora = ting women's hats. The story, we ao
 init, from the Audubon1te vleWpoln is well put together garnished with 1t | illustrations furnished, no doubt, b
 the Audubon Society. It makes
 great magazine art1cle, Wn1cn Is HoN n being freely quoted by the public pres
 and it is for that reason that we re
 fer to it, otherwise we would pas " it by unnoticed. It is full of exaggera y tions, untruths and misstatement c e facts The readers of such article T should not be influenced thereby un n less it be to denounce such writer V for attempting to pass fiction upo
 the public as fact. If he or his con L freres will visit any wholesale mill II, II, nery house in any millinery center C y the country, the proprietors of whic will gladly show them their stock, the
 will not find anything of the characte - he states save the aigrette, the latte
 being an imported article from foreig
 countries, paying duty and consio
 cred just as desirable to handle as tn T pIumage of any bird used for food u the skin of any animal utilized eithe f for mems or women's wear or adorr " ment.
 Newest skirts are somewhat wider
 but the same straight silhouette COT