Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-08
Some Things You Want to Know
Growth of the Millinery Business.

is the jobbers who direct the current Of the
styles.
But. perhaps a more cogeut srgument in
defense Of huge profits In millinery IL
that which relates 70 the selling end OF
the business. ANY business man who com
plains to a millinery merchant OF the un-
Just and unreasonable profit levied upon
women's hats, Is invited to spend the day
In the hat saiesroom. There Is not one
man In a million who would go forth from
such a demonstration without being con
WINGED that a mnliner is justified In charg-
Ing all that the traffic will bear. II is
estimated that the average woman In the
city who buys a SIS hat consumes the
time OF one or more statesmen for two
hours I'm each OF eight shops, a total Of
sixteen hours to a hat, OF course, there
are many who devote at least a whole day
in each one Of these shops for the seleo-
ton Of the fall hat, but there are others
who visit only one shop and these cut
down the average. II Is not the fur and
feathers and ribbons and velvets and buck-
les and so on that make the hat cost II
is the ephemeral character OF the styles,
and the great difficulty aud patience neoes-
sary to sell the product to the ultimate con-
sumner.
Domestic manufacturers make artificial
feathers, flowers and other millinery trim
mings to the value OF about S0,Ooo,O0 a
year; about three-fourth Of this Is made
in New York city alone. This does not
include straw, braid, ribbon, silk, velvet,
wire, fur. plush, or any OF the materials
which 20 to make up the body Of the
hats. Neither does II include the imported
millinery supplies. II is very difficult TO
.Aa.H- 1900 .t.Nt-Nt.. z...A-aNa- 81
millinery business, as the manufacturers
prices are manifolded many times before
the retail shop-keeper makes his sale. One
conservative statistlcian has estimated that
l. costs SlS5. 600, 900 a year to furnish Ameri-
can women with headgear. This is an aver
age OF less than 81 a year for each Ameri-
can woman, and probably IL much below
the mark. While there may be some rail-
ing against the millners and their prices in
the privacy Of American households, at
only one point have the millineTs been at
tackled publicly in an organized fashion,
The audubon society In seeking to protect
the wild birds which are slaughtered to
satisfy feminine vanity, have made some
seriuos attacks upon the millinery busi-
ness.
one writer m that more than
800, 600, 900 wild birds annually Civ their
live as a sacrifice upon the RtaT OF Dame
Fashion. The milllners utterly repudiAta
these figures, declare that they are
grossly maligned and that the. tales Of
cruelty to birds are vastly exaggerated.
The millinery trade journals vigorously de-
fend their calling against such attacks
as those Of the Audubon Societies and
those made by some ministers. They deny
that the women create the vain and foolish
fashions so much criticised, and they have
courage boldly to assert that Il IL the
whims and fancies Of the men which force
the women to deck themselves in such out
landish headgear. They say that the
average man demands that the women OF
his acquaintance shall follow the styles re-
Eardless OF where those styles may lead
them.
Styles in millinery are usually imported
from Paris. The great designers there
ransack the fashion plates OF the past
and the dreams OF the future for ideas
upon which to build new hats. Living
models. whose duty II is to wear good
clothing we'll, are equipped with the latest
creations and sent to the opera. the race
track and such places TO permit the world
TO get It's first glimpse Of the new styles.
II the Partisan world does not approve,
the style lie abandoned. Some times. how
ever, It Is impossible to obtain a clear YER
dict. This was the case with the famous
peach basket hat. Partisan millinery manu-
facturers in this hat wolves something so
ridiculous that French women absolutely
refused to buy them. The consequence
was that the whole stock was dumped into
the American market where II was eagerly
bought up at triple prices by women who
were willing TO wear anything, however
ridiculous, IL only 1t bore the label made
in Paris" This peach basket hat incident
was the Inspiration Of the present crusade
for American styles for American women,
The millinery tobbers In New York to-
day will discuss styles and other Interests
Of their business in serene security. They
are absolutely certain OF the fact that al
long as there is any money in the uRitsd
states they will have their share In the
division. Fancy millinery may have been q
luxury in the days Of our Grandmothers-
il is now a necessity.
BY Frederic J. Hsskin.