El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-05-23
p a ILLINERS from all parts of the
lN country are on their way to
- - Milwaukee, uba-a +ta a,1,.o1

p "a ILLINERS from all parts of the
IV country are on their way to
Milwaukee where the annual
convention of the National MiIIiners'
Jobbers association will assemble this
week The milliners bound for the
wisconsin metropolis are not the ar
tistes, but the business managers. of
the profession. The spring season of
1911 exceeded all previous seasons in
the sale of millinery products in the
United States and the millinery job
ners have much to talk about before
the midsummer season opens
OF truth there is much for the
millinery business men to think about
and talk over. The trade has not yet
Ieit the reaction against the ''cost of
nigh living" but it is charged with a
due proportion of the high cost of
living, both directly and indirectly,
and 1t is already feeling the heavy
hand OF the lawmaker who is deter
mined to protect the birds of the coun-
try.
Plumase Law Affects Trade.
The milliners all over the country
are AFFECTED by the law which goes
into effect in. New York state this
month prohibiting the use of many
kinds of plumage for millinery pur-
poses. The forbidden feathers, left on
the hands Of the dealers. must be dis
posed OF in other sections of the coun-
try and how to do this without cut
ting prices too much is one of the
problems to be settled in Milwaukee.
Milliners assert that the law is cruel
ly unjust that it was enacted by rea-
son OF the exaggerated statements OF
paid agents" of the Audubon society
that many of the feathers under the
ban of the New York statute are not
secured by killing birds, but are coll
lected after the birds have shed them.
and so on. Against this defence is
set the testimony of the government
experts who assert that the plume
hunters have almost externinated
many kinds of birds, and that the
slaughter of useful birds for plumage
Audubon society and the agricultural
interests of the county many millions
of dollars annually.
At the Milwaukee convention the
milliners will inaugurate a movement
TO secure an intelligent discrimina-
ton between feathers obtained by bird
slaughter and those obtained by the
collection of moulted feathers 1t is
fact not generally known that aside
from ostrich plumes, the great bulk
OF millinery plumage originates with
the barnyard fowl Ordinary chicken
feathers are capable of many pleas
ing DISCUSSES, while turkey, goose,
duck and guinea feathers are made UP
IN many fashions. Practically all of
the plumage sold at moderate prices is
obtained from this source. without any
injury whatever to the feelings of the
purposes is costing the agricultural
experts Of the government
Many Changes in tho Trade.
No trade or business has shown more
changes in its operation during the
past quarter of a century than that of
millinery One Of the most note
worthy differences is that il has now
become a business for men, whereas II
formerly belonged almost exclusively
to women. The man miIliner arrived
in the latter part of the 18th century.
With the usual masculine insistence
he is rapidly pushing women out OF
his way Last February, one of the
largest wholesale millinery firms in
the south, which also conducts a mil
linery college as a part of it's work,
invited all Of its out Of town customers
to attend course of instruction in