Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-10
Save Your Hat /!
by Frederic J. Haskin

| Save your old straw hat Cherish IT,,
| keep il out of the rain. and, at The end Of
| tho season, pack H. carefully away where
| the mice can't get NJ IL. II viii be valuable
next year; for next year straw hats are
| going To he very scarce and expensive.
| Indeed IL is even predicted that large
| percentage Of the nation may have 20 20
| raw-hatless.
While the United States is n large manu-
! facturer Of straw hata, all the many differ
| ent varieties ot braid from which they are
| made arc imported. Before the war, large
quantities Of straw braid were imported
from Belgium and from Switzerland, which
in turn obtained its raw material from
Italy Now The straw wheat fields Of Bel
gIirn are planted with German potatoes
and those OF Italy arc raising beans for
the army
The shortage in Belgium and Swiss
braid hats was quickly made mp by Chi
nese and Japanese braids, as we'll as by
heavier Importation Of Philippine and
Porto Rican hats Now, however, whit
every scrap of shipping needed To carry
supplies tor The army, the government rs
rapidly transferring ships from the Pacific
10 the Atlantic coast, and the shipping
board is formulating far-reachinR restrlc-
tions that will certainly interfere with the
importation of braid The supply of Pana-
mas and Porto Rican bats will also soon
bc cut off by the diversion of ships from
South American 20 European service
no ron rHE somRRERo
T'ndcr tho circumstances. rs soon as
the reserve of supply of straw bTaids IS
exhausted. Mexico will be the only coiIn-
trv 10 which the manufacturers may turn
for new supplies The Mexcans make a
coarsc-fbered straw, used almost wholly
in the manufacture Of children = hats IN
this country. although some of II is ASH
ionpd into hlgh-crowncd, wide-brlmmcd
Mexican sombrerOs, which are becoming
increasingly popular for farm work IN tins
country The Mexican sornbrero Is the
ono rav nj hope in the hat situation II
II comes To tho worst. We can All affect
this style, which. by the way IS tho great
est safeguard against sunstroke, and 20
about looking like the picturesque but
Predetermined villains of moving picture
fame
Unlike tho chemical shortage, the dye
shortage and several other war shortages.
the straw hat shortage cannot bc ale
waited hy the sudden development of
home straw w-brnid industry II Is quite
possible 10 grow good grade ut straw
wheat ~ American soil. but II is mani
fcstlv impossible to secure labor cheap
ero,lgh to make il a paying Investment
In China, Japan. the PHILIPPINES. and ~
{ uha. Panama and Porto ktco the braid
ing of hat-straw IS more or lcss home IN i
tIuetry an occupation IN which the /.
women and children and old people engage
about thur own homes Their wages are !
small
IN The Philippines where the nited
States Bureau of Education has intro !
duced hat making INTO the public schools /
he industry IS growing rapidly Filipino /
wuruTn everyw here may lie seen squatting
on he floor and branding the nhacaca fiber /
INTO straw hrald or weaving L INTO hats i
that bring but - small return for thcIr /
labor Large quantities of the fiber are also /
shipped Japan. where il i either braided
iv hand or hy small machines ~ he 4
tvEc used for hralding shoe laccs
This braid s sold at the prcc Of 81 cents +
per 50 Yards hat hcIng The amount re-
fluIrcd - make ono hat Sewn nto n hat F..
IN this county ia the pace of twenty min /