The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-07-04
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
FORM ALTON
BUREAU
FREDERIC J. HASKIN, Director.
Washington, D. c.
THE HAT SHORTAGE.
Washington, D. C.

the mice can't get at it. 1t will be val
liable next year; for next year straw
hats are going to be very scarce and
expensive. Indeed, it is even predicted
that a large percentage of the nation
may have to go straw-hatless.
While the United States is large
manufacturer of straw hats, all the
many different varieties of braid from
which they are made are imported.
Before the war, large quantities of
straw braid were imported from Bel
GUM, and from Switzerland which, in
turn, obtained its raw material from
Italy. Now the straw wheat fields of
Belgium are planted with German
potatoes and those of Italy are raising
beans for the army.
The shortage in Belgian and Swiss
braid hats was quickly made UP by
Chinese and Japanese braids. as well
as by a heavier importation of Philip
pine and Porto Rican hats. Now how
ever. with every scrap of shipping
needed to carry supplies for the army,
the government is rapidly transferring
ships from the Pacific to the Atlantic
coast, and the shipping board is for
mulating far reac hing restrictions that
will certainly interfere with the i'm
portation of braid. The supply of Pan
amas and Porto Rican hats will also
soon be cut off by the diversion Of
ships from South American to Euro
pean service.
Under the circumstances, as soon as
the reserve supply of straw braids
is exhausted, Mexico will be the only
country to which the manufacturers
may turn for new supplies. The Mex
leans make a course-fibered straw,
used almost wholly in the rnanufacture
of children's hats in this country. altho
some of it is fashioned into high
crowned, Wide-brimmed Mexican SOM
breros. which are becoming increas-
ingly popular for farm work in this
country. The Mexican sombrero is the
one ray of hope in the hat situation.
If it comes to the worst, we can all
affect this style, which, by the way is
the greatest safeguard against sun
stroke, and go about looking like the
picturesque but feeble minded villains
OF moving picture fame.
Unlike the chemical shortage, the
dye shortage and several other war
shortages, the straw hat rtage'can-
not be a1leviated by the sudden de-
velopment of a home straw-braid in
duStry. It is quite possible to grow
a good grade of straw wheat in Amer
lean soil, but it is manifestly impossi-
BILE to secure labor cheap enough to
make it a paying investment. In China,
Japan, the Philippines. and in Cuba.
Panama and Porto Rico the braiding
of hat-straw is more or less home
industry-an occupation in which the
women and children and old people
engage about their own homes. Their
wages are incredibly small.
In the Philippines, where the United
States bureau of education has intro
duced hat-making into the public
schools, the industry is growing rapid
". Filipino women everywhere may
be seen squatting on the floor and
braiding the abacaca fiber into straw
braid or weaving it into hats that
bring but a small return for their
labor. Large quantities of the fiber
are also shipped to Japan, where it is
either braided by hand or by small
machines of the type used for braiding
shoe laces. This braid is sold at the
price of IS cents pes so yards, that be-
ing the amount required to make one
hat. Sewn into hat in this country
in the space of twenty minutes or half
an hour. this braid is passed on to the
consumer at the price of So.
In Porto Rico, a girl who is a rapid
worker can finish a hat in from one
and a half to two days. according to
the texture of the straw. She IS de-
lighted IL she receives seventy-five
cents for her labor, altho she is aware
that the same hat will retail for s2.50,
in Porto Rico-for approximately sew
en- dollars if retailed in the United
States. Until machinery is invented
that will braid and weave frail straw
fibers, Americans can never meet such
competition.
The straw hat shortage, however, is
only one feature of a precarious hat
situation. 1t may be necessary for
you to save your felt hat, too, if the
war continues much longer. Felt hats
will be horribly expensive this fall,
no felt hats at all. It all depends upon
an experiment.
American felt hat manufacturers
| have been in the habit of importing
their raw material in the form of
rabbit skins from Australia, and, in
somewhat less proportion, from
| France. France has now placed an
| embargo on its skins, while the United
States government has ordered the
steamship companies running to and
| from Australia to cancel all shipments
of any products but wool and wheat
| until all available supplies Of these
materials have been moved. 1t is
| estimated that it will require three
months at least to do this, and in the
meantime American matters must wait
patiently for rabbit skins, ordered and
ready for shipment in Australia but
| which are not apt to reach this coun-
| try until the fall hat season is nearly
| over.
| Made desperate by this shortage
/ 10il manufacturers are
for the first time using American
| rabbit skins as substitutes for the i'm
| ported skins. 1t is believed that this
| fur will prove practical, but the manu-
| facturers are pessimistic about the
| supply; they are doubtful If enough
rabbit skins can be obtained in this
| country to hat the population. Never
| theleSs, they are In the market for al
| they can get.
| Rabbit-hunting, from a necessar y
| and laborious duty in many sections
turnout the west and middle west, ha:
sprung into a profitable occupation
| Many people have quit steady. re-
! munerative jobs in favor of it. Rabbi
pelts are now worth from five tt
| eight cents, based on a price of 81
per pound for rabbit fur ready fol
| manufacture Before the war, tht
price of rabbit skins was only from
ten to fifteen cents a pound. The
fur of the cotton-tail rabbit is pre-
| ferred for hat-making, but Jack
rabbit skins are also being accepted