Norwich bulletin., 1920-05-18
7 WASHINGTON AFFAIRS
Especial to The BulletinD


with making hats in Connecticut ?'
queried the newspaper man of congress,
John @. Tilson, of the Third Connecticut
district. '"Tfey are the hats replied /
Col Tilson. with a broad smile. /
I It happened just after Speaker Gillett |
had announced to the house that Til |
son would that evening give an illus
trated talk on hat-nlaking and Tilsen |
had added that he would cover the topic |
from catching,athe rabbit in Australia to
putting on the. bow in Danbury.
Then the newspaper man got busy to
find out if he was the only man round
the capitol who didn't know the fur
of rabbits is the felt for hats. And he
learned that instead of being the only
one he was in the great majority. for
nine out of every ten men he asked,
grinned sheepishly and said, mo, didn't
know; IT, -
Col TiIson is a. member of the great
WAYS and means committee and he real
| lied that it won't be long before tariff
revision becomes a part of reconstrue-
| ton legislation and that the tariff on
| hats and on the raw material from which
| they are made will come up for consid-
| Grafton, so he thought it would be wise
! to tell congress something about hat
making and the tariff needs of the in
| dustry.
| In his talk before the members Of
| congress and their families Col Tilson
| was assisted by experts from the Dam
| bury and other plants and motion pictures
showed the process beginning with rab-
bits scurrying to shelter and beavers
| making dams to- the finished hat in its
box ready for wear.
/ There are some of the things which were
new to the listeners 1t takes the skins
of fo,Ir rabbits to make the average hat
1 n
try wearing hats it is lucky the RABBIT
!! ia r1ily is reckoned as one of the most
| prolific on earth.
1 The fur costs about $13 TO SIS a
| pound according to quality and it takes
about three o,;nces to make hat. This
i is a heavy increase in price of fur over
| that OF a few years ago. The rabbits
4 of eastern states do not furnish fur of
| the required quality and that is account
ed for by the climate Three-fourths of
| the rabbit skins come from Australia and
NEW Zealand-wfiie Belgium, England
/ Saxony and France furnish hares, coney
i and rabbits In answer to the question
/ of how long rabbit fur had been used in
! making hats, Col Tilson replied some
1 thing like four hundred years"
In reply to questions as to what is
done with the pelt after the fur is re-
| moved Mr.. Tilson explained that it was
! cut INTO Small ana Ildue llO Selet-
| tine for photograph films and similar uses.
In addition to the motion pictures shown,
the talk was illustrated with exhibits
| ranging from the rabbit skin in It's orig
| inal shape, through various stages of
/ evolution until it became a soft or stiff
hat according to final treatment. 1t was
1 explained that soft hats take more fur
| than stiff hats and the stiffening of the
derby puts in the necessary additional
8 T. I0rrT Gl-fv froo fnA
land especially what the DaEbury, Con-
necticut factories are doing was made a
4 special feature Mr.. Tilson referred to
4 the need of the protection for the In
1ustry and of good wages for the en-
ployes for the work required unusual
skill, as the felt is tender and requires
expert and quick handling. He spoke of
| the child labor laws of the state being
| strictly observed but added that young
girls just oyer that age were employed
i in large numbers on the lighter work
and that they often made as much as 81
4 day He referred to the fact that there
Is now no duty rabbit skins and urg-
ed that. all necessary raw material should
be made easily accessible to the hat man
ufacturers of the United States Col
Tilson called attention to the fact that
Connecticut makes fully 81 pc rcent OF
all hats used in this country.
the president has in the senate, and the
authorized spokesman for the admins
tration, this week confirmed the rumors
j afioat regarding the presidents extreme
illness and helplessness by referring tt
him in a senate speech as that bed-rid
den and unhappy invalid i'll the white
house" It was during the debate on the
Knox resolution when Hitchcock was
pleading for its rejection. Mr.. Hitch
cock is one of the only two senators wht
/ nave been admitted to the president
presence since he was stricken viii
paralysis last September.
: Miss Katherine Lultlington, of Con
, iuecticut is one of the women named t
take part in the suffrage campaign L
be -waged by women at the two nationa
conventions. The women will not onl.
: attend the conventions. but Will make
4 campaign of their own between the tw
E dates on which they are held urging rec
: ognition in framing the pfanks.
1 The nomination of Samuel w. McCal
e of Massachusetts as member OF the TART
commission is still sleeping in the hand
of the finance committe of the senat
and it looks as if it would not be acte
on before the summer recess take
n place. 1t is very generally conceded
: the Mccall nomination Is not certain o
1 confirmation The recess will probabl
2 begin June 5th and be from 30 to 8
Il days The details are still undecided
but at this moment a long recess O
series of them seems more probable tina
? an adjournment.
Appropriations bills carry $4,000 TO
the maintenance of the white house an
Y travelling expenses of the president 70
: the coming fiscal year