The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-10-05
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN. Director,
washington, D. C.
THE THIRST AND FUR TRADERS,

rapidly acquiring popularity with Wis
itors from the States. More Ameri-
cans than usual are here and they are
coming from greater distances. Their
appreciation of Montreal is not SO
much due to its being a picturesque
old metropolis and the fifth city of
North America, of which fact Mon
treal is not a little proud. It is chief
~ prohibition which is sending the
extra visitors and which is bringing
Montreal into fame as the second most
cheerful place in the western hemi-
sphere-Havana, of course, being the
first.
Last year. Montreal was even more
cheerful than it now is. Then liquor
was not restricted to beer and wines.
and Montreal entertained one conven-
ton after another. until it threatened
to become the convention center of the
continent. But even now, with the
province of Quebec limited as to va
riety of drinks, it is as an oasis in a
desert, Ontario, next door, being quite
dry.
take advantage of its popularity
to revive it's sports, neglected since
the war, when $4,000 of its young
men departed to the front, and
that it will try to become winter re-
sort. The Montrealers insist that their
section of the country is not a land of
ideal, bracing climate. Five or 10 be-
low zero. they claim, marks the depth
of the average cold winter day, and
from this level the thermometer rises
some 10 or 1 5 degrees in the middle of
the day It is a dry cold with little
humidity to make the chill penetrat
ing. Montreal is not the only. Cana
/ dian city that would like to make win
ter sports the fashion and itself the
Lucerne of America. But with its
Montreal is the most favorably stu
ated just now. If any Canadian city
can do it, Montreal should be able to
start a fad of skiing, ice yachting,
and sleighing among the first families
of the United States.
Montreal, however. is not dependent
on either liquor or the air castle of
winter sport trade for its prosperity.
1t is, among various other things, a
center of the fur trade. and strong
hold of the convent school business
where the best French accents come
from.
The fur houses are down near the
wharves. Tall warehouses make cam
yons of the narrow, dingy streets. A
big building here and there displays
few furs as a perfunctory sign, but
mostly there are only the names of
the companies for advertising. The
buyers know their territory.
The Fur Section.
To find the furs you have to go up
stairs in one of these big wholesale
houses where the buyers for the re-
tail trade do business. A long room
Is lined on one side with deep racks
of expensive furs, protected, and d.
vided into cupboards, by red velvet
curtains.
On the other side the length of the
room is divided into alcoves with par
titions reaching nearly to the ceiling.
Each alcove has its gray wicker chair
and table where a buyer can sit I'M
observed by the others and note the
styles he wishes to purchase. Between
the buyers and the racks of dark furs,
the models parade, twirhng and
slouching to show off the silky rich
ness of the costly mink, sable and seal.
Furs from all over Canada pour into
Montreal and from here are scattered
abroad Some pieces, comparatively
few in the bulk of the trade, are car
ried to the United States by feminine
visitors to Canada. The rate of ex-
change is an attraction, and then, too,
there are said to be alluring bargains
in furs here, especially down in the
wholesale district.
The products of the convent schools
are as interesting to a stranger as
furs. Outside of school hours little
bands of convent school children can
be seen walking sedately along the
brown robed sister in charge. The
girls wear a black uniform with
high neck and long sleeves, and gen.
orally with some sort of stiff white
collar and cuffs. The unusual feature
of the costume Is that it apparently
imposes no restriction on the sort of
hat that may be worn, and the combi-
nation of a row of somber black
dresses topped by bobbing hats
wreathed with daisies, forget-me-not
or gay streamers of pink and blue
ribbon, is striking.
There are a great many of the con-
vents. Montreal is a city of institu-
TONS There are innumerable, great
gray stone piles-hospitals, monas-
teries, asylums, schools-nearly all
under the direction of some churchly
organization, and nearly all French.
When you consider that four-fifths
| of Montreal is French, this is not sur
prising. The surprising fact is that
so much good English is spoken.
Most of the people seem to use both
tongues The public schools teach
both, and the government issues all
its proclamations and street signs in
both English and French. Even the
billboards are apt to proclaim the ex-
cellence of their wares in the two
| languages.
A Cosmopolitan City.
Despite the prevalence of the
french, all SORTS OIL types are IN pa
I rade in Montreal In a downtown
street, you may see a typical Irish
man, pipe, smile, umbrella, and high
| topped felt hat; then a Britisher,
with cane. tweeds, and perhaps spats-
| His London patois bristling with
/ "checrio" and ''toodleoo," is more
striking against the French back
ground than # would be elsewhere in
| the Dominion. 1t reminds you sud-
denly that Montreal is British terri
| tory.
The American is all over the city,
| too. with his inevitable camera and
| guidebook. and his exchange of con-
! fidence with his fellow travellers about
| trains, boats, connections, things to
see, how not to get stung, the best res
taurants. the rate of exchange, and so
| on, endlessly.
The French types do not stand out
so, by reason of their prevalence. and
| because they fit into the atmosphere.
| Their houses, however, are extremely