Show f T fHE HE H PANAMA HAT T Making nf the Real e Jipi J J Japi Cause e of Fraud U London Pall Pal Mall Mail Mal Gazette Gaete The ordinary make mako of Panama hiat Is known In the country of origin as a Jipi Japi and the manufacture oi ol these runs Into many thousands ot of dozens every year Unfortunately In is North America England and on the continent almost an equal number ol of hats is sold as Panama which have never been within a radius of oC the isthmus and have only a very ver distant relationship to the genuine gen genuine gel article For example a hat is very ver largely sold in France which comes conies from Java and the French con consul consul consul sul draws attention in a recent report to the strides which the hat Industry has made in that country countrY In recent r years The majority of ot these are made from the young oung leaf of the bam barn bamboo bamboo boo plant and Indeed prove a very sat satisfactory satIsfactory satisfactory substitute for the real thing The cause caus of the wholesale fraud In Inthe the th Panama hat trade Is the enormous increase In the demand for these hats and the absolute impossibility of meet meetIng meetIng meeting Ing this demand with the South South and Central American hat hat The Tho veritable Panama is manufactured manufactured manufactured from the Planta do tie or which wild wid in the swamps of Central Ameri Amen America ca Of late years ears this plant has been cultivated extensively but without the tile success which was anticipated They The mature in about abut a year and a half hal and live lle to the age of forty fotty or fifty The leaves used In making hats are arc the young oung ones which are plucked be before before before fore they haie h e fully expanded exp They are then boiled in water wafer wa er in which a alte little lemon juice has been Deen mixed and afterward hung up o dry dr In an airy though Shady sh dY spot Throughout the tho operation of hat plaiting the straw Is never exposed to the glare glar of the sun for the hat would have In that case a n streaky appearance all aU the strips not being bleached to tho the same purity puri When the leaves are almost dry dr they are split Up Into very ver narrow strips alt all nI of tIE the tile same width and then again agin tied ted In a bunch and left to dry When this thin state is quite quie reached the plaiting of the hats can commence This work Is done d ne almost entirely by women four of f them being employed on each hat hat 00 One of the best quality will take many inary ma weeks to finish for they cannot be he worked on during durin all al the hours of the lay day After the plaiting is finished tc t e daY lemon hats are cleaned with wih soap and juice luice ar polished and then sent to the tile market The natives employed In this indus industry tr try ry declare that the most difficult part pad pado o of If the whole work is the boiling boing of the straw which constitutes u ii real art It Itis I is Ls only onh after this his stage that they can decide the quality of oC tho the hat on which It IU 18 future n and the wages de pend pond A market Is held In the prin principal principal cipal town of each district every Sat Saturday Saturday Saturday morning and it is generally generl crowded by the inhabitants of the countryside offering their hats for sale The largest market of tho the hat indus industry Industry try tr of the West Vest mules Indies and Central and South America Americ Is at in Ecuador Ecuador dor br where last year more than dozen were sold There are arc ar comparatively comparatively few hat manufactories the ma majority majority majority of the work being done lone in the I houses by the tile women The Tho republic of Ecuador or is rapidly approaching the first place among among the countries noth Doth In the quality of the goods and In the num number her ber manufactured Besides the great number exported almost an equal number Is retained for or home wear and amI goes across the border to Peru The handicap to Ecuador is the te total ab absence absence sence ence of a good port and a a great geat por portion portion portion tion of the supply for or Europe finds its way across the whole continent of South America to be shipped from Peru on the tile Atlantic coast It I Is how however however i ever confidently expected that In afew a afew afew few years ears when the Panama canal Is at last finished the tho port of Guayaqui Gua will wi become the principal port of the South American Pacific coast and amI in that event the position of Ecuador would be bo Immensely Immense Improved A largo large la e quantity of the tho straw is ex ox exported exported ported A for manufacture abroad This Is i idone done up in a perfectly dry state In bales This straw fetches etches about SO cents a pound though during the past year er the record figure of 90 I cents has been touched The vast In Increase increase crease In the demand for Panama hats hints may be judged from the fact act that only six years ear ago the price was 15 cents a pound The Tile very vcr finest hats in In the world come core from the ia abl province and fetch in the open market a a mini minimum minimum minimum mum price of each Owing to the very fine straw which must be bo used verY and the long time it i is necessary to spend j n earn each cath hat only about dozen of these are made each year ear The Tile technical name In the district is Es do de Monte Cristo At the opposite opposite site sie end of the scale comes come the Corriente of which about dozen are exported every week the tho The Germans seem to control trade as they do many man of the minor In Industries IndustrIes of South America Hamburg Is rapidly becoming the principal point poin of distribution for the sup supply supply supply ply It I is likely that the hat industry will wi continue to increase and bring a con considerable considerable amount of or prosperity into the interior of a very vcr poor country It I would seem that it can only be limited in Its Is expansion by b the amount of straw annually available and by the ability abit of the natives td t turn that straw into hints hats hat |