Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 249, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1917 — WOMEN WEAVE STRAW HATS [ARTICLE]

WOMEN WEAVE STRAW HATS

All People of Island Depend Upon Earnings of Few Cents a Day Each for Their Living. Next to the transshipment activities of Mount Pleasant, the weaving ot straw hats Is the chief source of Income of the people, says Commerce Reports. The hats woven are of a cheap quality, the standard selling In 1916 for from $1.30 to $1.43 per dozen. The straw for these hats is at present Imported from Venezuela and Colombia, but the Dutch government Is attempting to raise it in Dutch Guiana. The hats are woven by the women and children in their homes, and by moderate Industry a woman can complete a hat In one day. All over the Island from early morning until after sunset the weaving goes on. The Syrian purchasers, who collect the hats from house to house, pay about ten or eleven cents each. Although the straw for a hat costs the weaver from five to seven cents and the amount realized from a day’s work Is very small, many of the people depend entirely upon their meager earnings from this industry. In the government school hat weaving is taught and some of the natives attain a high degree of skill, producing hats said to equal the best made in Colombia. The better grades do not enter Into the export statistics of the colony, as they are bought by tourists; the quality of the standard hat does not improve.