A warning for men to visit their barber before they buy their straw hats was issued yesterday by the National Association of Men's Straw Hat Manufacturers. "The average head of hair", it was stated, "within ten days of its shearing, increases a full quarter of an inch in circumference. These figures were compiled from figures made on thousands of heads. If due precaution is not taken, buyers will find their straw hats flopping down around their ears after their first hair-cut."

The fifty-eighth anniversary of the momentous change from winter hats to summer straws is being observed by the whole male population of this country and the haberdashers around the Square are planning a record sale this spring. Since the inauguration of the custom, it has become one of the most popular fashions for men, and the Straw Hat Manufacturers' Association has prepared an elaborate history of the head-wear dating from pictures of Juno on old Greek vases and coins of 350 A.D., wearing a "Stephanos", which is described as "an inverted peach basket". The first styles in America were frank limitations of the old felt derby of the vintage of 1872.