Here and There

New Zealand Tablet, 9 March 1916, Page 51

Here and There

THREE CATHOLIC SCIENTISTS. The recent deaths of three distinguished scientists call marked attention to the fact that Catholicism does not hamper, as is so often and persistently claimed, any man's scientific ambition of labor (says an American exchange). Henri Fabre died in France at the age of 82, one of the world's greatest entomologists with the microscope. He was what Father Secchi was with the ■telescope. Fabre was a devout Catholic, a daily attendant at Mass and an honor to his country. Dr. Finlay, whose research in stamping out yellow fever in our southern countries, classes him with Pasteur, a great benefactor to humanity. Once he had traced the spread of his yellow scourge to the mosquito, the rest was a matter of cure, until to-day yellow fever has to a large extent disappeared from our southern States, Cuba and Porto Rico. Dr. Finlay was a fervent Catholic. The last of the trio was William Carr, of Washington, a son of a former Governor of North Carolina, a man of varied attainments in scientific pursuits, an authority on the X-ray and the properties of radium, who died as he had lived, a Catholic. Science and religion went hand in hand with these men, and their great learning did but emphasise their faith, beautify it and crown their lives with honor. A RACE VARIETY. In no other nation is there gathered such a variety of races and languages as in the United States. In 1910 the population included more than 2,000,000 Italians, nearly 2,000,000 Poles, approximately 1,500,000 Swedes, more than 1,250,000 French, and about 1,000,000 Norwegians, all of these estimates being made upon a linguistic basis. In addition to these, there are divers other groups, some of them beingßohemian and Moravian, 539,392; Spanish, 448,198; Danish, 446,473 ; Dutch and Frisian, 324,930 ; Magyar, 320,893 ; Slovak, 284,444; Lithuanian and Lettish, 211,235; Finnish, 200,688; Slovenian, 183,341; Portuguese, 141,268; Greek, 130,387; Serbo-Croatian, 129,254, including Croatians, 93,036 ; Servian, 26,752 ; Dalmatian, 5505; Montenegrin, 3961; Russian, 95,137; Roumanian, 51,124; Syrian and Arabic, 46,742; Flemish, 44,806; Ruthenian, 35,359; Slavic (not specified), 35,195; Armenian, 30,021; Bulgarian, 2366; all other and those whose mother tongue was unknown, 313,834. COST OF AN 'HONOR.' The conferring of an honor by the Crown was at one time such a costly matter to the subject that it was by no means uncommon for it to be declined. There is the well-known instance of Lord Melbourne, who declined the . Order of the Garter in a characteristic letter to Queen Victoria, in which he said: ' The expense of the Blue Ribbon amounts to £IOOO, and there lias been of late years no period at which it would not have been seriously inconvenient to me to lay down such a sum.' ' Fees of Honors,' as they were called, were nearly all abolished in 1902, at the instigation of King Edward, the holders of vested rights to extract them being compensated for their loss. WHERE PANAMA HATS COME FROM, r - When the summer comes lucky is considered the young man who can sport a ' genuine. Panama ' hat. and yet, though these hats have become extremely popular, few people know that the term is a misnomer. These hats are not made at Panama, but in Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia. It was because the great bulk of the export of these . hats was shipped via the Isthmus of Panama that they got their name, which probably never will be corrected now. In America these -hats ,are never called Panama hats, but ' jipijapa,' in honor of the town in Ecuador where they were first manufactured. y - It is a popular error also to imagine that the straw out of which the ' Panama' hats are made is very

expensive. In South American countries the Panama hats are worn by rich'and poor alike. The high prices we know are due largely to^-the import duties and to the.fact that they pass through the hands of a number of commission men before they reach the ultimate purchaser. During that Paris Exposition held during the reign of Napoleon 111. two Panama hats from Ecuador were presented to the Emperor and to Marshal MacMahon. One of the finest hats ever made in Ecuador was presented to' the late King Edward, and was so delicate and exquisitely woven that it could be folded into a package not larger than his watch. The plant from which the straw for these hats is procured grows wild in the upper forests of the Amazon, in Peru. The shrub is fan shaped, and when cut it is boiled,, put in the sun to dry, and " then assorted for use. To make the straw white it is boiled in lemon juice.

In June, 1905, a school for Panama hat-making was opened in Panama, and the pupils, who are taught by Government officials, are obliged in their-turn to teach the art of weaving to others. The United States is the largest purchaser of Panama hats, the importation of • jipijaps from Ecuador amounting to nearly £200,000 annually. Germany, Great Britain, and France come next in the order named. The straw exported from Ecuador to Peru is shipped in bales weighing about 851 b each. Germany also imports a small quantity of the unwoven straw. The manufacture of a Panama hat often requires the labor of a skilled weaver working five or six months in the late twilight or early dawn, the only hours available for making the finer grades of hats on account of the temperature. -

AS IN THE DAYS OF THE CATHOLIC GUILDS. In the spacious, days of the Middle Ages (writes the Spanish correspondent of the -Irish' Catholic, under date Madrid, November 26), the classic epoch of Catholic social organisation, Valladolid, boasted of its 60 artisans' Guilds. It witnessed a revival of its old-time glories on Sunday last, when the representatives of 103 Catholic Syndicates or Unions paraded through its streets, the occasion being the solemn inauguration of the new Social Centre of those Catholic organisations of the Province. From the old Catholic circle, their former headquarters, they marched in long files-, each syndicate headed by its richly-adorned banner, to the Cathedral, where Solemn Pontifical High Mass was celebrated by the Bishop of Jaca, assisted by the prelates of Salamanca and Segovia. The intervention of the Cardinal-Archbishop was limited, owing to the precarious state of his health, to blessing the Syndicates' banners. After this grand demonstration of the union of the Church and Labor, the procession, composed of from 7000 to 8000 unionists, directed its steps to the new social centre, a large edifice, with halls set apart for each of the unions, and all the facilities which its nature and purpose demand; here the edifice was blessed by the Bishop of Salamanca, and from one of the balconies the Bishop of Jaca spoke to the masses assembled outside. He contrasted the aims and ideals of Catholic organised labor with the wild aspirations of Socialism, the reasonable liberty of the one, submissive to the teachings of the Church and Jesus Christ, with the liberty of the other, leading to riot and anarchy, and compared the new social edifice to that Cenacle in Jerusalem whence went forth the Apostles to . diffuse the Gospels throughout the world. From here, too, must go forth Apostles to save the country by the regenerating gospel of Catholic social action and organisation. His Lordship then blessed the assembled workmen, and they formally took possession of their new premises. \. . \. • • , ... =