Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/151

STRAUSS 117 STRAWBERRY at New York City College and from 1882 to 1918 was a member of the bank- ing firm of J. & W. Seligman & Company. He was also a director of several banks and industrial corporations. During the World War he acted in an advisory ca- pacity on international affairs to the United States Treasury. In September, 1919, he was appointed a member of the Federal Reserve Board for the term ex- piring October, 1928, and vv^as designated as vice-governor of the Federal Reserve Banks. He resigned in March, 1920. STRAUSS, JOHANN, an Austrian musician; bom in Vienna Oct. 25, 1825; began the composition of waltzes at age of six, and before he was 18 or- ganized and conducted an orchestra and captivated the Vienna public with waltzes and polkas of his own composi- tion. After composing dance music for JOHANN STRAUSS many years, he undertook an operetta, "Indigo," which was produced in 1871, and met with instantaneous success. Subsequently he produced "The Forty Thieves"; "Cagliostro"; "A Night in Venice"; "The Gipsy Baron" (operettas) and numerous waltzes, the best known being "The Beautiful Blue Danube." He died in Vienna June 3, 1899. STRAVINSKY, IGOR FEDORO- VITCH, a Russian composer, born at Oranienbaum, in 1882. He began the study of the piano at an early age, and first attracted attention in 1908, with his "Scherzo Symphonique," which was at once proclaimed a striking example of the new school of music. This was fol- lowed by other pieces with rapid suc- cession. He came to be regarded as the leader of Futurist music. His works include a symphonic fantasy, ballets, and an opera. STRAW. Apart from the importance of the straw of various cereal plants as a feeding and bedding material in agri- culture, such substances also possess no inconsiderable value for packing mer- chandise, for thatching, for making mat- tresses, and for door mats. Straw is also a paper-making material of some importance, and split, flattened, and col- ored it is employed for making fancy ai'ticies. But it is in the form of plaits that straw finds its most outstanding industrial application, these being used to an enormous extent for making hats and bonnets, and for small baskets, etc. Wheaten straw is the principal material used in the plait trade, the present great centers of which are Bedfordshire in England, Tuscany in Italy, and Canton in China. At first the plait was what is called whole straw; that is, straw was cut into suitable lengths without knots, and merely pressed flat during the oper- ation of plaiting; and so continued till the reign of George I., when it was in great demand for ladies' hats, and some plait was made of split straw. Since that time split straw has been chiefly used. The English straw used in plaiting is obtained principally from the varieties of wheat known as the White Chittin and the Red Lammas, which succeed best on the light rich soils of Bedford- shire and the neighboring counties. The finest and most costly plaits anywhere made — the Tuscan and Leghorn plaits — are made in Tuscan villages around Florence, and are not split. The straw there used — very fine in the pipe and bright in color — is produced from a variety of wheat thickly sov>?n and grown in a light thin soil. Panama hats are not made of straw but of the leaves of a variety of palm (Carludovica Palmata) . An enormous amount of straw plait, of a common but useful quality, has been sent into the European market from China. The exports of straw manufac- tures from the United States in the fis- cal year ending June, 1901, were valued at $412,668; imports at $335,669. STRAW BAIL, worthless security fur- nished by an offender against the law for his appearance for trial, the bonds given being fraudulent statements of property owned by the person offering it. STRAWBERRY, a v/ell-known fruit and plant of the genus Fragaria, natural order Rosacese. It is remarkable for the manner in which the receptacle, com- monly called the fruit, increases and be- comes succulent; but the true fruit is the small seeds or achenes on the surface of the receptacle. The species are per*