New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-08-27
THE LEATHER TRADE.

! League coumAlIee O1ueI m1' 4>AeAoAAo w
do in the premises.
THE LEATHER TRADE.
Leather is one of the standard needs
of civilized communities. Indeed, for the
main purposes to which it is applied, it
proudly holds in contempt all competing
substances. There is nothing like
leather" for shoes and boots, nothing like
| it for saddles harness and trunks. But to
have leather we must slaughter animals
and tan and otherwise prepare their hides.
The questions therefore arise: Does the
supply of hide-producing animals keep
pace with the demands of civilization?
and, will tanning material prove sufi-
GENTLY abundant in all localities to tan
the hides produced?
The boots and shoes worn out each
year by the average civilized human being
implies the death of one or more of the
inferior animals, and the bark used in
tanning the leather of which these shoes
and boots are made implies the destruc-
ton of one or more forest trees. It is
clear then that the great centres of popu-
lation must seek their supply of the raw
materials, of which merchantable leather
is the product, in comparatively remote
localities. Europe, for instance, does not
kill q sufficient number of auima Is to
supply her tanneries with hides; nor can
she, from her own resources, furnish these
tanneries with the barks and other SUBJ
stances required for tanning purp oses
Hence imperfect substitutes for leather
have been sought in wood and cloth, with
the clog and the list slipper as results;
and hence also Europe is compelled to
import large proportion of the hides
she requires, and of the tanning material
she uses.
Nor is this condition of fairs likely to
be changed either in the near or the re-
mote future. Europe is, therefore, placed
at disadvantage, particularly when COM
pared with this country, as to all the prl-
mary essentials of the leather trade. This
disadvantage in the past has, however,
been in part overcome by the superior
skill of her workmen and the low rates OF
wages at which they have been compe lied
to labor. But within few years our
American workmen have proved them
selves quite as skillful in the prepar alton
and finish of leather as their European
competitors, and though they may not
work at the same low rates, their labor
saving contrivances and the abundance
and cheapness of the raw materials at
hand, afford them an assured coign OF
vantage which must ultimately decide
the contest in their favor.
Having shown our ability to feed and
clothe Europe in manner superior to
anything she had ever before expert
enced, it remains that we demonstrate
our ability to shoe her. In the produc-
ton of wild and domestic animals, whose
hides constitute the first essentials of the
leather trade, no other country occupies
so advantageous position as ours. And
this, while being true of our whole coun-
try, is especially true of the Gulf States.
Alabama and Louisiana and Mississippi
have tanning material in the great est of
abundance, and New Orleans, as hide
market, enjoys advantages over every
other city on this continent Chicago,
while competing with the tanyards Of
Massachusetts,, is compelled to obtain her
oak tan-bark from Alabama; nor can she
obtain her hides and other tannery essen
tials on as good terms as those which rule
here in the Crescent City. Indeed, New
Orleans is admirably situated for engag-
ing extensively in the production OF
leather and the manufacture of shoes and
boots. We have an abundance of skilled
workmen here, and by availing ourselves
of the labor-saving machinery which has
come into use within the last twenty years
we may bid defiance to any competition
likely to arise either at home or abroad.
In the preparation and expectation of
sole leather the New Orleans producers
would find themselves exceptionally
favored. That America is to become the
main source of supply for heavy leather
throughout the world is now admitted by
all who have philosophically studied the
twin question of demand and supply as
now presented; and certainly no portion
of our widespread continent is better
fitted fcT advantageously engaging in this
trade than our own goodly city. Last
year leather, amounting to over ten mil
lion dollars, was sent from this country
to Europe, and as time wears on our leather
producers will every year become better
and better enabled to meet the peculiar de-
mands Of that market and defy such COM
petition as may arise. We are now, as it
were, only on the threshold of this bust
ness, and it is of the utmost Importance
to the commercial and industrial interests
Of New Orleans that the opportunity pre-