River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1889-05-02
FACTS ABOUT GLOVES.
According to Authorities They Are NOS
Made of Dog or Rat Skins. 1

According to Authorities They Are NOS
RIade of Dog or Rat Skins.
There are many popular fallacies con-
serning kid and other fine leather
gloves. Some Of the most sceptical peo-
pie, if their attention is called to gloves,
will say with the utmost confidence:
''0h, fney are made of rat and dog
lkins; in fact. almost any thing but the
,kins Of kids Many people think
chat dog-skins play large part in the
manufacture of kid gloves. The facto
Ne matter IS that not ons dozen out OF
a thousand so-called dog-skin gloves
are made from dog-skins; dog-skins do
40: make fine gloves. They can not
DO dressed TO give thelna fine finish and
are thick and coarse. OF he rat-skin
tallacy it need only be said that there
could no considerable number C rat
skins be obtained, and they would be
useless for the manufacture Of gloves if
there should be.
The dapper clerk in a gentleman's
furnishing store tells you: Now those
are dog skin; they are warranted to us
by the manufacturer and so we can
warrant them to you" The gentleman
tells his companion that he might as
well by pair OF dogskin gloves and
paw dogskin price for them; for If he
/ asks for kids he is sure TO get dog-skins
after paying the extra price The fact
Of the matter is that about ninety-nine
| out Of every hundred dozen pairs of
mems gloves are made Of sheep or
lamb skin. There are some few made
Of horse skin, but these are considered
fine and in fact cost as much or more
than kids
Nearly the whole supply of horse
skins comes from Russia. and when
properly treated the leather tans
beautiful! white and is used for the finest
mems gloves. Many sheep. lamb and
kid skins come from South America,
bat the natives down there have not
learned the process OF properly curing
the skins and consequently much leath-
er that with proper care might
be made valuable is practically
/ spoiled in preparing IT for mar
ket- The finest kids come from Franco.
although a number OF European cOun-
1 tries furnish large number of good
1 quality. Goats multiply in numbers
rapily. with suitable care. and the
peasants in some parts Of Russia live
almost entirely on goat meat
and milk and what few veg
etables they raise in their gar
dens. A kid five or six weeks old is
said to make a more palatable dish than
lambs meat. The butchers in some Eu-
ropean countries will kill and dress the
kid for the hide. They understand how
to dress the skins and treat them so as,
to make them most valuable, and do not
blunder as the South Americans do 10y
mailing them upon a fiat surface and al.
Low the broiling sun to burn all Of the
strength and elasticity out Of them.
"A good lamb skin is better than
poor kid. said the superintendent of
glove department, land many lamb
skin gloves are sold for kids, but the
supply Of kids skins Is very large and
is increasing each year. so that there
seems TO be no danger Of q permanent
increase in the price although there
has recently been an increase Of from
ten to twenty per cent. in the price of
the skins
This was explained by a large dealer
by the fact tina; though there is
theoretically no kid glove trust, there
is what practically amounts 10 The Same
thing The business in Eurosa is in
the hands of three or four rich dealers,
who can buy up the bulk of the skins
on the market and control prices for a
time, by making an agreement, perhaps
verbal, TO keep the price at a certain
point. This can not be maintained any
great length OF time, however. for the
reason that a number of American
houses now have special buyers who
visit all Of the countries where the
skins are produced and buy them di-
reclly from the producers. The only
dealers being affected by the market
being cornere2 are the small ones, who
only buy CROUCH stock TO last them a
month or two. and when their stock is
used up must pay the increase de-
manded by the large dealers Or stop
their works \ Y Tribune