Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-07
THE LEATHER LINES.
Tanners Well Satisfied With the Present
Business Outlook - Some Advances
Looked for-The Boot and
Shoe Trade Good.
OFFICE OF PITTsBURG DISPATCH,
TUESDAY, August 6, 1889.


OFFICE OF PITrsBURG DIsPATcH,l
TUESDAY, August 6. 1889. :
A representative of the leading harness
leather tanneries of Allegheny said to-day:
1--WE have no reason to complain of trade.
Trade is active for this time of year, and
stock is well cleaned up. Our volume of
business in July was fully up to last July,
though margins are a shade narrower this
year.
August opens up well and prospects are
good for brisk fall trade. An advance in
harness leather is almost certain at an early
day. Sole leather is firmer in the east the past
few days, and from present outlook we are
likely to be kept busy the next few months"
The leather industry, as is well known has
been dull the past year, and now the signs are
that bottom has been reached, and that we are
to have an upward movement. Manufacture
er's here will be among the first to reap the
benefit of an advance, as Allegheny sole and
harness leather are always at premium in the
worlds markets. Though the capacity of our
home tanners has been doubled or more in the
past i've years. there is little doubt from pres
ent outlook that stuff will all be taken the
coming fall at outside rates. Though margins
Of profit are greatly reduced, as compared with
former years, the increased volume of trade
will furnish a fair compensation to decline of
values.
New England Handicapped.
The closeness of margins has. in recent
months, had disastrous effect on New En-
gland leather manufacturers, where the item
of bark is a much larger factor in expense than
here. The failure of a prominent shoe firm in
Boston recently led to the assignments last week
of one of the heavy leather firms of that city
last Friday, namely, William F. johnson 4 Co.
Times have been rough of late to New England
tanners and shoe dealers. In this city all are
as solid as the hills, and though margins are
uncomfortably close, there is a good time
coming for the ittest who survive
Several months ago an interview with one of
the leading Allegheny tanners was published
in this column in which the prediction was
made that New England tanners were opera
ting at loss, and that 1t was only question
Q. %e rS wfS onS were e NOT
ahead must go to the wall. Said the gentle
man interviewed: ION the amount of leather our
firm manufactures annually we have an advan-
tage-of $4,000 in bark alone over New England
tanners, and we are having little or no profit.
Look out for breaks in the tanning industry of
New England"
Facts About Hides.
Light weights are still slow and dull, as are
calf skins. Heavy steer hides are firm at old
prices. said leading dealer: "Our July trade
was ahead of last July in volume and August
shows no falling of. We have sold more SO
of last year. But trade has to be pushed. The
time has gone by when hide dealers can rest on
their oars and wait for trade to come to them.
The only way to win in this time of close
margins is to go for trade. and not wait for
year than last only by pushing things, and as it
is. though we work harder, we make less
profit"
The fact is daily developed by interviews with
merchants and manufacturers that there is no
salvation these times for those who neglect
printers ink and fail to push trade. Instead of
waiting Micawber-like, for something to turn
up the winner in the business battle must go to
work and turn something UP.
Boots md shoes.
Fall orders from distant points began to come
in freely about the middle of June, and from
that time until the middle of July the bulk of
orders were placed. The nearby trade is best
in August and September.
Said one of our leading jobbers: "Our trade
is holding up fairly well and we have placed an
amount of orders for fall fully up to last sea-
son. The outlook for an active fall trade is
good. There is a scarcity of good heavy sole
and upper leather in the market, and in these
lines an advance in prices is likely to come be-
tween now and spring. The prospects for fall
trade are better than they were a year ago at
this time. The outlook is healthy Rubber
goods have been under the weather for a wear
past Last winter was not as severe as rubber
manufacturers like. Many retailers were
forced to carry over stocks of goods. The
weak point of the shoe trade now is in rubber
goods. And only severe winter will tone up
this department of our industry"