The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1891-11-20
LEATHER'S THE STUFF.
SEVERAL CURIOUS FACTS CON-
CERNINC 1T.
Used in the Days Of Tubal Cain and Ii
One Of the Most Important and
Valued Articles Known
in Manufa ctures.

Leather is such a common article
that but few people have ever thought
much about it They have always
been accustomed to seeing it in so
many forms and put to so many uses
that it has never occurred to them
what an interesting history leather
has. It is interesting to note facts in
the line of footwear alone. There are
fifty millions of people in this country
who wear out each three pairs of shoes
yearly. This gives an approximate
figure of $50, 900. 600 pair of shoes
used annually in the United States. A
baby is scarcely out of it's swaddling
clothes until it is provided with pair
of shoes to cover its little feet, and
shoes it will continue to wear on
through childhood, youth and old age,
and until done with life and the things
of this world forever. Among tanners
there is an old saying, There's moth
ing like leather"
The old tanner is very nearly right
when he says 1T dates from time un-
known" for leather is of the very
highest antiquity. Long before the
days of Noah's ark there were those,
who, according to Holy Writ. lived in
tents and kept cattle. It is hardly to
be doubted that these people who
tended f1ocks and herds, which fur
nished them both with meat and drink,
also made use of the skins of their an
imals for articles of clothing, and,
therefore, very early acquired some
knowledge of the tanners art. In the
book of Genesis mention is made of
! colored leather and all evidences of
an extraneous character go to show
that some simple method of tanning
and dressing the skins Of animals was
known before even Tubal Cain learned
the trade of brass founder
The ancient Egyptians were skilled
in the art of tanning leather and man
ufactured it in various ways and for
various purposes besides that of fur
nishing covering for the feet. Indeed,
it is to those builders OF the pyramids
that we are indebted for the first arts
| tic forms of footwear; and so far as
can be ascertained from history and
the researches of psychologists the
| Egyptians were the first shoemakers
who were worthy of the name.
1t is a fact too; that tanners of to-
day employ very much the same meth
DDS as did the ancients. About the
same materials are used and the pro-
cesses are almost precisely similar to
those in vogue hundreds of years ago.
It is true that tanners of the present
day have found means of greatly short
ening the time required to convert a
hide into leather, and that steam
power and modern machinery have
done much to expedite and improve
the processes of finishing the leather,
but after all, the principles of tanning
remain the same as they have from the
first.
Leather was very early used as a
currency, says the Chicago Herald,
the Romans employing it for this pur-
pose before either gold. silver or brass
came into common use. History is
full of references showing that leather
| was used by the ancients as sort of
| circulating medium Of exchange. It
is said, on good authority, that so late
| as the reign of Louis Kill of France
the country became SO impoverished
| and, as a consequence, money was so
scarce that little pieces of leather,
with small silver nail driven through
+ each, were in general use as money.
| Some few specimens of this leather
money are still in existence, but are
only to be found in the possession of
| numismatists, by whom they are highly
priced.
However, the manufacture of leather
has ever been a slow and tedious pro-
cess, as compared with most every in
| dustries. and even now, with improved
| processes of tanning and finishing,
months are required for the tanner to
convert the hide of an animal into
| leather. There is, too, a popular
opinion extant that tanners do not
make as good leather now from hides
| that are tanned in three months time
as they used to turn out when nine,
and even twelve, months were neces-
sary. This is mistake.
AS matter of fact better leather is
made to-day from hides in from sixty
to ninety days than was manufactured
| in the old way. 1t should be remem-
bered, however, that hides are tanned
in precisely the same manner now
! they have always been. That is, the
same agencies are used for combining
it with the gelatine of the hide and
for converting it into leather. Mod
ern tanners have simply discovered
methods by which the tannic acid is
made to penetrate more quickly into
the pores of the skin. This is accom-
plished partly by frequent manipula-
ton of the hides while in the watts and
partly by special treatments for keep
| ing the pores of the skins open during
the tanning process. It is a tact well
known to all tanners that any method
or process which will hasten the union
of the tannic acid with the hide short
ems materially the time necessary to
! convert it into leather.
Unpublished Poems by Burns.