The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1891-08-05
wAALEsoNE GETTING SCARCE.
Now Costs $4,000 a Ton for the Raw
Material.


There was a time when the corsets
and stays of the fashionable girl could
have told tales of wondrous romance;
of dauntless sailors fighting under
leaden skies against the monsters of
the deep; of privation and suffering
undergone by men whose wives and
daughters waited with aching hearts
for their return from long and terrible
voyages. That time has practically
passed. says the Mercer. and its history
is told by the epitaphs upon the monu-
ments in the graveyards of the Massa-
chusetts fishing towns or in the tradi-
tions of their groceries and bar rooms.
| The whalebones, which were once
used for the hoopskirts, corsets and
stays of the fashionable woman, and
which were often secured only at the
sacrifice of brave mems lives, are be-
ing largely replaced by ordinary horn
and compositions invented by clever
men. Whalebone grows scarcer and
dearer every year. The annual prod
uct has fallen from about 1000, 900
pounds secured by the old-time sailing
vessels with ancient appliances, to
about 200, 900 pounds obtained by the
modern whaling steamships with ma
chimes and guns. The price of whale
bone has risen from a mere trif1e to
about $5 pound.
Last year about 10000 pounds of
bone were secured from the Atlantic
catch of whales, and less than that
amount was secured from the Pacific
waters. Fine whalebone is worth its
weight in silver. and only the wealthy
woman can afford 10 use it. The or
dinary principles of production and
trade are overturned as regards whale
bone. Modern appliances and i'm
| provements appear to have decreased
rather than to have enlarged the
amount of the product. The price of
whalebone fuctuates worse than the
stock market, owing to the fact that it
is impossible to calculate upon the
amount of a seasons catch until the
bone has actually been extracted.
There are only seven manufacturers
In this country, according to the latest
report-tive in New York and two in
Boston. They pay 80 600 for ton of
raw material and split it up and pre-
pare it for the market. Quantities are
used up in the silkmills where ribbon
is manufactured. 1t is used there for
the edge of the ribbon in weaving.
Some of the best hat manufacturers
use it in the sweat bands of their silk
hats. Although the corsets and dress
stays of women still take up practically
about the whole supply of whalebone.
| yet fully 80 per cent of the corsets
manufactured here are braced up with
something else.
Years ago whalebone was used in
hoopskirts, but hoopskirt of that sort
now would cost as much as a good
dress. 1t won't be long before whale
bone corsets will be beyond the reach
of even those women who dress fairly
well and their cost will have placed
them among the articles of higher
| luxury.
Horn is largely used in place of
whalebone now, but it is not nearly as
good, because heat and cold will cause
it to snap in two. This horn is made
in France, and most of it is contrib
uted by the Texas steer. The horn is
shipped to France. made into imitation
whalebone. comes back, pays duty
and is frequently sold to American
consumers as real whalebone. Much
of the whalebone secured in American
waters is sent abroad. The cost of
manufacture there is less than here.
and the prices obtained for Partisan
corsets or dress stays enable the man
ufacturer to use the genuine article.