Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1893-08-25
LEATHER AT THE FAIR.
UNIQUE EXHIBITS OF AN IMPoR-
TANT INDUSTRY.
Everything Pertaining to Shoes and
Leather Shown In One Large
Building-An Elephant Hide.

Leather Shown In One Large
Building-An Elephant Hide.
N the Lake Front, in the
southern extremity of the
Fair grounds, the Leather
Building is located. 1t is
170x625 in dimensions, and cost over
800, 900, but by reason of its unfavor.
able location has not attracted as many
visitors as some of the other exhibits,
though all who enter its doors are
amply repaid for their trip.
Beneath the roof of this great struc-
ture everything pertaining to the shoe
and leather industry is shown. The
fact that this industry has been for
years one of the most important in our
country seems never to have been taken
into consideration, and the representa-
tion heretofore has not been worthy
business of such magnitude
In the exhibit within the Leather
Building now, however, nothing has
been omitted which properly belongs
to the trade. There are prepared
hides and skins in hundreds of varie.
ties and an almost endless list of arti-
cles which are made from the tanned
skins of animals.
Though tanned leather enters into
the manufacture of thousand and one
different articles, such as harness,
valises, trunks and the like, the shoe
industry consumes over three-fifths of
the leather used. And in the manu-.
facture of these shoes what a variety
nf Inc
trated. The evolution of the shoe is
one of the marks of civilization; the
earth has been searched and history
and the museums ransacked from one
end to the other in order that every
style and form of shoe known, or of
which record was had, might find its
proper representation in this Worlds
Fair exhibit. How well the origina-
tors of the enterprise have succeeded
is amply shown by a study of the dis.
play in the cases along the walls of the
interior of the Leather Building.
The e'most unique and odd in design
and pattern are those from Tangiers,
Africa, made from turtle claws, which
enable the wearer to climb tree OF
scratch his antagonist with the same
effect and advantage possessed by the
bear or panther.
There is such an innumerable dis
play of odd and ancient styles as to
bewilder the most ardent admirer of
footwear. The straw sandal, scarcely
larger than a baby's slipper, comes
from Kioto, Japan, where the young
ladies wear them, and the fiat cloth
shoes with no soles or heels, which
protect the water carriers feet, are
from Alexandria, Egypt. The wooden
clogs with stills attached are the pride
of the Japanese tea packers in wet
weather, and the straw mats worn on
the feet when the sun blisters the
pavement belong to the natives of
Shotean, India.
A pair of boots purchased by Prince
Shouisski of Russia in Paris for 5000
francs have section in the case all to
themselves. The foot is of white nm
dressed kid, the boot legs of white
velvet embroidered with gold, while
precious stones glitter in the open
pieces of the design.
Leather for decorative purposes OF
all shades of color and thickness has
an important place in the display.
There are tanned skins of snakes,
alligators, lizards and specimens of
leather tanned by all kinds of pro
cesses.
There isan elephant hide, the largest
ever tanned, which is twenty feet in
length from tip of trunk to end of
tail, sixteen feet in width, and its
greatest thickness three inches. II
weighs 800 pounds, and is used to
polish leather. Two years time is re
quired to tan a hide of this character
The longest belt ever made is
another exhibit in this collection. II
is twelve inches wide and 10000 feet
in length, being the longest continuous
piece of leather ever manufactured.
Then there are the finest and most
modern designs of ingenuity and in,
ventive genius displayed by the larger
manufacturers of America. These dis
plays are unequalled, for every man
working on the designs put forth hi
best effort with view to excel, not tc
pattern after any other. The result is
the grandest, most superb and most
costly line of footwear every seen in
one building before.
In the line of slippers the results
have been obtained in the same man
ner, and the person whose tastes
could not be suited from this display
would have to study up some design
not known to the thousands of design
ers and dealers and would be rewarded
a premium for novelty.
In the gallery the machinery used
in the shoe industry forms a most in
teresting study. Every single pro
cess from the first formation of the
shoe to the finishing and packing in
the box is illustrated.
Pyramids of shoe dressing, of polish,
blacking and all that is necessary to
the care and protection as well as the
Identifying of leather is displayed IN
various parts of the building until one
begins to realize that there are more
things about the shoe industry and
trade than he ever dreamed of. st.
Louis Republic.