Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-08-01

Of Foreign Nations
n With the United States.
VI
ale Display Of Foreign Goods, But
America Leads In All.
A1
:, ~ Line si Leather wssk-mahiss Fine
She's BY naehiasy.
lav
N ToRLD's FAIR. July 81 Especial -
ere is no place in the exposition where
ieIeign nations have entered into keenei
AIRY with America than in the great
oe and Leather building. But the i'm.
rtial observer will unhesitatingiy aver
R-at in almost every line Of leather work
e eAmericans are first best An old say.
z has it that there Il nothing like
tther," and for the first time in the his
ry of international expositiens leather
d its products are honored with build.
+. 8 all their own. This structure, large
d handsome, is one Of the results of that
ocess of specialization and enlargement
,i,hhich have made this fair what it is in
'ints Of magnitude and scope. Originally
was intended to show leather and cog
tte industries in the Manufactures
Hiding. and It was believed the building
I'd space enough for their accommoda-
on, and for the department of anthro
ology and ethnology as well. Now both
.,iese departments are quartered in build
kgs of their own, and the vast tent oi
Ieel and glass known as Manufactures
'uilding is still crowded from one end tc
ie other.
nsThis building devoted exclusively to the
ather interests is not small one, either
IA measures l50x575 feet, and if you will
I. ,mpare these dimensions with somt
Hiding you know you will readily set
6at it is monster Besides the ground
>,v,or space, there is a broad gallery, run
ing entirely around the building. and
erhaps the most interesting feature Of
.sne exhibit is to be found on this floor.
ION the ground floor America has taken
ssignment of favorable space. Our for
eigr friends are courteously given the
choicest locations, in the center of the hall,
where the light is best. Here fine displays
are made by Russia, Spain, Germany,
Austria, France, Mexico, Japan, Brazil,
Venezuela and the Argentine Republic
These are the great leather countries OF
the world, though Of course the United
States must be added to them and put at
the top of the list.
These and other countries make displays
here which in the aggregate possess far
more that is interesting to the man who
does not know much about leather than
you would think possible. OF course
leather is shown in every form known to
man and his arts. The exhibitors are not
content to show the prepared skins which
form the basis of their trade, but they go
back to first principles as II We're and dis
play for our instruction and amusement
the animals which produce the hides OF
commerce. stuffed and mounted.
That familiar freak, the two-headed
calf, is here without any taking of its
form. More curious still are the dwarfed
COW and calf which have come all the way
from st. Paul da Loanda, Africa, and
which are always surrounded by groups OF
admirers. The COW, which is of perfect
form, and black as coal, is no larger than
a medium-sized dog, while her calf, also rs
black as night, II the size Of a Thomas cat
Of a years lusty growth. As you may
imagine, the visitors. especially the women
and children, think this little COW and her
calf about the cutest thing
that ever walked on four legs. Not far
away is the largest shoe that was ever
manufactured. 1t is as much monstros-
ity in vastness as the black critters are in
tinniness. The COW and her calf could
both find standing room in the big shoe,
for it is 42 inches long and 16 inches wide.
The number of jokes one hears in the vi
cinity of this shoe about the feet of the
Chicago girl, etcetera, is so great as to be
come tiresome after time.
The alligator cX.4.1it is quite interest
ing. There are no living saurians in the
collection but an almost endless Vsiety
of alligator and crocodile skins. Some Of
them are beautifully marked, and
strongly suggestive of the handsome wares
which are now manufactured from these
skins. In the collection is another beauti-
full but rather uncanny specimen-that OF
the skin Of a huge Indian cobra which
would make hundreds of elegant purses
for our ladies of fashion. An alligator's
nest full of eggs is shown here, too, and it
naturally attracts a great deal of atten-
ton, for not many Of us have had chance
to see an alligator's nest before.
Among the foreign displays there is
none quite 50 interesting as that OF Russia.
With the Russians leather work means
furs, and furs means leather work, for
they mix the two trades together in way
quite unknown in this country. Besides.
Russia has almost unlimited supplies to
draw upon. Her empire extends from the
region of the seal, the polar bear, the mar
ten, the mink, the walrus, the reindeer in
the north, to the wild animal plains in
Siberia and the juugles of inner southern
Asia. The Russians make great show of
the boots and shoes of their land-those
top-boots with soft folds, black and hand
some, which we have seen in pictures
about the legs of all nobilities, military
and civil, for the last fifty years. 1t is a
genuine pleasure to have the accuracy Of
the pictures in which we have been 80
much interested thus confirmed by the ap-
pearance of the very op-boots themselves
with that uecuIiar glossy fold which the
Russians alone seem to know how To pro
duce.
Mexico's exhibit is very good, too. The
Mexicans are great saddle-rnakers. and
many of their household uses of leather
are ingenious and artistic. A curiosity In
their section is the tough, elastic skin OF
the fish which they call manati, and OF
which walking sticks are manufactured
and sold at fancy prices Eight dollars is
big price for little piece of fish skin
and yet many Mexican scrapes and saves
till he has amasse-1 that amount of money
and invested it in one of thesequ sticks
lie does so because of his belief in the ira
dition that if he strikes his enemy with
one Of thee canes a cancer will appear I'D
the spot struck.
You never knew what leather was till
you walked through this building. Leath-
er is shown in all the tints of the rainbow.
In fact, one exhibitor has so arranged his
wares that the effect is very gpod imita
tion of the eolors as well as Of the form Of
the sign which we read in the Bible was
set in the heavens MS encouragement fol
Noah. Here is collection of calves skins
tanned with the hair on and "A soft and
pliable as silk. with the natural markings
in the grain of the hides as beautiful As
picture Here. also, is an OK hide that
was first tanned, then split into four
thicknesses. and each of the pieces dyed
different color. The splitting process was
not carried out entirely. and the foui
pieces are left joined at the shoulder to