The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-09
GLOVE MAKING.
Small Boys and Hsns Have a Great
Deal 10 Do With the Business.
From the Chicago Record

partnership In the making OF pair Of fine
gloves.
They work together in preparing the
skins for the hands Of the fashionable
woman who rushes to the stores every
time new shade OF gloves is announced.
Thousands OF dozens OF hens eggs are
used in curing the hides and thousands
Of boys are employed TO work the skins
IN clear water by treading on them for
several hours.
When woman buys pair of gloves
she speaks OF her purchase as kids"
II the clerk who sold her the kid gloves
knew the secrets OF the glove-making
business he might surprise his fair Gus
toner by telling her that those beautiful,
soft, smooth-htting kid" gloves came
from the shoulders and belly Of a 3-week-
old colt, whose neck was slit on the plains
OF Russia. and whose tender hide was
shipped with huge bundles Of other colts .
hides 10 France. where they were made up
INTO kid gloves. or he might with equal
regard 10 the truth tell her that those
gloves In the other compartm n once
darted from tree 70 tree In South america
on the back of ring-tailed monkey. And
If he made the rounds OF the store and
could distinguish one skin from another,
he could point out kid" gloves made
from the skins Of kangaroos from Aus
tralia; lambs and sheep from Ohio. or
oEdtAAs VI LuAAdNAr calves from lMulAe
muskrats from anywhere: musk oxen
from China and other parts Of Asia; rats.
cats and Newfoundland puppies.
But the little Russian colt. the foor-foot-
ed baby from the plains where the Cos
sacks live, the colt from the steppes OF
Siberia, where horses are raised by the
thousand. supply the skins which are
the favortes at present with the glove
makers. Experts say that the colt-skin
makes better. stronger, finer glove than
real kidskin and as the colt is a little fell
low, only three weeks old when he lis
killed, but a small amount OF skin can be
made into gloves, 50 that the price is
about as high.
But, after all, the real kid, the lively in
FAINT OF the goats which live In France,
Switzerland, Spain and Italy furnishes
the best, finest and most expensive gloves
and nearly 100000 kids are sacrificed
every year I'm order that women and men
may cramp their hands in wrinkleless,
delicate-hued gloves.
Germans. English and clever Yankees
have valnly tried for years to dress and
dye kidskins as well as the Frenchman
in southern France. Millions Of skins are
dressed and dyed in this country. but all
the tariff which has been imposed. all
the workmen who have been brought TO
this country, all the money which has been
spent and all the skill and learning of
chemists and inventors have failed to
4
man I'm dressing and preparing skins for
the making of gloves. The buyers for the
manufacturers in France travel over tho
mountains OF Spain, Italy and Switzerland
collecting the kidskins. They pay about
% cents a skin, and packing them in
bales ship them TO the factory.
The place where the skins are dressed
cannot be called a tannery. for oak bark
and the other preparations which are
used by the ordinary tanner do not enter
into the making OF kid gloves. When the
kidslns are brought to the factory they
are dumped into pits which are filled
with water and lime, and kept there for
two or three weeks. From the minute
they are placed In the pits the skins are
carefully watched, and the workmen
move the skins about with iron longs
handling them tenderly for fear the deli
cate skins may be torn. When they are
removed from the lme-water pits tho
hair is easily removed. and then the
flesh on the under part of the skin is
taken Off. After every hair Is rubbed from
the skins and all the flesh has been
scraped away they are placed i'm clear
running water to remove the lime which
has soaked IN. After this the skins are
placed In wheat bran mixed with warm
water, which has the same effect on the
skins that a mixture of bran and warm
water has on the human skin; 1t makes
the skin soft and pliable and removes all
the dirt and impurities.
At this stage of the operations the hers
come into play, Tor the dresser or curer
prepares a mixture Of the yolk OF eggs,
-four, alum and salt and places It with the
skins in a drum which revolves on a shaft
or axle The turning over of the skins In
this revolving drum works the egg mix
ture into the skins, and the process is
kept up for an hour. The skins are
then hung separately on hooks in hot
room and dried. The next step is to wet
them In clear water again and work them
by hand over a curved, polished tool on
which the soft skin is stretched back and
forth and pulled and worked until the
skin is wider and longer than 1t was
originally, and exceedingly pliable. The
skins are then turned over to the shavers,
who with knives as keen as razors shave
the under part. This one of the most
delicate operations in the process of
curing, and none but the most skillful
workmen are shavers. The shaving makes
the skins thin and delicate. Then they are
coated with a mixture Of flour, oil and
the yellow of eggs, and are turned over
to the barefooted boys. The lads pit
them in clear water and then walk back
and forth over them, patting them with
their feet for hours, and then the eggs
are used again, for the skins are treated
to a coating of the yellow of eggs and
laid away for a day or so.
After that they are ready for the dyer.
and then applies the dye. The color is
put on only one side. The dyer is an
artist He is as proud of his art as any
painter OF landscapes, marines or por-,
traits, and puts on his colors with as
delicate a touch as that used by the
painter of miniatures. He goes over the
surface untH his color is perfectly even
and uniform in tone. When he is salts
fed with his work he sends ii to men who
go over the skins and remove any uneven
ness in grain or texture which may have
come through Undecided.
The sorters next take the skins and as
sort them according to size and quality.
The undressed or suede finish is given to
the gloves by shaving off a layer of the
outer side by polishing the hair side of it.
For cheap suede gloves the flesh side of the
skin is used for the outside.
Each kidskin will supply material for
about three gloves, and one man can
cut about three dozen pairs day. The
gloves are first stitched on the back and
then the fingers are stitched in on sew
ing machine in which the needle moves
horizontally instead of up and down, as
in an ordinary sewing machine. The