Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-14
ABOUT KID GLOVES.
Skins of Various Animals Used and
the Methods of Preparation.

From the Chicago Record.
Barefooted boys and hens form a curl
Gus partnership in the making of a pair of
fine gloves
They work together in preparing the
skins for the hands Of the fashionable wo-
nan who rushes to the stores every time
a 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 sew
eral hours.
When a woman buys a pair of gloves
she speaks of ner purchase as kids" If
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-fitting kid" gloves came
from the shoulders and belly Of three
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 to France, where they were
made up into kid gloves Or he might,
with equal regard to the truth, tell her
that those gloves in the other compart-
ment once darted from tree to 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
frcm Australia, lambs and sheep from
Ohio or Spain or England, calves from In
dia, muskrats from anywhere, musk oxen
from China and other parts of Asia, rats,
cats and New foundland puppies.
But the little Russian colt, the four
footed baby from the plains where the
Cossacks live, t. colt from the steppes
of Siberia, where horses are raised by the
| thousand, supply ;he skins which are the
| favorites at present with the glovemakers.
Experts say that the coltskin makes a
| better, stronger, finer glove than real kid
skin, and as the colt is little fellow, only
three weeks old when he is killed, but a
! small amount of skin can be made into
gloves, so that the price Is about as high
But, after all, the real kid, the lively
| infant of the goats which live in France,
Switzerland, Spain and Italy. furnishes the
| best, finest and most expensive gloves,
ard nearly 100000 kids are sacrificed
every year in order that women and men
NAV cramp their hands in wrinkleless,
| delicate-hued gloves.
They Beat the World.
Germans, English and clever Yankees
have vainly tried for years to dress and
dye kidskins as well as the Frenchman in
southern France. Millions of skins arc
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 place
| the American alongside the Frenchman in
! dressing and preparing skins for the max
| ing of gloves. The buyers for the manu-
| facturers in France travel over the noun
| tains of Spain, Italy and Switzerland col
| lecting the kidskins. They pay about Is
| cents a skin, and packing them in bales
| ship them to the factory.
| The place where the skins are dressed
| cannot be called 4 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 kid