The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1896-02-27
WEALTH OF PELTS AND F(JR.


Large Fortunes Made In the Hid i and
Leather Business.
Truly, this age is not all wei and
cotton and fax, while still the stout
old merchants of the swamp ms ntain
the tradition of the days wheH the
foundations of great New Yoi for
tunes were laid in furs and pefy In
the weird shadows of the old Ware.
houses one would scarcely be surpkSed
if the painted ghost of chief ollSe
Manhatocs should step forth froIb the
tlraperies of leather, with his eeklsEi in
moccasins, spurning the prosaic kdust
Of commerce. Back of him migtd rise
another phantom-Savage Man, as
Carlyle describes him, with his thick
natural fell' and naught else!
Not all in the swamp is tame, DO
nestle. Calfsllins and cowhides are
there, of course, the great staples of
the leather trade But hundred beasts
of the wilderness have taken Scriptural
counsel and yielded their mantles I'd
their enemies. Their pelts adorn the
shelves of the merchants yonder, frolR
the canvas spread of the Asiatic ela
plant to the pathetic hands-breadtg
of the Brazilian lizard.
1t is long day since the hide of ah
elephant has appeared in Spruce street.
The market is supplied by travelling
showmen who have the big brutes die
on their hands. No hides are shipped
from Asia or Africa. They would sail
in transit. About once a year an Gle
plant skin reaches the swamp. 1t
takes a twelvemonth for tanning and
there is only one establishment in the
country where the business is carried
on. That is in Newark.
An elephant hide so prepared is
worth $500. 1t is SO thick that it is
split dozen times, thus simplifying the
area of the skin in much the same in
genious fashion in which Dido's city
was laid out. These splits are used for
1nalIing pocketbooks and carpetbags,
which sell at a princes ransom. The
pocketbooks bring as high as $25 and
the bags as high as 500. Only two
houses are known to manufacture
L
walrus hide, which is corrugated and
marvelously tough. 1t has no use OF
vestment, but it is valuable for polish
ing purposes, emery wheels and the
like. Another sea animal, the por-
poise, yields hide which is cut into
strips and makes shoe strings. There
is some small trade in it in the leather
district.
The scalp of that old serpent, the
natural enemy of woman" now dan
giles in triumph from her girdle. Snake
skins are in high favor for reticules,
belts and pocketbooks. Chiefly the
rattlers and boa constructors are
sought out for destruction. A skin
eight inches wide and eight feet long
brings about $3.50. For similar use the
iungles have witnessed a run on Java
and Brazilian lizards. The skins of the
former are sometimes three feet long,
while the Brazilian variety is only a
few inches in length, but brings even
higher price.
Every house in the swamp has an
alligator hide hanging on a nail. There
is "a tender strip of skin on the belly of
the gigantic saurian that answers the
same purposes as the garb of his little
brother the lizard. This segment of
epidermis sells for about $1.25. Very
few shoes are any longer made of ALI
gator skin. On the back of the brute
is an area rough as a cobblestone pave
ment, that has recently been levied
upon with artistic results for the COW
erings of bags. Occasionally croco-
die hide comes into the market, and
then it takes one of the older heads
TO distinguish the Egyptian from his
American cousin. There is always a
lively business in kangaroo leather.
The raw hides are shipped here from
Australia in casks, picked away in
brine. When turned they bring 20 to
45 cents 4 square foot.-N. Y. Mail and
Express.