The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-10-15
LEATHER TRUST.
Effort to Lower Market Price
Of Hides
May Close 100 Tanneries in the
United States.
OUTPUT CUT DOWN TOO
Other Workers VIII Follow
Lead of Trust.
Managers Reticent as to Their
Real Intentions.
OUTPUT CUT DOWN TOO


neries in the east and south, is about
to curtail its output of leather,so it was
reported yesterday. The leather trust
men viii say nothing about the report,
for it has been their policy, since the
organization of the combine five years
ago, not to make public any reports of
their business which would affect the
price Of the company's stock in Wall
street. But the makers of leather in
and around Ferry street, who own some
OF the tannerieS not in the combine, and
who know as we'll as the officers of the
trust what an incentive the unsatisfac-
tory condition of the market is to cur
failing the output of leather, are con-
WINGED that the report is true, and they
are preparing to meet the conditions
that the gradual closing up of hum
dred of the big tanneries of the coun-
try would bring about. One of the
smaller Ferry street leather companies,
on the strength of the report, sent tele-
grams to the four tanneries which the
company controls IN the south, order
ing that the "Wetting of hides" stop,
and that only the work under way con-
tinue. Another company received from
its Chicago buyer a telegram stating
that the trust would close up it's tan
nerieS within a week.
The United States Leather company
is a power in the hide and leather mar
ket, but many tanneries all over the
country, whose total output exceeds that
of the trust are independent of it. The
combine was formed in May, 1S93 by
the union of a dozen odd leather max
ers, owning hundred tanneries. Near
ly $4,000 men are in the employ of the
trust. The capital stock of the COM
pany is 1924, 822, 200. James Horton is
the president of the company, and its
main offices are at &c and % Ferry
street. It's tanneries are spread over
Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia,
North Carolina, New Jersey and New
York. 1t probably controls fOur-ffths
of the output of hemlock sole leather,
that is, leather tanned with hemlOck
bark; while it controls a large share of
the output of oak sole leather and I'M
ion sole leather, the last named being
tanned by both hemlock and oak banks.
AS an importer of hides, the trust con-
trolls the BuenOs Ayres, MOntevideo and
Rosario markets, whence come the great
bulk of South American hides.
The leather makers around Ferry
street are anxious to see the price of
hides come down and the price of
leather go up. Just now none of them
is making a fair profit. Several causes
have brought about the present unsat-
isfactiry condition of the market. The
shoemakers, in their attempt to make
cheaper shoes, have brought down the
price of leather to a point so low that
there is little profit in leather making.
And then, too, there has been an over
production of leather, and shoe factor
les and tanneries are carrying heavy
stocks. Hides, on the other hand, are
none too plentiful, and the prices of
foreign hides are higher than the leath-
er makers think they ought to be- Some
of them blame the tariff. For many
years hides were not subject to an i'm
port duty, but under the tariff which
has been in operation for Is months
hides pay an ad valorem duty of Is per
cent This duty was imposed to aid the
American farmers who sell steers to
the packers but the leather makers say
that the tax has not put any money in
the farmers pockets, and all the benefit
is received by the packers of Chicago,
K ar nTTfe nT,7o no
York and others cities, who have simp-
" raised the price of domestic hides.
Under the new tariff the United States
Lea Their company has developed a large
export business in memlOck sole leather
for the duties paid on hides imported
are refunded when these hides go to
Europe as leather.
~ large a buyer of hides and maker
of leather as the United States Leather
company can "break the hide market
and create an active demand for leath-
er, and so the leather men not in the
combination are happy at the prospect
of a closing up of the tanneries. Three
years ago, two years after the combine
was formed, there was a condition of
things similar to that at present. The
trust closed down its tanneries for four
months. and by this method succeeded
in pulling the price of domestic hides
down from Is cents to cents a pound.
And three years before that the prin-
cipa1 makers OF leather got together
and agreed to stop putting hides in the
ment for the benefit of the trade result
ed in the formation of the United States
Leather company a year later. The
three-year cycle has gone by again and
the leather makers think it is time to
resort to the expedient that brought
about a better condition of things III
1892 ard 1893. Chicago hides are now
selling for from II to II cents a pound
higher prices than have been quoted,
with the exception of the year 1895, in
a decade. And the South American
hides are selling for from 141z to 167z
cents a pound.
One Of the significant facts in con-
nectiOn with the story of the closing up
of the tanneries is that the United
States Leather cOmpany's imports of
hides from the Plata Valley has grad
ually fallen off within a few weeks.
Nearly all the hides from Buenos Ayres, |
MOntevideo and Rosario are going to
Europe. Some of the smaller leather
companies were unsuccessful yesterday
in their efforts to buy the dry hides for
immediate use For long while they
have been buying only as they were in
absolute need, hoping that there would /
come a break in the market. Should
the break come they viii at once buy
heavily. The foreign hides are now quo
ted at from 141a to 1615 cents a pound.
These foreign hides are divided into
two ClaSSeS-the straight or better, !
hides, coming from the La Plata Valley,
and the common" hides coming from |
northern South America. Central Amer
lea and Mexico. The trust controls the |
supply of straight hides, while the
common hides are imported by the
men not in the combination. American /
hides are really much more expensive |
that the best South American hides,
for they are sold wet, and the water /
doubles and triples their weight. The |
American hides weigh about so pounds |
each, while those from Buenos Ayres |
weigh about D.
Importers of common" hides from /
South America complain that the Gus |
tom house appraisers have for a month !
so increased the invoice valuations OF /