The sun., 1901-10-27
YB MAKE FINE LEATHERS NOW
A!MERICANS No LONGER DEPEND
ON FOREIGN TANNERIES.
Recent Progress In the industry Here
Elephant and buffalo Hide About
tie Most Expensive Less
IN Demand Tanned Human skin.

h Demand II hnned HUMAN shin.
Few women who have a taste for fine
leather goods realize what havoc Is wrought
in the animal Kingdom In order that their
fancies may he gratihed. or course. the
nlnn must bear their share Of the rrepon-
sibIlity and that shAro grows larger every
year as masculine tastes become more
mxurous and manufacturers make more
strenuous efforts to crafty thsm; but the
women are tho customers by whose whlms
and vagarios the fancy leather trade is
regulated.
For long time thsre was . tradition
that all first-class leather goods must b.
impaired into this country. Americans
were not suoceesful in tanning and coloring
fancy leathers, and even N the skins were
Imported. there were no worknen here %
,is. them skiinilly. But recent years have
changed all that.
Ono or two New York Arms. famous for
the quality Of their wares. determined
90 produce lines of fancy leather goods
equal 20 any 10 bs found Ia Europe Work
men were obtained from England. Ger
many, Austria Leathers were imported
Designers were set at work and year by
year tho quality Of goods turned cut from
these establishments has grown finer,
until to-day Il courts comparison with any
hard-worked leather goods In tbs world.
Following tho leaders came a host Of
other manufacturers. some Of them turn
ing out leather goods of genuine merit.
many catering 20 the cheap trade and
substituting machine work for hand work.
and inferior or imitation feathers for the
real article The country is flooded with
cheap fancy lesth-rs now. bur the enclu-
sive firms still charge their high prices and
are justified In doing IT, for the best quality
of rare leather il always high In price. aud
ekilled hand work j. never cheap here.
Tls d,ntIi fpr fancy feathers gave a
fllp ~ ths tanning business Of the country,
aud though Europe still holds the palm
for the preparation Of some Gathers. there
are a few tannerie- here where remarkably
fine work i done and wherp tnanufac-
,urers may procure tho hulk OF their
leather. A Sun reporter visited one oi
these iAnncrie- the other dsy. having been
s-cni there by the superintendent Of a New
YORK firm whose leather goods are famous.
Whatever can be done with leather IN
this country they do there. SAID the cup
crintendent 'and they do Il better than
any one else does. Then. too. thev cover
a wider field than any other American
tanners
IL wasn't hard 10 find the tannery. To
stand ones ground after finding IL re-
qulred serious moral effort and a frm grip
upon the basic tenet- Of the Christian
Science dociiine- Presumably. all the
workmen were Christian Scientists. They
didn't know there was a smell. They
looked around In a vague. surprised way
when the matter was mentioned, but ad-
nliited. doubtfully, that there might be a
unspea kahle things In order that women
may war Chatelatue baEA
Calf skins and alligator skins, next 10 |
.he smell. were the most Ubiquitous ele-
nlents IN the tannery They loomei up In
all slzes, sl conditions, all colors. The
calf skins ,r steer hides were unimpoeing.
hut the all gators we're enough to get upon
the nerves ~ the most sober man. The
woods we're full of them They covered
the walls. they hung over the beams. they
were piled on the hoors, they we're going
through the Furnishing machines. they
were being slapped In and out Of lime watts
and coloring watts, they were being pared
down and trimmed and grained and hand
oolored. Some Of them were tiny. Some
were huge.
Lots Of aIlsators,' said che foreman
nheerfully.
The reporter admitted the fac,
There's a big trade In them now went
on the foreman. We handle anywhere
from rs ,O0O 20 l?O.cco OF the skins during
he year. and have. at least. 1000 Of them
for long time. but until few years
ago. only the belly leather wa used. One
rouldnt give away the horny backs siI
years ago.
Now .eather tanners and manufacturers
have found out how 10 use the alligator
been such a call for the skins. both for Use
In this country and for export, that tha
supply is decreasing. and the price has
gone up 20 per cent.
There are hundreds OF hunters. who
make their living by killing alligator down
IN Louisiana, Florida and Mexico. Al Of
our alligator skins come from hose three
regions. but the Louisiana skins are best.
The Mexican all gators are really crocOdiit.s.
and their skins have httle air holes that in
worth from ten cents TO g. So You see We
buy them by the length. but We sell them by
the width.
The big one go into large travelling bags
and that sort OF thing. The cuttings and
small skins ar, made into pOck.tbooE- Ac
Most Of the cheap alligator skin articles YOU
zee are made Of Jcr-"y alligator. That -
limit NJ on alligator, sheej-,kin stamped with
alligator marking and colorei Tho
minute a new heath comes out. or a new
process OF graining some leather, the irnl-
Iaiors get up machines that " u make cheap
skin in imita % tho new fad. They are
clever about u.
Look at lizard skin That sprang into
hig popularity some years ago and IL holds
its favor Real lizard skin isn't cheap
il can't H. made cheap A pocketbook Of
good lizard skin ought TO cost al least four
or five dollars. but the country T. swauped
with lizard skin pockettooks ~ ~ cents
where do YOU get the lizard skinsi'
asked the reporter.
Java and Brazil. The Java lizari IL Tho
larger. The skin IL harder, too, and wears
aud doesn't overlap The only American
lizard that j. big enough 20 I've used profit
ably il the Gila monster. u has "a h.,auti-
fully marked skin. but we've never been
!, bie to G., the leather men 60 take IL up
They think II isn't novel enough. II L. too
nearly hAs ,h. other lizard skins and has
no advantage over them.
Usually the fancy leather goods manu-
facturcrs viii Jump at anything that Is
new Ihev nag At us from one years
End o. anoi her Tor novelties and We scramble
around, trying our t.'si Go meet ia" demand
We are experi neu.ing all the line, but
he ami nal world has l--rn prrtiv well ex-
hAu-t.d IT, ;.s- s~ar'h inr rev lcathers. and
now. al-,l' IA. oniy way tu ~; H"s fancy
ip noW gram effects IN 'hr old rather.
Some iratnrrr have a s't, natural grain
and one uanuoi do much With them. but
pthrrS Ike cslfsktu. tnurc~ro aud seal. vii
axe all sptt- oi grAiulug. ac,'uruing - th"
v ork pui on th-u W have skilled work
men Wlo manipulate ih" skins by hand. I
rulhnV up ~" grain. crushing u out a..
ltH-n..t lstaHf I. uUfllUv tar guaf.hlu