Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1903-09-21
Attractions Offered by Bus
mess of Raising Goats
MILLIONS FOR SKINS
Twenty Five Millions Paid Annually
by the United States for Imported
Goat Skins-All This Should Be Paid
to American Farmers.

Washington, D. c., Sept. 20. Especially
the farmers and manufacturers of the
United States. The fact that % mil
lion dollars worth of goatskins are
now annually imported into tie United
States, and that her enterprising man
ufacturers are now obliged to send
halfway around the world for Il large
share of them. suggests that the farm
e,s of the country have i great op-
poItunity TO put 4 large share of this
sum into their own pockets. and that
the entire sum may be divided be-
tween our producers ;r4d manufac tur-
ers
A statement just presented by the
department of commerce and labor.
through its bureap of statistics. shows
that importaJions of goatskins into the
United States ara now running at the
rate of 25 million dollars per annum,
and that 4 large share of these are
brought from India, China, Arabia and
southeastern Russia. The increasing
popularity of certain classes of kid
leather for footwear, as we'll as gloves,
has increased very greatly the demand
for goatskins in the United States with
in recent years. In 1885 the value of
goatskins imported was about mil
lion dollars. by 1890 it had grown to
millions. by 1898 it was 10 millions,
in 1900 it was % millions, and in 1908.
z5 millions, in round numbers.
OF this large sum of money sent out
of the country to purchase goatskins.
millions dollars went to India. nearly
millions to China. 212 millions to
France, ~ millions to Russia, 11a mil
liens to Brazil, 1 million to Argentine,
and another million to Arabia. From
India, which took less than million
dollars worth of merchandise of all
kinds from the United States last year.
and has increased her purchases from
Us less than , million dollars in a de-
tade. we have increased our importa-
tons of goatskins alone from mil
lion dollars in 1882 to ~ million dol
lars in 1862. From Brazil, which has
reduced her imports from the United
States from Is million dollars in 1895
to 10 million dollars in 1868, our pur-
chases of goatskins last year were IL
million dollars. France, Russia, the
United Kingdom. Turkey in Europe,
and Turkey in Asia. Arabia, China.
southern Africa, Argentine and MeXi-
CO also contribute literally to the sup
ply of goatskins 10 mak5 up the 25 mill
lion collars worth of this product
brought into the United States an
nu2lly.
The farmers Of the United States are
appai emily making no effort TO reap
any part of this golden harvest for
themselves. Tha census of 1900 showed
the total number OF goats in the United
States to be less than millions in
lumber. ard when it is understood that
the skins of probably 20 million goats
were imported last year it would be
seen that the supply from the United
States could have formed but a small
share of the total consumption. Yet
the fact that large share of our sup
ply OF this important import comes
from India China, France. and Mexico
suggests that there are large areas in
the United States which might produce
boats successfully and in sufficiently
large numbers to supply the entire
home demand.