The Rich Hill tribune. (Rich Hill, Mo.) 1903-1911, 1903-02-12
HOW A FASHION ORIGINATED.
Story Of the 1000, 900 Squirrel Skins
American Women Are Wearing.

-ANfG y VI AAN NfNN@feog 14aAAt@A oAAAa
American Women Are Wearing.
A government found itself with
tens Of millions of soft. gray squirrel
skins on iis hands. These it could
NOT GET rid Of
One day, aysihe New York World,
a famous dre smakcr of Paris heard
of these skins and q brilliant idea
came to him. Il will make q market
for your skins, be is said TO have
told the government, IF you vii
make it worth my while"
-Aow the goyernment--which is
that Of Russia, Tor this is a true story
was very anxious TO turn lis vast
stock 81 skins into currency. aud az
agreement, they say, was made with
the Paris dressmaker
That is how the squirrei-skin coat
fashion is said to have started and
Why a certain maker Of costs FOR the
aristocracy Of the French capital has
developed much wealth in the past
few months.
The only gray squirrel skins in the
world that are soft enough and fine
enough to make beautiful garments
are those Of Russia Only Russian
skins are used in the garments seen
in New York,
These skins pass az currency in ST.
bcria, and the peasants often pay
their taxes in them, the government
having accepted them from time i'm
memorial. In consequence vast
stores Of the skins are in the posses
sion Of the government As they pro-
duce no income, the officials are con
stautly seeking some means q dis
posing Of them.
The fashionable dressmaker found
/ bis work easy. lie made up some
beautiful eoats Of the skins and in
luced 3 number Of bis leading pa
irons 10 buy and wear them. lmme-
date success followed. The new
/ eoats caught the fashionable fancy,
and the dTessmaker was sWamped
with orders Tor the garments.
In an astonishiugly short time the
fashion had spread TO London, Der
( lin ard New YORK and thence
throughout the civilized world.
The Paris drcssmaker reaped q
double Fcvard--fFom the introduc-
/ tion Of The fashion and the sale Of the
coats.
AZ many a. 5000 skins are used
in a single garment, but avery short
T coat mar be made of l50, and 500 ].
( generally used. There are from Is tc
80 days work Tor one man IN gar
mcnt.
The siberian squirrel looks like
/ the American squirrel A cheerful
active. hustling animal, Il increases
Z wish great rspldi;y and IS trapped
with ease. The most common sort 81
Z Of trap Is made in the fork Of a hollow
( tree. Here q store Of nuts is set anC
The section Of wood upon which tbs
squirrel must stand "a reach the nuts
: Is set on a kind Of pivot, so that th,
squirrels weight causes the bottom
20 20 speak. 10 fall out of the tree forl
and the animal is suddenly droppeI
down through the hollow trunk into
little chamber under the soil. lmme
diateIy, then, the piyotcd section 0.
the wood springs back into plsc'
again and the trap Is set FOR another
victim
The darkest, handsomcst and mos
expensive siberian squirrels ar
found IN ,he Saeamina district, neal
the Arctic circle They are yer,
scarce. A blouse Of them--a blousl
I reaching oniy TO The wuist--cost
$3.50 a coat reaching a little be
/ low the hips costs about $3.50 Al
automobile coat, coming 10 the knees
costs S30o The next hes, quality o
skins come from the Talniskik dis
trict, and thencxt from the NeHcseik
District. The cheapest skins "a ligh
color. iingcd with red) come from
robolsk and Kazan.
Squirrel skins sre sll dressed i
enc place in Weissentels, a tow
that produces q chemical clay and sal
10 be found nowhere else. This ella.
alone viii cure the skins in a propC
manner. Twenty firms there are en-
gagged IN this business America im
ported last year only 10000 squire
skins These skins cost oH an aver
age I2 cents apieeo. This year Amer
ira has imported, up io the pFeson
time. l.0D0, GOO sqnirrplskins. The
cost, on the average, s5 cents apieo,