The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-08-29
AMERICA MAKING BUTTONS BY MILLION Waterberry MaSsy Is Center
 of the Industry IOWA TOWN ALSO LEADS Making of Pearl Buttons From Shells of Mississippi River Has Proved
 Great and Profitable
 Industry.
IOWA TOWN ALSO LEADS
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

The farther humanity progresses beyond the golden age, the more utilitarian we expect things to become. In that ideal period of song and story where flowing draperies were the correct form of dress, button was an ornament that caught the toga on the shoulder, but really had very little to do with holding 1t there. When the commercial spirit of Queen Elzabeths time set minds to inventing things, it occurred to someone that button might be useful as well as orna- mental, especially if 1t could be forced through small opening and be pur- suaded to hold parts of garment to- gether. Some thrifty soul invented the button-hole. Then the button became an important factor in the revolutionizing of styles In garments and has made clothes simpler and more convenient.
 Gold and ivory were the materials first used, and only the man or woman of means might have so rich an ornament. In the middle of the eighteenth century inlaid and steel ones appeared. and though they were often elaborate they were yet In reach of a greater number of peo- pie than before Wooden discs, covered with silk other cloth, became widely popular. In the time of George III of England the demand for buttons became so great that it was hard to supply ths home, continental and American markets from the English factories, and expert workmen soon commanded from s10 to S2O a day, and one small factory turned out $400 worth a week.
 There seems to be little connection be- tween Lord Nelson of the English navy and tho manufacture of buttons, yet be- cause he went to Lombard Copenhagen in 1897, and incidentally ruined the busi- ness of one B. Sanders. a new button fac tory sprang up In England. For Sanders went into the country of the enemy to begin a new career and invented new kind of button. This was made in two parts the upper of metal covered in cloth the lower of metal alone, the two were then firmly welded together and a shank or eye added to the under side, by which 1t was to be sewed to the cloth. Sanders would doubtless have been able to offe' this button as a compromise to all parties had he lived in the time of William and Mary, for those monarchs legislated against cloth buttons and encouraged the manufacture of metal ones, so as to give an impetus to metal industries.
 America did not begin the manufacture of buttons as early she did other things Most housewives made the cloth covered ones themselves. and so added to their reputation for economy. By 17oO, however, Caspar Wistar of Philadelphia had an establishment for the making of brass buttons, and Just before the year 1900 Samuel and Silas Grilley opened the first real button factory in this country They chose Waterbury Connecticut, for the site of their plant, and this city has since led all other American ones in tho manufacture of this commodity. The Grilley Brothers used cast iron, tin and pewter for materials, and many an old pewter porringer and spoon that would be of great value to collectors nowadays. found its way into the Grilley metal pots, just as old stills and copper kettles went Into the factory of Abel Porter & Co.,, two years later when the first brass but tons on this side of the ocean were being made.