The Washington herald., 1908-07-19
By ROY CRANDALL.

Did it ever occur TO you. coy and cool
shirt-waist maid. or cute neglige shirt
waist man, that II Uncle sam had not
been Of broadly paternal nature you
wouldn't be able to hold yourself together
without safety pins2
Did you ever give one moments thought
TO the antecedenJs OF the pretty little
pearl buttons which. when the easterly
and westerly frontiers Of your garments
have been brought together. take upon
their tiny shimmering selves the important
task Of keeping the divergent sections Of
those garments in intimate relationship?
Did you know, in fact. that the nation.
as nation. had anything to do with IL;
or had the fact been set before you by
credit the assertion
Probably nOt- Few know and fewer
stiH appear 70 care, but in no small detail
OF guardianship of the nations people IS
the far-reaching paternalism Of the gov
ernment more clearly demonstrated than
by the tiny pearl button Of commerce.
That brings the matter home: takes il
70 every household, gives to governmental
aid an intimate association. a very inti-
mate association. indeed. for the pearl
button Is about as intimate as any article
Of commerce can well be- There are few
secrets in which It does not share.
And yet II took the active. earnest, sci
entifc assistance Of the United States
government 10 preserve those articles and
/ give to the thoroughly unappreciative
s.. 600 900 men, women. and children OF the
/ land the .. S.006000.000 buttons which n one
year were cut. polished. sewed on cards.
and sent 70 market by the 1900 people
interested in the pearl button industry Of
/ the Middle West To thousands. mayhzp
millions. il viii be news 20 learn that
I these little buttons. 50 important 20 Nj
I lord and AIilady. as well as 70 the under
I lings OF them. come from the shells OF
the uni6ae OF the fresh-water mollusk
that lives to-day in uncounted millions in
| the streams Of the Mississippi Valley. be
/ cause the national fish commission put
them there when prodigal and wasteful
/ bUtt0u-makers had taken them out and
/ brought peril 10 an industry doing an
annual business Of S5.00000o-
This fresh-water mOIlusk- related. OF
course TO the oyster and clam because his
! general style OF architecture Is the same.
grew in the 2000.000 miles Of fresh-water
I streams that drain the 90, 600 square miles
I Of the Mississippi Valley. How they got
/ there 7 won't stop % explain Al the pres
| ent tine because I have neither infOr-
/ nation nor opinion TO offer on the subjectl
/ but can record the fact that some but
tonless man gazing one day on the pearly
| expanse OF the inner shell OF one OF the
/ depar rted rnoIlusks. knew at once that
I potential buttons lay hidden IN the bill
| lions Of mollusk shells reposing on the
| muddy bottoms Of those streams He fig
/ ured that neat little disks could be cheap
/ II cut from those shimmering shells;
easily punctured for needle passages.
/ quickly polished by tUTnbiing in boxes OF
| sawdust. rapidly sewed to cards in as
sorted sizes by ayinE female fingers. and
/ speedily sent 20 market Like Col Sellers.
/ he saw wealth beyond avarice- He looked
/ into the future and through a prophetic
I haze saw the shirt waist that was 20
/ come. the prospective linen and duck
I skirts with their rows Of pearl buttons.
/ the unborn ilmy summer gown with
/ string after string OF the little disks He
saw as well mountains OF nightTobes and
/ pajamas. and-we1. he saw lots OF other
things that depend for both beauty and
stability upon pearl buttons.
/ Forty million women wearing shirt
waists: six buttons 10 the waist he men
tally calculated: twenty shirt waists 10
the season Let's see, that's 100000
/ times six to begin with That makes 30
/ o00. 600 buttons. Multiply again by twenty.
and it makes 4.S-o 00o.oo0 buttons for shirt
waists alone And that's 400.e00.000 dozen.
| At 10 cents for a card Of two dozen il
I figures S2o.0O00 0Oo a year There's mill-yuns
! IN it,
| Like Col. Sellers. that pearl button
/ pioneer over6gured, but the business
! grew almost 10 the proportions OF his
dreams. for pearl button factories soon
/ sprung up in Indiana Illinois, Ohio, Penn
I sylvania and even as far West as Mis-
I souri,. The product Of the factories was
! eagerly seized upon and as the but
/ ton-cutting and button-pOlishing pro-
/ ceeded fashion Obiigingly vesred and
things wearable came into vogue which
called for more and still more buttons.