Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-04

I=zssEzSSSsI1 O OTHER industry has shown
Ik YW greater strides of growth dur
lE b ing the past fifty years than
TX R III that of leather making. The
lE ESJl demands of the individual
slg2s1sl for leather products not only
have multiplied MANIFOLD,
but the list of leather users is being
extended with each passing year.
Leather follows civilization, and hum
dreds of thousands of barbarians are
being converted TO its use each year.
The result is a scarcity of leather-pro-
ducing animals. They have not multi
piled as rapidly as the demand for their
hides, and the tanner is forced to ran
sack the world for animals that hither-
TO we're exempt. Not even the fishes
of the sea nor the serpents Of the forest
have escaped the tanners search. The
porDoise and the small whale are in ia
Vor, and the boa constructor, the rattle
snake, the cobra and the viper have not
been dangerous enough to scare the
skin hunter away.
The automobile industry affords one
illustration of the increasing demand
for leather in it's products. Ten years
ago there were about 1000 automobiles
in use in the United States; now there
are nearly 100000. Each of these ma
chimes has required leather in its con-
struction and requires even more in the
accessories. The sartorial art journals
declare that automobiling has brought
into vogue the leather vest, which is go
ing to be the fashion during the COM
ing season.
The United states leads the world in
the production of leather, it's 600 tan
neries producing one-fourth of the
worlds supply. Every year nearly
2O0,OO0,O0O hides and skins pass through
these 600 tanneries, and when hnlsheu
leather they are worth quarter billion
dollars. 1t requires 1,250OO0 cords OF
tan bark and $4,000 barrels of extract
to meet the demands of the American
tanner in the conversion of these hldes
into leather. Two-thirds of the tan
bark used is from the hemlock treeS
which shows that the forests are Levied
uDon heavily The quebracho tree yleldS
a valuable tanning extract. and the
American tanner already is established
in the South American woods gathering
this staple.
Philadelphia is the hub of the leath-
er world. The goat skins used there
each wear would suffice to cover a pro-
cession of goats reaching from the
most northerly point of Alaska to the
most southerly point of Patagonia
Other kinds of hides and skins may
become scarce or rare, but the goat Is
aIWays ready with a supply equal TO
the demand. The kid shoes men wear
are usually made from goat skins.
A gentleman in Philadelphia owns
saddle that was made from tne SKIN u, ol
a human being. 1t is presumed that ne
got this skin from some medical
school. He employed one of the best
saddlers in Philadelphia to do the
work. When the job was nearing
completion the saddle maker asked
what kind of leather it vast had
such a fine grain and such a smooth
feel" When he learned that it was
human skin he threw up the job. Later
another man was employed 10 hLlsh
the saddle. but the employer was care
ful NOT to let him know what it was
made of. Many medical students have
little trinkets of leather made from
human skin, but this Philadelphia sad
die is said to be the only one of us
kind in the world.
Newark, n. J., stands at the fore
front as an alligator leather center
over 250,O00 alligators annually sur,
render their lives to the needs OF the
Newark tanneries and factories. me
saurians have a fashion of sleeping
With their heads slightly above the
water. and in the darkness of a moon
less night their eyes form phosphores-
cent lights, which afford a splendid
target for the hunter. At one time
only the belly side of the alligator
skin could be used. But the tanner
has learned how to get the hard scales
off the back, with the result that the
most valuable part of the tanned skin
is that which formerly was rejected.
The snake skin hunter exercises much
ingenuity. He takes forked stick
and pinions the snakes head to the
ground. Then he puts pinch OF snuf
into the reptiles mouth, and the nico-
tine produces instant death by paraly-
sis thus saving the skin intact.
The invention of the chrome process
of leather making will be the means OF
saving millions of trees to the forests.
Instead of vegetable tanning extracts
mineral substance is used. 1t et-
fectively tans the hides and in addi-