Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-05-15
SO[ES CT SHOES
. ARE NOW ADUL|ERA1[D
FRAUDS ON PUBLIC BEING PRAc-
TIcED az TANNERS TO IN.
CREASE PROFITS.
SIXTY PER CENT OF SOLE
LEATHER FOUND "LoADED'
EPSON Salts, Glucose and Other
Worthless Materials fdded to In
crease Weight Without Beneftins
ouality-sometimes Has Detsriorat-
ing Effect.
Especial correspondence

Washington. May 10. = Think OF
walking about town or taking a tramp
across country or having to hoof IT
thru a driving rainstorm with shoes
whose soles are filled up with EPSON
salts, glucose, lead sulpnate and other
materials equally useless and objec-
ticnable for wearing purposes.
The astonishing fact that sur
prisingly large percentage" of sole
feathers contains great quantities OF
foreign materials of the kinds lndl-
Gated has been discovered by experts
and chemists of the department OF
agriculture.
That this is a fraud on the public
committed by the tanners for the pur-
pose of increasing their profits at the
expense of the consumers is made
plain in recent report by +. T.
Veitch. chief of the leather and paper
laboratory, and J. S. Rogers. assistant
chemist of the bureau of chemistry OF
the department of agriculture. The
proporticns Of the business would be
unbelievea BILE if the statements con-
corning the extent of the adultera ton
were not carefully made after official
inquiries.
Large Percentage "Loaded.'
The experts declare that it is prob
ahle fully 60 per cent of the sole
leather is loaded with Epson salts CT
glucose or both. and practically all OF
it contains more uncombined tanning
materials than it should"
That the people of this country have
paid American taners for not less than
= cnlf nj
glucose every year. plus a profit to
the tanners on such substances, and
have not obtained n cents worth OF
value for it all. is the amazing show
ing made by the experts of the bureau
of chemistry. The experts find the
practice of weighing or loading !eath-
ers with useless materials for the pur-
pose Of making cheap feathers look
better and cuts to better advantage
and increasing the tanners profits ~
found to prevail in most of the tan
neries of this country.
Adds to Cost Of Inferior Goods.
Here is a statement made by the ex-
perts:
IF 60 per cent Of the sole leather
contains an average Of per cent OF
Epson salts and glucose. at least 15o,-
O0o. 900 pounds have been weighted an
nual!v with no Improvement In Its
wearing value. The people have paid
for not less than 100000 pounds OF
EPSON salts and glucose, plus pro-
fit to the tanner for working them into
he leather. and have obtained moth
ing OF value thereby. The average
amount of water soluble material in
these sole feathers is % per cent. Sub
tracing from this the average per-
centage OF glucose and Epson salts
found gives the percentage of what for
i,revity may be called 'uncombined
tanning materials, meaning the mater
ials derived from the tanning liquors
In which the leather was tanned"
The experts Of the bureau of chem
istry find that. bad as is the practice
of dosing the leather with such sub
stances as glucose and EPSON salts,
the almost universal practice OF
weighing or loading with excessive
quantities of uncombined tanning ma
tcrials is perhaps the most reprenen-
sible form of weighing
1t is declared little less than 81
600, 600 worth of tanning is annually
wasted in this way.
The actual examinations disclosed
that Sc per cent of the feathers which
were studied were weighted with glu-
cose. with EPSON salts, or both. The
maximum amount of these loading ma
terials found in any leather was IL
per cent and the average where both
was present was per cent.
Summing up the situation. the ex-
perts say:
THE materials add absolutely moth
ing to the wearing value of the leather
and where present in large quantity