El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-12-27
RevOIutiOnize Rug Trade
From a Gamble the Marketing of
Oriental Rugs Has Been
Converted Into Scien-
fiffc Business.
: BY FREDERIC }. Haskin


/ in oriental rugs was compdI auIvely a
/ gamble even 10 years ago. Not one
| dealer in 10 knew what value ne would
! receive on a bale of rugs. Iney were
! sold for whatever sums they would
( bring. Sometimes the dealers received
| multiplied profits. Occasionally rare
! rugs sold for really less than their
/ value.
Under the old method rug buyer
! would go 10 an oriental village and
/ paw the lowest possible price for a
I bale of rugs. He would ship the bale
/ unopened into this country. Frequent
! ly it would contain old coats and shoes
as well as rugs but in the heterogen-
! eOus collection one or two rugs Of real
/ value might be found. The others were
/ sold for whatever prices they would
/ bring. Now practically all oriental
/ rugs are made and sold by the square
I foot, the prices varying according to
/ the grade The rug commissions In
| ConstantinOple and other oriental ports
/ decide about the grade and Fix the
price Consequently, the weaver IN
( the interior who has a few rugs made
/ by the women in his own home can
! be just as sure of receiving their full
/ value now as the American farmer
/ who brings his eggs into a city mar
| ket. So far as the weaver is concerned
/ the value is determined by the number
/ of knots to the square inch, the ma
/ terial of which the rug is made and
l its cOloring,
Z
The name of a rug has nothing to do
with its quality It indicates the vii
| lage in which it was made or the city
/ in which it came to market Some
Americans buy oriental rugs as fool
] iShly as many Orientals purchase
! American shoes. The American shoe
/ is believed to be superior to others
and those made in New England have
| the highest reputation. The oriental
/ does not know that New England shoe
/ manufacturers make shoes at prices
I ranging from 81 to $50 a pair. The
average American may have heard
that Kermanshah rugs are of high
grade and pay large price Tor rug
| bearing that name. He is ignorant
of the fact that some of the poorest
rugs upon the market also come from
kermanShah.
The antique oriental rug is practi-
cally a myth so far as the present
American market is concerned. Few
| real antique rugs have been brought
to this country The markets of Lon
don and the European cities had pIaC-
tically secured the bulk of the antique
rugs of the world before the taste for
them had been developed in America
Occasionally a rug buyer viii run
across one or two antiques but they
American market Consequently, most
of the antique rugs offered for sale
in this country are fakes which have
been aged by some process that IS
likely to lessen their worth
Modern Rug Equals Antique.
The modern oriental rug when prop
/ erly made is quite as valuable for most
purposes as the antique Tt lacks the
/ romance of ancient history, but in
/ cOloring, appearance and wearing
/ quality it is as good The demand for
oriental rugs has led to many adulteI-
/ ant practices in their manufacture, but
/ it is, of course. possible TO secure good
rugs from reputable dealers A really
| good rug must be made Of yarn pre-
pared from the well selected wool Of
young sheep, goats or camels, which
has been cut at the proper season Of
the year, Utmost care must be eXer-
ciSed in its washing, cleansing and
spinning. After that the dying is Of
great Importance. Within the last
quarter of century cheap aniline
dyes have been introduced into the
Orient and many are cOlOred with
these instead Of the pure vegetable
! dyes which have been in use for cen
turtles. About 10 years ago the shah
of Persia issued an edict that any
! dyer in the country convicted of using
aniline dyes for rug yarn should have
his right hand cut off The lessening
authority of this ruler is typified by
the non cOnformance with this law
for there are few one handed men in
Persia, and the authorizations of the
rug dyes are becoming greater each
/ increased.
Imports Are s5,OOO.OOO Annually.
About $4,000, 900 worth of oriental
rugs are being brought into this Coun-
try annually, so that America is fully
making up for her earlier lack of in
terest in these productions. The best
rugs are owned by museums and prI-
Vate individuals. Among the prom1-
! nent American rug collectors are W. A.
Clark, of New York; H c. Frick, of
Pittsburg, and A. T. Sinclair, of Massa-
| chusetts The late J. Pierpont Nor
gan had one of the most valuable pri-
Q
rugs collected by the late Benjamin
Altman of New York also included
some rare values
1t has been recently discovered that
the demand for oriental rugs has led.
to the employment of child labor in
factories in the orient. These facto-
ries have been erected by rug agents
who prove heartless task masters to
the helpless rug weaYers. In some
towns In Armenia and other countries
little girls ranging from four years
upwards are employed from sunrise to
sunset under the most unsanitary con
ditions for from two to 20 cents a day.
In many of these factories contagious
diseases are permitted to exist without
any precautions. tuberculosis and
other maladies are unchecked. Reports
of these rug factory conditions have
led the surgeon general of the public
| health service to issue stringent reg
! ulations regarding the disinfecting Of
rugs known to come from such facto-
ries.
COIOrs show Rugs Origin.
Each of the eastern nations has its
faVorite color. Persia is partial to
greens and yellows Turkey to red
and Armenia to blue The rugs from
these countries indicate these prefer
ences. The Turks regard green as a
sacred color, not to be trodden under
foot. The Turkish rug maker, there
fore, only uses this in his prayer rugs.
Weayers choose cOlOrs according to
their significance so that every rug
IS poem which only the initiated can
read. White is an emblem Of mourn
ing to the Persians, the Chinese and
the Indian Mohammedans. Blue to
the Persians means air and to the
Cinnamon means authority and power.
Black denotes sorrow and evil Red
signifies joy happiness. life, truth.
virtue and sincerity. Yellow is the
Chinese color for royalty. Orange
stands for sorrow to the Buddhist and
Mohammedan, while rose symbolizes
divine wisdom. 1t takes an expert to
tell the difference between aniline
dyed and the vegetable dyed rugs.
The Orientals use a string of amber
beads which they draw over the sur
face of the rugs so that the colors are
reflected in them. If aniline dyed thev
are said to have a cloudy appearance;
If cOlOred with vegetable dyes they
have clear, wavy outlines.
Tho n ole es-rr