The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-10-21

Button. Buttons. Whence come
our buttons?" Is the question which
IS agitating the minds of traders II
buttons ard trimmings In every Darl
! OF this country. Dame Fashion mas
| decreed that this Is to be button
season. The styles, especially II
h women's clothing. are greatly innu Y.
tenced by the war and military enects
4 in braid and buttons are in greater
Il demand than ever before for trim
/ mings Yet the. war which IS re-
4 sponsible for this demand is also IF
/ sponsible for shortage OF supplies
\ because the European manufacturers
have always contributed largely to
/ the American button trade
Buttons are of almost ltmttless va
rIety and they serve for many pur-
poses They decorate our ciotn1ng
as well as hold it in place ney
/ fasten down the upholstery In aulo-
mobiles and furniture. Push put
| tons summon our servants. turn on
our lights and announce the guest at
our front doors. Metal buttons are
used in many kinds or machinery
and they can usually be purchaser
more cheaply in bulk than they can
be manufactured in conjunction with
other parts of the machine.
The best recognized use OF buttons
Is that Of decorating clothing It IS
| the buttons for this purpose which
| are most affected by the importa-
| tions from Europe. Last year, over
two million dollars worth OF buttons
were brought into this country.
This included many of the inner
grades and thousands of gross OF the
cheaper buttons. The inner nuttons
can be duplicated here more reaoily
than the cheaper ones. 1t may be
necessary for dealers to materially
increase the price upon the cheapest
varieties Of buttons when the pres
ent stock is cxhausted. These can
not be made here as cheaply as they
can be Imported because of the tact
that America cannot compete Will
Europe in the cost Of hand labor
The bulk of the button 1mporta-
ton for this country came Iron on a-d
many, although Austria, France ana
England have also supplied US witn
buttons and about $4,000 WORTH
were sent in from japan. These
Jananese buttons can still be secured.
but they are chiefly pearl buttons OIL
medium quality and will not greatly
affect the general button trade. espe,i
cially as greater output OF peal ea
buttons In this country is expectec
this year.
Last week the United States gov
ternment gave fresh impetus to tn
fresh water pearl button Industry oy
the official dedication of new D1-
ologica1 station at Fafrport. Ia, de.
voted to the study and Improvement.
of the fresh water mussels, the shells
0f which are used for manufacturing
fhutfons The utility OF certain va
riety of fresh water mussel shellstor
the manufacture of pearl buttons was
discovered in 1890 by John Boeppie,
to whom the town of Fafrport erect
ed a memorial tablet, Beopple also
invented simple machine WINCH
M ade 1t possible for anyone to manu-
facture buttons. The people OF tnaL
section of Iowa went button cray.
Farmers put button machines inLo
their barns and sheds, and quanNues
of buttons were turned out with
small Investment of capital: Their
quality was not uniform, but num-
Der of factories were started with
better equipment.
1t turned out. however shat the
crop of Unios mIssel sneils could not
he depended upon each year, so the
industry languished Then the
United States Bureau of Fisherles
came to the aid OF the button makers
and conducted experiments with
view to securing a more depenoaple
species OF mussels for the S1rpose.
Two species have been propagateo
by the bureau known scientihcailyas
the Lampsilis and the Quadrulas'
which have been round 70 De su Is
ior to the Unios first utilized by BoeP-
pie. The United States has now IN
vested $150,o00 in the mussel breed
ing work at F,airport and the deolca-
|tion of the new station has tEougnI
about an impetus to the button max.