The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-11-20
GL OyE INDUSTRY
Methods Employed at Grenoble,
 France.

Lake all other modern, industries the making of gloves is very comp1i- cated. The completion of a. single glove requires considerable work of . whichs the average individual knows i little or nothing. Few people rea1- ize that there are 72 separate opera tions involved In .tlle~ manufacturing | of one glove, If we add to that num- 1 Der of transactions that originally eccdr between manufacturer and customer, 80 would more properly 1 represent the necessary steps from the raw material to the wearer of the finished product.
 All the separate operations, more l over, are equally important and de- mand the most careful attention. To emphasize the fact, each factory holds it's employees Responsible for every pair of gloves handled. In case of injury to the material in any way. the workman or workwoman is com pelled to make good the loss,
 Examine a pair. of. first class kid gloves. Notice the embroidery, the sewing and the finishing. There Is glance at the interior of t hose gloves you will be surprised at the minute ness and regularity of the stitches around the buttonhole9s for Instance. as well as those on the shllets. oa supports of the buttons Those y a mis of the sl<ini What patience and what c1everness must the hands pos sess that do that worlxi Hundreds of other details speak in a similar way of the wonderful complexity of the making of gloves.
 To France, more than to any other country, is due the honor of having made the glove business what it now is. The history of the fabrication of gloves reveals the undisputed fact that the French have led the world in the production of high class gloves. It has not been easy, how ever, for them to maintain that lead, as circumstances, which they were unable to control, have at times worked against them.
 l s When did people first. wear gloves
 It is impossible to say We do know, however, that the practice dates bacRS very far into history. Tn some of the Roman bas reliefs, for instance. cer- tain persons are represented with gloves in their hands or attached to their sides. The Greeks used gloves not for display, but for fist fights.
 Both the Greeks and the Rornans wore a certain kind of I1nitten for manual labor, notably for the pick ing of olives. Again, we may assume that the wearing of gloves was brought to Greece and Rome from | the Orient: for we read in the Old ! Of the Hebrews. where gloves played
 an important part as follows: A man removes his glove and gives it to his. neighbor. which constitutes a.
 testinpnv uf ezelaaHge or purchase in Israel.'sfs
 Man has used the glove. then, in some way or another for at least D. | 900 years. The use was not popular, however. until the sixth century At l that time, all the natives of Gaul, either for dress or for work, appear
 to have worn gloves that were called l stouaIis'' or tt5VantsY
 Tn the Middle Ages. gloves were 1 adapted to a great variety of neces-
 stiles A distinction was then made between the ordinary glove, the miIi-
 tary glove, the 1ady's glove. the glove of mobility, and the glove Of the nt- urgy. About the 1st heentury. gloves came to be considered an ex-
 pression of elegance. A little later. they syrnboIized bribery and intrigue. For evidence of this fact. we have only to study the work of some of the stone artists who decorated with statues the facade of the cathedral of
 Basic, representing the tsSeducteur,' ? as the prince of evil. The wicked one is depicted wearing crown. smiling l Overwhelmingly, left hand neatly gloved and holding in the same hand the un-
 used glove of the right
 f5la BuC III Sp1I9 or the I8CT that gloves seems to have acquired a bag signifi-
 canoe, they soon developed into an
 object of luxury and remained so for 1 a long period of time. Their use be-
 came limited to the rich, and it was
 not. until the 18th century and it was for all occasions. Since then the
 practice has greatly increased. l Whether for show, for convenience,
 or simply to protect one's hand from i the cold, gloves are now worn by all
 classes of society.
 i Previous to the 18th century gloves were made, as they are now, from cloth fabrics as well as from I skins. About the middle Of the same
 century the Silk glove was the stand ard type. So far, however. the glove industry as such did not amount to
 much. 1t was not until the year 1S1 g 1 that the fabrication of gloves received I reasonable attention from the pub-
 lie. The exposition held that year in 1 France provided for an exhibition of l gloves.
 That date seems to indicate the be- l shining of the success of the indus Il try. All the glovers were then striv- ing to improve their product so as to ] increase their trade They began to do Ia number of things that their fore
 runners seemed to neglect. They gave
 more attention to the preparation of
 the skins that. they were to use. They
 tried to improve the cutting process.
 They concentrated more intent1y on
 results in finishing. They aimed at
 mora frmness in their sewing. The natural result of that attempt to N make better goods was 3, big increase l in the demand
 l It was about this time that a
 11nanufacturer from England, Bondart
 Aine, introduced into France for the
 first time the sewing of gloves by N machine. Then almost immediately
 appeared the invention of Xavier Jou- : Twin of GrenobIe; France, whose name Il is perpetuated by the continuation of the well known Jouvin glove factory
 in that city. We must remember