Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-10-09
GLOVES OF ANCIENT
LINEAGE AND VARIED
IN SIGNIFICANCE
Their Manufacture a Com
plicated Industry, Highest
Development of Which
Has Been Reached in
France.

Like all other modern industries. the
making of gloves Is very complicated
| says a writer in the Springfield Repub-
lican. The completion of a single glove
requires considerable work Of which the
average individual knows little or moth
ing. Few people realize that there are -
separate operations involved in the man
featuring of one glove. If we add to that
number Of transactions that ordinarily
occur between manufacturers and Gus
toner, 50 woum more properly represent
the necessary steps from the raw mate
rial to the wearer of the finished product.
All the separate operations. moreover,
are equally important and demand the
most careful attention. TO emphasize that
fact, each factory holds its employees re-
sponsible for every pair of gloves ham
died In case of injury to the material in
any way the workman or workwoman is
compelled to make good the loss.
Examine a pair Of tirst-Class kid gloves
Notice the embroidery, the sewing and
the finishing There is precision ell
through, II you cast a glance at the in
terror Of these gloves YOU will he sur
prised at the mnuteness and regularity
Of the stitches around the buttonholes,
for instance, as we'll as those on the
"fllets' or supports of the buttons. Those
stitches are taken on the very derms
OF the skin. What patience and what
cleverness must the hands possess that
do that work! Hundreds of other details
speak in a similar way Of the wonderful
compleXity Of the making of gloves
FRANCE HOME OF THE GLOVE.
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 re-
veals the undisputed fact that the French
have led the world in the production Of
hiEh-Class gloves. It has not been easy.
however. for them to maintain that lead,
as circumstances. which they were unable
10 control, have at times worked against
them.
When did people first wear gloves? 1t
Is impossible to say. We do know. how
ever, that the practice dates back very far
into history. In some Of the Roman has-
relcfs. for instance, certain 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 Romans wore a
certain kind of mitten for manual labor,
notably for the picking 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 Testa-
ment of a commercial custom of the He
hrsvs where gloves played an important
part as follows: "A man removes his
glove and gives it 10 his neichbor which
constitutes Il testimony Of exchange or
purchase in Israel"
OF ANCIENT LINEAGE.
Man has used the glove. then. in some
vav or another for at least 20No years.
The use was not popular. however, until
the sixth century. At that time all the
natives n Gaul, either for dress or for
work appear to have worn gloves that
we're called "ouants,' or wants" In the
Middle Ages gloves were adapted to a
great variety Of necessities. A distinc-
ton was then made between the ordinary
glove. the military glove, the lady's glove
the glove Of the nobility and the glove of
the liturgy. About the thirteenth cen
fury gloves came to be considered an eX-
preston Of elegance. A little later they
sylubolized bribery and intrigue. For evil
dence Of this fact we have only to study .
the work Of some of the stone artists Of
that time. For example. the artist who
decorated with statues the facade OF the ,
cathedral Of Basle represented the Sc I.
ducteur" al the prince Of evil. The wicked
one is depicted wearing crown, smiling
bewitchinely, left hand neatly Eloved. and