The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-06-25
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
sKINNING THE SHARK
Washington. d. c.

sKINNING THE SHARK.
Washington, D. c., June 22.-Shark
skin trench boots and puttees may be
part of the equipment of American
soldiers before this war is over. AS
ever one knows. leather of the usual
kinds, made mostly from cowhide,
horsehide and -goatskin, is very scarce
and promises to be scarcer. aItho the
supply so far Is holding up better than
experts expected
The bureau of fisheries has taken
advantage VI this leather shortage to
push one of its favorite projects-the
use OF shark skin and other fish skins
for leather. The project has now
reached the stage of a very promising
infant industry. A number of tan
ners are in the market for shark
skins; they have been tanned in con-
siderable quantities; and shoes and
other goods have been made from
them expcrimentally. One tanner had
a pair of shoes for his boy made from
shark skin and asserts that they wore
better than any ordinary leather shoes
the boy ever had.
The layman is apt to imagine that
shark skin is queer, exotic looking
product. like alligator skin. Such is
not the case. You cannot tell it from
| cowhide leather unles you are an
expert. DR.. Lewis Radcliffe. OF the
bureau of fisheries, who has charge
spised shark. has a whole drawerful
of tanned leather samples. made from
the skins of various sharks, and also
of Goldfish, cusk and menhaden, and
from the intestines of whales. The
tanned shark skin looks. feels and
high gun metal finish has been sue
Cvssfully impaired to it. The most
impressive piece Of leather in the COL
lection is that made from the maj or
| intestine of a whale. 1t is so thin that
! light will pass thru it-but nothing
i else will. Whenever this sample is
shown to a manufa cturer with a view
! to interesting him in it's use, he al
ways tries to poke Eole in it with his
finger TO show how useless it is, and
he always fails.
There are not enough whales left
alive to form the basis for much of
| a whale-leather industry; but there
are plenty of sharks. There are sharks
| in all the waters of the world from
| seas under the equator. For years
sharks have been neglected and al
lowed to multiply at the expense of
far more valuable fish upon which
they prey. Now the bureau Of fish
4, cries has shown that they are excel
lent food; that the oil of their livers
is a good grade of fish oil, and that
their skins made a good leather and
offer large enough cutting surface
| for the making of boots and shoes,
harness and all other small leather
articles. There is every reason to be-
| lieve that the shark Is to be the basis
| of an industry of world proportions.
The thing that is needed now is en-
| terprise on the part OF fishermen,
| tanners, manufacturers, Gamers and
w. nf NH NJ
to get in on the ground floor of new
and promising industry would do well
! to look into the proposition which the
shark offers. 1t Is probably the first
safe project ever offered the public
by a shark, and the first opportunity
| to skin a shark with profit.
One we'll known American who has
: gone into the shark business in earn
i est Is Russell J. Coles, who recently
came into the limelight as the
! companion of Colonel Roosevelt
in his expedition after deyilfisht.
around sportsman. He formed the
habit OF visiting the experimental
| station and fish hatchery of the bu-
reau of fisheries at Beaufort, N. c..
and so became interested in the scien-
tific and commercial aspects of fish
/; ing He is now considered an ichthy-
| oiogist (that is a fishologist) Of some
attainments, and is giving most of his
time to the promotion Of the shark
industry. With some heavy nets.
| which were recommended to him by
the bureau of fisheries, he is catch
ing fifty to sixty sharks day off the
coast of North Carolina for CONNER
cial purposes.
This new shark business IL to serve
a uuadruple use. It is to add to our
food supply, our oil supply. our leath-
err supply, and to conserve other food
fishes by reducing the number of the
sharks-for all sharks are voracious
beasts of prey.
The value of all the shark products
has been abundantly proved. The
bureau OF fisheries has succeeded in
popularizing the use as food of one
small kind of shark--the gray fish.
a few years ago it was never eaten.
were used as food. But most of the
hides of these gray fish were wasted.
And in like manner, the meat of most
of the larger sharks, which were taken
for their hides, was thrown away. The
future OF the industry depends upon
educating the fishermen to use all
parts of the shark, and the manufac-
turers to offer a ready market for
them. When meat, hide and liver Oil
are all properly utilized big shark.
now often thrown away. will be worth
a good many dollars.
| Fishermen just at present are get
ting good prices for the fish which
they have been accustomed to catch
ing, and so are unwilling to devote
their time to new and untried indus
try such as shark fishing. Then, too.
many fishermen are now engaged in
war work, as are many boats that
would otherwise be available for fish
ing. All OF these ia ctors combined
with the well known conservatism and
Inertia which always operate to pre-
vent the human animal from taking
up new projects and occupations, are
apparently all that prevent a rapid
oeveiopment OF the shark industry.
No doubt more rapid expansion will
come after the war. when there ID
more capital and more labor available,
Sharks are found at some time OF
the year in practically all of the
coastal water of the United States
Aitho the very large sharks are some
what rare. those from nine to twelve
"a at tn Il