The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1919-08-14

near, the month Of October Of each
year:
Sept. goth, 1910, 9 ga cents for No.
l Hides.
Oct, 21st, 1911, lie for No. Hides.
Oct. 10th, 1912, IS SO cents for No.
/ Hides.
Oct. 29th, 1912, Is cents for No. l
Hides.
Oct. 18th, 1914, Is 1-s cents for No.
l Hides.
Oct. goth, 1915, II IA cents for No.
/ Hides
Sept. 2srd, 1916, 19.425 for No. l
Hides
Oct. 18th, 1917, 21e5 for No. l
Hides.
On March 1st, 1918, the government
took charge of the hide market and
set the price. which, to the great sur
prise of all dealers, was much lower,
and on November Goth, 1913, we sold
a car for 10 1-2 cents and these are
the ones that have been made into
shoes, ETC., which you are wearing to-
day. Now, on January LIST, 1919, hides
were released from government con-
troll and on July 7th Of this year, we
sold for thirty-six and one-half cents,
or an increase of sixteen cents per
pound or more than eighty per cent.
over the price eight months ago. This,
together with the advance in the cost
Of labor and all material, and the in
crease in profits which dealers must
make to carry stock of such high
priced goods, is bound to see us either
going barefooted or paying twenty-five
dollars per pair for common shoes in
side of six months; and l don't think
many of US will be going barefooted in
January unless by an attempt at ex.
cess profit evading income tax, or
some other cause we are sent to
warmer climate.
Later l will attempt to show some
of the profit, or supposed profit, in the
shoe business, which, by the way,
seems to be in line with all other bust
nesses Of today; and which is absolute
ly necessary to pay the other fellow
for the things he produces or sells.
Now, what I don't know about the
tanning business would makesa book
larger than the old family Bible moth
er used to have, and about all do
know, or have been able to dig up, will
be. written in these few nages, but
am in hopes it will be of interest to
some of you.
I will first attempt to prove to you
that leather has been made and used
for various purposes for many wears
before Christ, for David slew Goliath
with stone hurled from leather
sling. Probably the original process
F, of curing skins was that of simply
cleaning and drying. Then the use of
/ smoke, sour milk, various oils and
| the brains of the animals themselves
| was found to improve the texture Of
| the leather Later it was discovered
| that certain astringent barks and veg
etables afforded permanent changes
| in the texture of skins and stopped the
decay. This knowledge was possessed
by the ancient Egyptians, for engrav-
ings on their tonlbs depict the process
of tanning. In China specimens of
leather have been discovered in COM
| pany with other relics that prove them
to be over three thousand years old.
! The Romans used leather which they
tanned with oil, alum and bark. The
earliest explorers of America found
the Indians wearing skins prepared
with buffalo dung, oil and clay. No
| improvement in the general methods
of preparing leather took place from
the most primitive times until about
| 1890 when the use of lime to loosen the
hair was introduced. By 1925 Eng
lish tanners were attempting to intro
duce new methods by which the tan
ming nrocess could be shortened, one
of the pioneers in these experiments
! was John Burridge, the inventor Of the
/! barometer an instrument for deter
mining the strength Of tanning LID
uors.
The first tannery In America was
built in Virginia in 1880. A few years
later second one was established in
Lynn, Mass, for it is recorded that nc
i fewer than ffty-one tanners had come
over to the new Colony before 1850
and Lynn today, undoubtedly, manu-
features and consumes more leather
than any other city in the United
States, as will be shown in the fol,
lowing letter, from the Secretary OF
the Chamber of Commerce, in reply tc
an inquiry from me regarding the
early history Of Lynn. 1t reads as
follows:
| Lynn Chamber Of Commerce,
Lynn, Mass, July 1st, 1919
Mr.. B. E. Stewart, Mgr,
Minot Hide & Tanning Co.,
Minot. N. Oak.
Dear Sir:
In reply to your letter Of June oath
! I am writing to say that the history
of tanning in Lynn is as old as the
city itself.
Lynn was settled in 1929 by Edward
and Francis ingalls,. The records
show: "Francis was tanner. seeking
running water, oak forests and a. place
where hunting Indian could conven
iently trade his hides for beads ant
wampum. These things he found OF
Humphreys Brook and there he built
his rude tannery. Rude, perhaps, bu
very strong; for that little, one-msr
tannery was to be the seed out o.
which has sprung the greatest shoe
and leather center in the whole world
| One branch after another of the lea
ther trades has been grated onto tha
trunk until, in the due course of ma
ture, the original tannery having fall
Law ;yfn docau aud nyon itS rI1ins have