The introduction of free hides made Amer ican glove manufacturers far more prosperous than they had ever been previously. The qual ity of the product has steadily improved, and the variety has been increased until now Amer ican made gloves are steadily driving out the foreign gloves. The skill of American, glovers is equal to that of foreign and in some respects —notably in the quality and style of the stitching, and in some grades, the shape — the American gloves are the best. The American glovers are more enterprising, and their styles are of a greater and better variety than foreign made gloves. Foreign expert workmen have been drawn over here f rpm the great glove centres in Europe, so that the great est skill has been secured here. The approx imate value of the glove industry in Fulton County has reached about $10,000,000. Some of the firms do a business reaching as high as $1,000,000, but the majority, however, have small shops and do a small but profitable business.
Most of the work in Fulton County, as abroad, is done at the homes of the workers. The streets in Gloversville and Johnstown are lined with pretty and tasteful homes, in which the hum of the sewing-machine is constantly heard during the working hours of the day, but the workers are exceptionally fortunate in being able while earning good wages to enjoy all the comforts and surroundings of home, and in be ing practically their own masters and mistresses. In these homes are installed more than 1,500 electric motors, some -dwellings having two.
Electric power adds 30 per cent to the weekly earnings of the operator. The factories are open from 7 a.m. to 6 P.M., but most of the work is piecework, at which each worker. is expected to spend not less than seven and one half hours per day. The delicate operations require a high degree of skill which is well paid for.
When the skins are received at the factory they are thoroughly soaked to open opt the tex ture and prepare them for the removal of the hair. Then the skins are plaoed in vats of lime water, where for two or three weeks the lime works into the flesh and albuminous matter, and loosens the hair. The skins having thus been properly softened, the dirty but picturesque op eration of removing the hair ensues. Before each beamer, as the workman is called, is an in clined semi-cylindrical slab of wood, covered with zinc. The skin is first spread upon this, and the broad curved beam of the knife glides across it from end to end, scraping and remov ing all the loosened hair, the scarf skin, and the small portion of animal matter still adher ing to the skin. After nnhairing, kid skins must be fermented in a drench of bran; the pur pose is to completely decompose the remaining albuminous matter, and also to remove all traces of the lime. The operation is extremely delicate.
With the preparation of kid leather, alum is the astringent curative agent. Its operation js aco:unpanied by that of others; the purpose is to secure elasticity, and pliability, and mainly to preserve that beautiful texture which makes kid leather superior to all others. The assist
ants in the process are eggs, flour and salt. They are combined into what is called a custard, and there is certainly nothing repulsive ie the idea of such a delicate agent being used. A proper quantity of the custard and a number of skins having been put together in a dash-wheel, where they are thrown about for some time, opens the pores of the skins, aborbs the custard freely and becomes- swelled by the chemical union of the custard and the skin. This having progressed satisfactorily, the skins are folded together with the fleshy side outward, and are dried by a gentle heat. They are now cured, but they are yet hard and rough. The breaking and "staking,'" as they are called, are now resorted to to make the skins soft, pliable and of even texture, removing the superfluous chemicals with which they have become charged, and the stiffness by manipulating the fibres. The oper ation of transforming the skin into leather is now finished, but age is necessary to secure per fect pliability and softness. The skins are there fore laid away to let the slow chemical opera tion going on within them be completed. After this has been accomplished the skins are ready for dyeing, cutting and manufacturing.
Calf skins as well as horsehides are used in the manufacture of workingmen's gloves. They are tanned in two ways, namely, oil tan, with a preparation that makes them what is called "fire and water proof > and they are also dressed and have the same finish as the buck glove.
In the dye-rooms the skins which have already been aged are immersed in dye vats, where the delicate colors are imparted to them. The same care is not required in obtaining the ordinary range of dark colors, for these are "brushed) on, the skin being spread upon a glass slab and the dye being painted on with a brush. After they are dyed the skins are some times somewhat hard, and some classes have to be staked again in order to restore their pliabil ity. The finishing touches to a kid skin are se cured by rubbing the grain side over with a °size,' which imparts a gloss. The experience of Gloversville manufacturers with buck gloves has enabled them to impart a special finish to a skin the same, as the suede finish, which is very popular under the tide of "mocha.) This is the same as suede finish, which is produced in other countries by shaving off the grain side of the skin at an early stage of its progress. The Gloversville method is much better, however, and has more perfect results, Here the grain is removed, and the velvet finish secured by buffing the surface on an emery wheel The surface of the leather is cut away in minute particles by this process, and the result is an exceedingly even and velvety texture, superior to that obtained by other methods.