The concluding work is as follows: A mar ble slab lies before the cutter on a table and every particle of dirt or other inequality is re moved before °doling.) The skin is spread, flesh side up, upon the slab, and the cutter goes over it with a broad-bladed chisel or knife, shaving down inequalities and removing all the fibrous portions. The dexterity with which this is done makes the operation appear extremely simple, but any but a skilled and experienced operative would almost surely cut through the skin. The most delicate part of the glove maker's art, in which exact judgment is re quired, comes in preparing the or slips from which the separate gloves are cut. The trank must be so cut as to have just enough leather to make a glove of a certain size and number. The operation would be easy enough if the material were hard and stiff, and if the elasticity were uniform, but this is rarely the case.
The gussets, facings, etc., are cut from the waste leather in the thumb opening at the same operation. In olden times an outline was traced upon the leather and the pattern was cut with shears. Modern invention has produced dies and presses which are universally used. Simi lar dies are used in the cutting of the thumb pieces and forchettes or strips forming the sides of the fingers.
Gloves are proportioned by a scale based on the fact that in the average man's hand the length of the third finger is the same as the width of the hand, and the same figure is the length of the body of the hand to the wrist. It is customary to make the ordinary short glove one-fourth longer than the body. Ladies' gloves are made slimmer in the body of the hand and with relatively longer fingers. The large factories commonly turn out a product comprising 30 distinct sizes.
The gloves are somewhat unsightly as they come from the sewer's hands, and must be made trim and neat. To secure these desirable re sults the gloves are taken to the ulaying-off) room. In this are long tables with a long row of brass hands projecting at an acute angle. These are filled with steam and are too hot to touch, but by ingenious devices they are so ar ranged that it is impossible to burn the glove or stiffen the leather by too much heat, a com mon defect in ordinary methods. The oper ation of the Glaying-off room' is finished with surprising quickness. Before each table stands an operator, who slips a glove over each form, draws it down to shape, and after a moment's exposure to the warmth removes it, smooth, shapely and ready for the box.
About 25 years ago a skin called %oche was utilized, and has been ever since, in making fine gloves, and they are finished similar to the suede finish, giving them a very velvety appear ance. They are very soft and pliable, and in fact have been almost as popular as the fine kid and lamb gloves. These mocha skins are all gathered in Arabia, from the peculiar haired sheep of that country. They received their name from the fact that the first in this country came with an invoice of mocha coffee.
The special census of manufactures taken for the United States in 1914 shows that in that year there were 352 establishments of fac tory grade in the country, making leather gloves and mittens. Of the entire number 216 are in New York State, 24 in Wisconsin and 28 in Illinois. The others are scattering. The number of persons occupied in this industry was 12,345, of whom 10,668 were wage-earners receiving a total of $4,558,360 annually in wages. The capital employed in this factory production aggregated $17,080,398, and the value of the finished product was $21,614,109: of this, $9, 443,415 had been added by the processes of manufacture.
These figures include some but not all of the home workers; and it is to be noted that the number of factory wage-earners in 1914 is nearly 3,500 less than the number registered (14,180) in the census of 1900. The remarkable growth of the industry is seen by comparing the above figures with those of the census of 1850. At that time there were 110 establishments of all grades making leather gloves and mittens in the United States. They employed an aggre gate of 1,938 hands, and their annual output was valued at $708,000.
Previous to the outbreak of the war the im ports of leather gloves and mittens from France amounted to about $3,000,000 a year, and from Germany about $2,000,000 a year. Of fabric and knitted gloves nearly the whole sup ply came from Germany. The difficulties in the way of imports had a great stimulative effect upon the glove manufacturing industry of America. When the war began the stock of skins suitable for glove making in the country was about enough to last the factories four months. Notwithstanding, all efforts to re plenish the stock the scarcity increased and the price rose, the result being that many of the factories making leather gloves took up the manufacture of fabric gloves.