LEATHER. AND ITS FINISHED PRODUCTS. See table of production under LEATHER.
In recent years there has been a rapid centralization of the tanning industry. This is due partly to the radical changes which have been made since 1880 in the pro cesses and machinery of manufacture, giving large plants an economic advantage, and partly to the combination of sole-leather tanneries with those producing upper leather. During the decade 1S90-1900 the capital invested increased 77.4 per cent. Hemlock and oak bark still furnish the great bulk of the material upon which the manufacturers of leather rely for their tannin. Advantages in securing this supply is one of the factors which determine the location of tanneries. This accounts for the enormous recent develop ment of the industry in Wisconsin and some other States. Pennsylvania has twice the production of any other State, Ilassachusetts, New Jersey, and Wisconsin ranking next in order.
One of the most distinct triumphs of Ameri can industry has been made in the manufacture of boots and shoes. Probably no other industry has been so completely revolutionized. Previ ous to 1845 the industry was strictly a hand process; to-day the shoe factory provides a perfect system of continuous manufacture, involving, in some instances, more than 100 operations. Be ginning with the leather-rolling machine, there followed rapidly the wax-thread sewing machine, the peg-making machine, and peg-driving machine, and other machines, of which the most important was the McKay sewing machine, which has per haps done more to revolutionize the manufacture of shoes than any other single machine. Im portant inventions are continuously being added to the list. As a result there has been a decided centralization of the industry, the number of establishments having decreased from 20S2 in 1890 to 1600 in 1900, and a decided increase in the number of wage-earners relative to the value of products. In 1900 the number of wage-earners
was only about one-half greater than in 1S50, whereas the value of products was nearly 6 times as great in the later as in the earlier year. There is also an increase in the number of women and children employed. Of the 142,000 factory hands in 1900, 47,186 were women and 4521 children. American shoes are exported in large quantities.
Until well along in the nineteenth century the industry was confined almost wholly to eastern :Massachusetts, and that State produced over three-sevenths of the total product in 1900. For a number of years, however, the industry has been rapidly developing in other regions, and almost the entire gain for the decade 1890-1900 was made outside Massachusetts, there being a decided decrease of capital reported for that State. The largest increase was made in Ohio and Missouri, hut Now York and New Hampshire still rank second and third respectively.
The manufacture of saddlery and harness, par ticularly the latter, is widely distributed, being usually carried on by small establishments in tended to supply the local demand. In the decade 1890-1900 there was a gain in the number of es tablishments amounting to 63.] per cent. There is a greater centralization in the manufacture of pocketbooks, trunks, and valises. The manufac ture of leather gloves and mittens employed 14,436 persons in 1900, of whom 0754 were women. The value of the product for that year was $17,048,656.