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THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 BY 
 
 DANIEL W. REDMOND, Ph.B. 
 
 Hamilton College, 1901 
 
 SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 
 
 FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 
 
 IN THE 
 
 FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 NEW YORK 
 1913 
 
PREFACE 
 
 SIMPLE and brief as the accompanying treatise may 
 seem, the work of collecting the requisite information 
 could not have been carried on without the aid and 
 cooperation of a great number of men closely connected 
 with the Glove Industry. This is particularly true 
 because the material is, for the most part, first hand and 
 could therefore be obtained only in the field. Space 
 forbids the publication of a complete list of all those who 
 have assisted in this work but the writer cannot omit 
 special appreciation of the interest and assistance of the 
 late Adolph L. Peck, librarian of the Gloversville Free 
 Library, who gave freely of his remarkable store of 
 information gathered in more than twenty-five years of 
 a busy life in Gloversville. 
 
 To Mr. James VVarbasse, Editor of the Glovers' Review 
 and Secretary of the Manufacturers' Association particular 
 thanks must be tendered as to Superintendents of many 
 of the leading factories of Gloversville. 
 
 To Professors E. R. A. Seligman and H. R. Seager 
 the writer owes a generous measure of gratitude for the 
 kindly consideration and helpful suggestions offered by 
 them at all stages of this work. 
 
 To my colleague Victor Oscar Freeburg thanks are 
 due for assistance in proof reading. Fullest appreciation 
 is expressed for the sympathy and encouragement given 
 by Professor Erastus Palmer of the College of the City 
 of New York who has in large degree made this study 
 possible. 
 
 263734 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGB 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 The reason for undertaking a study of this kind; Limitatious upon 
 selection; Adaptability of glove industry for study; Relation be- 
 tween glove industry and Protective Tariff; Sources of infor- 
 mation 7 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 
 
 Peculiarity of location of the industry; Origin in New York State; 
 Domestic stage of the industry; The beginning of commercial 
 growth; Rise of bartering or jobbing system; Company stores; 
 Breaking up of company stores and transfer of seat of industry 
 to Gloversville; Development of factory stage; Introduction of 
 tariff as a factor in industry in 1890 16 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 RAW MATERIALS 
 
 Indian-tanned deerskins; Mocha and its discovery; Napa; Cape; 
 Miscellaneous 16 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE 
 
 Glove manufacture distinguished from tanning; Dowling; Sorting; 
 Methods of cutting; By-products; Training of cutters; Inspec- 
 tions; Silking; Making; Arrangement of Machines and use of 
 power; Minor operations 20 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS 
 
 I. TENDENCIES 
 The tendency of the industrial development 25 
 
6 CONTENTS 
 
 FAGS 
 
 II. DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR FORCE AND EARNINGS 
 
 Transition from domestic stage to factory stage; Decrease in num- 
 ber of shops; Peculiarities of factory system; The earnings of 
 cutters; Comparison with earnings in other trades; Distribution 
 of makers; Earnings of makers; The "putting out" system; 
 Percentage of wage earners of Fulton County; Glove trade; 
 Efforts to increase labor force; General efficiency of factories. 25 
 
 III. LABOR ORGANIZATION 
 
 Growth of unions; Strike of 1881; Strike of 1893; Strike of 1897; 
 Strike of 1903; Breaking up of the union 36 
 
 IV. THE MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION 
 
 Its history; Its organization; Its objects; Its effects 42 
 
 V. FACTORY DISTRIBUTION 
 
 Location of factories within cities; Methods of putting out gloves; 
 Introduction of power machines in homes; Combination of 
 factory methods and domestic system; Outlook for the future 
 development 44 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 TARIFFS 
 
 The relation between the glove industry and the tariff; Classes 
 affected by tariff; Facts for basis of the tariff; The beginning of 
 protection, 1890; Change of basis in rate from ad valorem to 
 specific; Division of field by different rates; The weight of the 
 burden on the consumer; Consumer's right to facts as to cost 
 of fabrication; Wages and labor cost; The workers' share in 
 cost of fabrication; Fixing of rate of pay; Basis for computa- 
 tion of rate; The tariff on raw material and reduction of rate; 
 Rate on women's gloves 47 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 67 
 
CHAPTER I 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 RECENT efforts to fix responsibility for the increased 
 cost of living have directed attention to all the different 
 factors determining prices. Among these factors the 
 Protective Tariff is certainly important. The public 
 mind demands an explanation of the relation between 
 economic theory and political practice in the adjustment 
 of tariff rates. 
 
 The chief difficulty seems to be that among the many 
 conflicting issues raised by various manufacturing inter- 
 ests the basic facts of cost of production and general 
 industrial efficiency in any given industry may be over- 
 looked or concealed. 
 
 To ascertain what these basic facts actually are it is 
 necessary to make detailed studies of the separate 
 branches of the American Industrial System. An obvi- 
 ous difficulty lies in the fact that practically no industry 
 in our modern system is entirety independent of all others. 
 What is for one industry a finished product may become 
 the raw material for another industry. This fact limits 
 the field for selection of an industry to be studied. Se- 
 lection is further limited by the fact that an example 
 must be taken, in which the effect of the political factors 
 is sufficiently evident to be easily traced. 
 
 With the choice limited in this way, the writer has 
 undertaken to investigate the Glove Industry in the 
 United States. At the time of the passage of the Payne- 
 
 7 
 
g THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 Aldrich Tariff Law, public discussion centered in the 
 closing weeks of the preparation of the bill, particularly 
 about the tariff rate on gloves and hosiery. This rate 
 upon gloves was even made the subject of a communica- 
 tion from the President to the conference committee at 
 the very close of the session. 1 
 
 This study is an attempt to set forth the history of the 
 glove industry in the United States or more properly 
 that part of the industry which competes with foreign- 
 made gloves, and to point out the actual facts upon 
 which the determination of the rate on gloves should 
 depend. In doing this some attention must necessarily 
 be paid to the relation between political action and 
 economic law, but the effort will be made to keep as far 
 as possible from political controversy and as near as 
 possible to economic fact. 
 
 Admittedly the fine glove industry in the United 
 States is the direct outgrowth of the Protective Tariff, 3 
 hence the method of determining the tariff rate on 
 gloves cannot be overlooked. The tariff influence was 
 not felt until 1890, and from that time a sharp differen- 
 tiation has taken place between the heavy glove branch 
 of the industry and the fine glove branch. This study 
 does not attempt to deal with the heavy goods branch 
 after the separation took place in 1890, but is confined 
 to the fine glove branch. It is in the latter branch that 
 the American manufacturers are brought into competi- 
 tion with the foreign makers. 
 
 Gloves of some kind are made in almost every state. 
 Heavy leather gloves are made chiefly in the west, near 
 
 1 Outlook, Dec. 2, 1911, p. 813. 
 
 'Appendix, Extract from Argument of the Glove Manufacturers 
 Association of the United States. 
 
INTRODUCTION g 
 
 the source of supply of the heavier grade of skins used 
 in their manufacture. According to the Census of 
 Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin 72, 43 per cent, of the 
 total number of gloves made in the United States were 
 produced in Fulton County, N. Y. ; while of the finer 
 grades, those coming into competition with gloves of 
 foreign make, 90 per cent, to 95 per cent, are made in 
 Fulton County, N. Y. Hence the study of the Leather 
 Glove Industry in this one county will furnish a clear 
 view of the whole situation in the United States. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 HISTORICAL SKETCH 
 
 IN the consideration of the location of any extensive 
 industry, the main line of investigation would naturally 
 be directed toward showing the relation between the 
 center of the industry and some natural condition favor- 
 able to its development. Such a condition, for example, 
 might be nearness to the supply of raw material or 
 proximity to the market. The very title of this study 
 indicates that nearness to the market can not be the 
 most important one, since the product must necessarily 
 be distributed wherever gloves are worn. Turning to 
 the other line of investigation we are again struck by the 
 absence of any tangible relationship at the present time. 
 As we shall show in a following chapter practically every 
 quarter of the globe is drawn upon for the supply of 
 skins that go to make glove leather. 
 
 Curiosity is aroused by this double failure to explain 
 the location of the glove industry. As a needle industry, 
 partly domestic, it is independent of such natural condi- 
 tions as mineral supply or water power, but again we are 
 puzzled to explain the fact that a needle industry should 
 be so far removed from large centers of population and 
 placed in the midst of an agricultural section having, as 
 we have said, no substantial part in the supply of the raw 
 materials. 
 
 The final solution does, however, show an historical 
 justification, for we learn that in the very early stages of 
 10 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH H 
 
 development a series of strange accidents led to the 
 growth of glove making simply as an outgrowth of an 
 industry long since passed away. Industrial history con- 
 tains many interesting parallels to this case, for it was an 
 attempt to utilize what might be called a by-product of 
 the earliest manufacturing business of Fulton County 
 that really gave us the present well-developed glove in- 
 dustry. Early records of a day when manufacturing 
 enterprises were so rare as to attract considerable local 
 attention, record the opening of a small tinware factory 
 at Kirigsboro, now a suburb of Gloversville. In under- 
 taking this business the main thought of its founder 
 must have been much more occupied with the manufac- 
 turing side than with the disposition of his product, for 
 the only considerable market found for Kingsboro tin- 
 ware was among the Indians and early settlers, who had 
 little to offer in return save hides and skins. The In- 
 dians supplied principally deerskins, for which the fur- 
 trading companies of the region did not make a strong 
 demand. The quality of these skins was exceptionally 
 fine, and the trade name "Indian-tanned deerskin " soon 
 became a synonym for flexibility and durability of the 
 leather. 
 
 So valued was the process that it was made the basis 
 of a stoutly contested law suit growing out of an attempt 
 to patent the process. The process was in itself a 
 simple one and consisted in beating into the skin the 
 brains of the animal, which gave the leather a very soft, 
 pliable finish. 
 
 The economic advantage in a frontier settlement, of a 
 supply of deerskins even though beautifully tanned, over 
 a supply of tinware is not at once apparent. First 
 attempts to utilize the skins must of course be looked 
 for in the domestic life of the settlers and we find that a 
 
12 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 deerskin palm upon mittens was the readiest use. This 
 soon gave way to the fashioning, it can hardly be called 
 manufacture in the modern sense, of the entire mitten 
 from leather. 
 
 These leather mittens found so ready a sale among 
 the wood choppers and workmen in the surrounding 
 settlements that their production soon became a means 
 of occupation, particularly during the winter months, for 
 whole families. Yet for a long time the development 
 was purely a domestic one. The men usually cut the 
 mittens and the sewing was done by the women and 
 girls of their own families. 
 
 The next advance in the industry, for such we may 
 now call it, came about through the efforts of Sir Wm. 
 Johnson who in 1760 gave his aid to a company of 
 glovers who came from Perthshire in Scotland to Fulton 
 county and settled at Perth in v the eastern part of the 
 country. Perth remains but is no longer associated 
 with the glove industry except in a remote way. The 
 original company brought with them from Scotland 
 especially adapted needles and patterns of the gloves 
 produced in Perthshire, 
 
 Here we have a marked departure from the slow 
 evolutionary process of the earlier stages to the sharp 
 transition that is evinced in the change from a crudely 
 fashioned woodsman's mitten to the elaborately tanned 
 and finely made gloves produced by workmen trained in 
 the well established guild system of Scotland. The 
 company of glovers was small and their product found 
 immediate favor in the settlements so it was not until 1809 
 after time had been given for the training of two new 
 generations in the business that trade was sufficiently 
 well supplied to enable the product to extend beyond 
 the limits of the adjoining towns. In that year Tal- 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH 3 
 
 madge Edwards went to Albany with a bag of gloves 
 fastened to his saddle horn ' and the event is hailed with 
 interest by the local chroniclers as marking the beginning 
 of a new era and the development of commercial activity 
 in a community hitherto devoted to husbandry alone. 
 
 As early as 1825 Elisha Johnson made a trip to Boston 
 with a wagon load of gloves, and the sight of the money 
 brought back gave a new impetus to glove making. 
 Even then so slow is the training of a labor force in the 
 industry that it was many years before Fulton Co. gloves 
 reached the more remote parts of the U. S. There is 
 still living in Gloversville a retired manufacturer who 
 only sixty years ago took to Chicago the first consign- 
 ment of gloves to be sent so far west. 
 
 Up to the early 70*5 the principal development was 
 that of the jobbing system. No single manufacturer 
 could produce in those times a whole wagon load or 
 other large consignment of gloves so it naturally fell to 
 the lot of merchants of the community to act as gatherers 
 of gloves offered in small lots and since the price paid 
 for these small lots was usually in trade a large, profitable 
 business soon grew up. 
 
 During these years the force of workers was steadily 
 though slowly growing and the consequent increase in 
 production made the manufacturers anxious to retain the 
 large profits going to the jobber. To do this the only 
 logical thing was for the manufacturer to sell direct to 
 the retail trade but the idea growing out of the jobbing 
 business was too good to be lost and it took on a new 
 form when the larger manufacturers first, and later 
 practically all opened stores to supply goods to the 
 workers. 
 
 1 Washington Frothingham, History of Fulton Co. Also Census 
 1900, Part III, Manufacturers, p. 794. 
 
14 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 The results of this method are too well known in the 
 economic world to need description. They could only 
 be here what they have always been, pressure on the 
 workers from both ends. This pressure was further 
 intensified by the fact that the jobbers who had worked 
 up a profitable distributing trade and who found them- 
 selves without goods to supply it, opened shops of their 
 own. At first glance duplication of shops would seem 
 to be a good thing for the laborer for there would be 
 an increased demand for his labor. Here however the 
 consequent increase of production served to lower prices 
 and there was but one source from which profits could 
 be kept up. They must come from manufacturing cost. 
 Leather as we shall show in a later chapter tends con- 
 stantly to go up so nothing could be saved in material. 
 The labor charge must be lowered and under the truck- 
 ing system this was easy. Two methods would prove 
 equally effective. The rate of pay might be low r ered or 
 prices of goods might be increased. Extend the process 
 further by an annual settlement plan and we have the 
 system at its worst. 
 
 The only result must be a strike and this came in 1881. 
 The glove workers were not a strong organization but 
 they were promised help from the Knights of Labor. 
 
 The demand of the workers was for cash payment and 
 this they secured. While there was no demand for a 
 higher rate of pay the removal of the trucking system 
 had the effect of an increase. 
 
 During all the transitions described in the preceding 
 paragraphs the social forces had kept pace with the eco- 
 nomic ones. The Puritanical ideas of the New England 
 founders of Kingsboro and the equally conservative 
 traditions of Johnstown, inherited from Sir Wm. Johnson 
 and his Tory followers did not comport with the freer 
 demands of a growing industrial community. 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH x - 
 
 The more adventurous spirits from the two older com- 
 munities found common ground at Gloversville a little 
 outside of both and set up a new village dedicated even 
 by its name to business. While Johnstown has continued 
 to grow it has been outstripped by Gloversville which is 
 now, 1910, a thriving well ordered city of 20,642. Kings- 
 boro lives practically only in name as a section of Glovers- 
 ville which has enveloped it. 
 
 The new industrial developments rapidly advanced. 
 Factory organization, the perfection of sewing machines 
 and the growth of population in the United States in the 
 late 8o's increased demand for gloves. Better organiza- 
 tion of the laborers following the successful strike of 
 1881 led to demands for increased wages. 
 
 To meet this demand and to insure the enjoyment of 
 the growing market the glove manufacturers, like all 
 other industries of that time, turned to the tariff and in 
 1890 secured the first rate that offered protection in the 
 ordinary sense of the term. In a later chapter this 
 relationship will be more fully pointed out. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 RAW MATERIALS 
 
 Industrial History contains few more interesting 
 stories of growth than can be told in describing the 
 wide varieties of material that go or have gone to the 
 making of a leather glove. From simple trading of tin 
 cups for deerskins the search for glove leather has gone 
 through many interesting chapters of voyage, conquest 
 and discovery. 
 
 Advancing colonization soon drove back the Indian 
 and the deer alike depleting both in the retreat. While 
 the glove trade is free from any such stigma of wanton 
 destruction as that attached to the killing of buffaloes, it 
 undoubtedly played a contributing part in the destruc- 
 tion of our great national game supplies. The animals 
 of the North American Continent that have given up 
 their skins for glove making were nearly all food animals, 
 only in the later stages of the search in Africa and Asia 
 have animals been killed for their skins alone. 1 
 
 As the number of deerskins diminished, the antelope 
 of our Western plains increased in supply but this again 
 was only a temporary source. Efforts were made to 
 find a new raw material and another accident hastened 
 its discovery. In a shipment of Mocha coffee coming to 
 Boston from Hodeidah, a port on the Red Sea, there 
 were a few bales of skins of the haired sheep of Arabia. 
 The skins were sent to a Boston tanner and made so 
 
 1 Tariff Heatings, Nov. 28, 1908, p'.-253 seq. 
 16 
 
RAW MATERIALS ! 7 
 
 good a grade of leather that a very extensive trade has 
 developed. 1 American tanners have outstripped their 
 rivals in the tannage of this one kind of leather. There 
 is a steady demand in many European centers for the 
 American product which is known to the trade by the 
 name "Mocha." 
 
 Next in importance comes " Napa," made from the 
 skin of the sheep from the steppes of Russia. The sup- 
 ply of this is limited to about half a million skins per 
 year. Modern methods are well illustrated in the collec- 
 tion of these skins. Buyers representing those houses 
 able to send men abroad congregate at the fairs through- 
 out the region and agree upon a price. This gentlemen's 
 agreement is quite effective, and the skins are divided 
 after they are purchased according to the prearranged 
 percentage among those firms only which are represented 
 on the spot. 
 
 Thus these makers have a monopoly of the whole 
 supply, and smaller houses can get Napa only from the 
 larger ones. From the markets the skins are sent to 
 Germany to be dressed, arriving in the United States as 
 finished leather some months after their purchase. 
 
 More plentiful than Napa are Cape, the skins of sheep 
 grown in South Africa. This material is very popular 
 because of its comparative cheapness and durability. 
 Here again the German tanners have the field, but 
 Americans are gaining rapidly. Though making service- 
 able gloves, Cape skins are difficult to cut because of the 
 carelessness and lack of skill with which the sheep and 
 hides are handled in South Africa. Many of the skins 
 show knife cuts made in removing them, and many also 
 are damaged by wire-fence scars. 
 
 1 Census, 1900, Part III, Manufacturers, p. ;g6. 
 
iS THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 Space does not permit us to enumerate and describe 
 all the kinds of skins that have been used. Those de- 
 scribed make up the great bulk of the supply. The 
 humble sheep skin of Arabia or the Cape may often 
 appear under a more pretentious name. South America 
 has been drawn upon for deer skins and a few others. 
 As a general principle the skins of animals grown in 
 high altitudes and cold climates have finer texture and 
 are best adapted to the superior grades of gloves. This 
 fact accounts for the quality of the French kid gloves. 
 Some of these are made in the United States, but the 
 number is not large. The skill of the American cutters 
 is fully equal to the task of handling kid, but the sewing 
 requires so much more care than the heavier grades that 
 it is difficult to attract makers to the work. 
 
 The following figures taken from the Census of 1905 
 give a summary of the total consumption of the various 
 grades of leather for that year. 1 The figures in each case 
 represent the number of dozens of skins : Deerskins, 
 66,280; sheepskins (imported), 88,881 ; sheepskins (do- 
 mestic), 342,764; kid and suede (imported), 100,282; 
 hogskins (imported), 140,502; hogskins (domestic), 
 35,013; horse and cow hides, 170,633; all other varieties, 
 441,880. 
 
 1 Census of Manufactures, IQOS, Bulletin 72. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE 
 
 WHILE modern industrial methods have done much to 
 improve the processes of manufacture of leather gloves 
 there yet remain many processes which to all appearances 
 cannot be further improved. No product meeting with 
 the intimate inspection given to one's gloves can be care- 
 lessly turned out. The individuality required for the fit 
 of a glove makes necessary a more delicate adjustment of 
 tension than any that can be formed in the average ma- 
 chine product. Division of labor had advanced from the 
 first stages in which all the work was done by a single 
 person or family until under present practice as many as 
 forty separate handlings are required after the skin 
 reaches the cutter to send out the finished gloves boxed 
 and ready to be worn. 
 
 The standard processes as listed in the Report of the 
 Bureau of Labor Statistics 1908, Part i, are sorting, 
 shaving, cutting, slitting or punching of tranks, 1 trim- 
 ming of tranks, needle sewing to prepare the gloves for 
 the silker, silking, pulling, making, hemming or finish- 
 ing, laying-off, fastening, tacking, examining, sorting, 
 banding and boxing. 
 
 While some of these processes blend into others by 
 easy stages, yet in the main they are entirely distinct and 
 most of them require a highly specialized grade of skill. 
 
 1 Atrank is the rectangular piece of leather from which the glove will 
 eventually be cut. 
 
 IQ 
 
20 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 We must omit from so limited a discussion as the 
 present a description of the treatment of the skins and 
 begin at once with the manufacture proper of gloves. 
 
 The finished leather is the raw material for the manu- 
 facture of gloves. We have first the dowling or shaving 
 of the skins, a process formerly done by hand with a 
 peculiar disc-shaped knife or with a chisel-shaped instru- 
 ment, but now done by a machine or upon a revolving 
 stone similar to a grinding stone. Great skill is required 
 to make the skin uniform in thickness. 
 
 Then comes a sorting of the skins and a careful grad- 
 ing. This requires a very high degree of skill. The 
 sorter must be able to tell by a glance along the surface 
 of -the skin just what grade of glove it will make best; 
 also, he must be able to estimate the number of gloves 
 or pairs of gloves that can be made from each skin. In 
 some of the shops of the older type this was largely a 
 matter of estimate giving rise to a large amount of waste. 
 In France, according to Dr. Cote, 1 this went so far as to 
 develop a regular trade in stolen skins. 
 
 In the modern conduct of the business each skin is 
 measured to a nicety by a machine and a computation is 
 made to show the number of square inches of leather 
 required for the lot of gloves. A careful measurement 
 is also made of all leather returned by the cutter, and 
 savings down to the fraction of a square foot are noted. 
 
 After the inspection and measurement the skins go to 
 the cutters upon whom depends the quality of the glove 
 and to a large extent its cost. 
 
 There are three distinct methods of cutting: table 
 cutting, pull-down or American table cutting, and block 
 cutting. The most approved of these methods is the 
 
 x C6te, V Industrie ganticre et Vcuvrier & Grenoble, Paris, 1903. 
 
PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE 
 
 21 
 
 so-called " table cutting." The skin is stretched upon a 
 table, folded and cut lengthwise into two pieces. Then 
 from each piece is cut a rectangular section of leather, 
 called a "trank," a little smaller than the pattern of the 
 glove to be made. This smaller piece is then stretched 
 thoroughly to the size of the pattern, numbered with its 
 size, its pair number and the cutter's number. From 
 the same part of the skin must come the thumbs, the 
 
 Showing general method of getting 'gloves from skin to insure sameness in 
 leather. Parts of leather outside of dotted line are by-products going to make 
 pocket books, etc. 
 
 "fourchettes," and the "quirks" if not included in the 
 pattern. This insures a careful matching of the leather 
 in each glove and pair of gloves as to texture, weight, 
 and color. 
 
 Great skill is required to stretch the leather so evenly 
 that the finished glove will not bag or draw. It also 
 requires good judgment to estimate the stretching power 
 of the leather so well as to throw out all damaged spots. 
 Few skins will yield three pairs of first-quality gloves. 
 
22 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 To acquire the skill necessary for cutting a three-year 
 apprenticeship is required, 1 and even after that only about 
 one cutter in three is a really first-class workman. Most 
 of the " table cutters " are foreign-born and learned their 
 trade abroad. 
 
 Next comes the " pull down " or " American table 
 cutting," said by some to produce as good gloves as 
 "table cutting," but generally said to turn out an in- 
 ferior grade. By this process the whole skin is stretched 
 and the pattern laid on. It is evident that the tension 
 could not be so even as in the table-cutting process. 
 Separate and lower schedules of pay are maintained for 
 "American table cutting," as this method is termed. 
 (See Appendix I). 
 
 The block cutters simply lay upon the skin a die and 
 hammer out the forms. 
 
 With the selection of the "trank" the work of the 
 cutter is finished, His is the work of selecting and 
 stretching the leather in such a way that when all the 
 slits required by the patterns (see cut, p. 21) are made 
 there shall be no damaged spots in the glove. The 
 tranks go from the cutter to an operator, who inserts 
 them in a machine called a slitter. This machine con- 
 tains a die which stamps out the lines of the glove, as is 
 shown by the cut. 
 
 The next step is an inspection to determine whether 
 the cutter has so arranged the leather that all blemishes 
 have been removed by the slitting machine. If blem- 
 ishes appear, the glove is returned to the cutter, who 
 must supply a new " trank," in some shops at his own 
 expense. 
 
 1 N. y. State Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1908, Part 
 I, P- 155. 
 
PROCESSES OF MANUFACTURE 23 
 
 Each lot or dozen is then sent to the "silkefs" or ma- 
 chine operators, who put the rows of embroidery upon 
 the back of the glove. To complete this process, the 
 gloves pass through the hands of three operators. 
 About one-third of the workers at this process are men. 
 The machines are run at a very high tension and women 
 find it difficult to endure the strain. 
 
 The making proper is now begun, which may be di- 
 vided into several operations according to the grade to 
 which the gloves belong. For example, in pique a sep- 
 arate operator closes the glove. Only a very few opera- 
 tors have sufficient skill for closing and they have a prac- 
 tical monopoly of this branch of work. 
 
 The sewing machines in all factories are power-driven 
 and are run at a very high speed as a rule. They are 
 arranged in rows above a shaft, the treadle controlling 
 the starting and stopping device, and a lever operated by 
 the maker's knee lifts and lowers the needle bar. This 
 arrangement leaves the operator's hands free for handling 
 the pieces of leather, and even then so delicate are many 
 of the adjustments that the fingers alone cannot make 
 them, so the makers use a small pair of pinchers to bring 
 the edges together. Training of makers usually requires 
 half a year. All the work is piece work, so an operator 
 can rest if it is necessary. In fact, the manufacturers 
 claim that it is impossible to enforce any kind of regu- 
 larity either in hours or work. 
 
 We will omit a description of many of the little oper- 
 ations, such as binding, putting on button stays or but- 
 tons ; for many of these operations the gloves are sent 
 out of the factory, sometimes to three or more people in 
 succession. 
 
 Some families do all the making at home, receiving 
 the gloves and fittings and returning the gloves to go 
 
24 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 through the final examination, " laying off," and polish- 
 ing. 
 
 The "laying off" is done by smoothing the now com- 
 pletely sewn glove upon a metal form " hand shaped." 
 heated by steam or electricity. The polishing is done 
 upon a plush wheel or buffer revolving at high speed. 
 Finally the gloves are buttoned, reinspected and packed. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS 
 
 IN this chapter we will describe the industrial features 
 of the industry. We will point out the line of develop- 
 ment in manufacture, calling special attention to the fact 
 that in the glove industry there is a peculiar combina- 
 tion of domestic and factory systems of production. 
 We will show that the present tendency is toward a 
 spread of the domestic system. We will show that the 
 reason for this development is partly economic and 
 partly artificial, and lastly we will show that the main- 
 tenance of a normal community calls for constructive 
 change which will result in a more normal balance 
 between the wages of men and the wages of women. 
 
 DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR FORCE AND EARNINGS 
 
 It is a rather noticeable fact that the progress of this 
 industry has been practically in a circle. 
 
 In Chapter II we pointed out that glove making as an 
 industry resulted accidentally from efforts to utilize the 
 skins obtained by barter and was purely domestic. 
 
 The factory stage was not slow to appear, but in this 
 industry a somewhat slower development has gone on 
 than in many others, which is due to the fact that the 
 making is so largely a needle trade and the ordinary 
 domestic sewing machine serves very well for the busi- 
 ness. There was a stage when, according to a retired 
 manufacturer, every man who had the price of a skin, 
 bought one, took it home, placed it on a block and cut 
 
 25 
 
26 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 out gloves to be sewed by his wife. Whether this be 
 literally true or not, it is true that there is an enormous 
 number of little backyard shops or factories. These have 
 at one time been operated in a small way. Some of them 
 are now run by small sub-contractors or on club sys- 
 tems. The census figures show that the number was 
 smaller in 1905 than in 1900.' 
 
 The number may constantly vary because there is a 
 very large marginal element in this industry. A good 
 cutter is ever ready to begin business for himself or to 
 take contracts from the large manufacturers. 
 
 The factory system in the glove industry is a peculiar 
 one. Most of the " makers " own their machines and 
 take them to the factory where they are employed or 
 rent power in their own homes. In the factories (ex- 
 cept some of the most recently built) operators were 
 compelled to pay for power, oil, needles and repairs for 
 their own machines, thus relieving the manufacturer of a 
 part of the overhead charges. This latter condition was 
 the basis of the strikes about Chicago, and has been done 
 away with in Fulton County by the rivalry of the newer 
 factories, which provide power at their own expense. 
 
 In describing the processes we laid stress on the fact 
 that the cutters have the highest degree of skill, coupled 
 with qualities of judgment that make them a selected 
 body of men. In the argument before the Ways and 
 Means Committee on November 28, 1908 the manu- 
 facturers' representative stated that cutters make from 
 $3.50 to $4.00 per day. While there is only a limited 
 number of cutters in Fulton County, an exact determina- 
 tion of the rate of pay is very hard to obtain. According 
 to the Report of the New York State Department of 
 Labor for 1908 (p. 116) the average wages of the sixty- 
 1 Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin No. 72. 
 
INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS 27 
 
 seven union cutters reported is $1.75 per day. The 
 union cutters, however, may not be a representative body 
 as will be shown in the discussion of labor unions in 
 another part of this chapter. 
 
 In the Glove Manufacturers' Schedule for 1910' (the 
 same as for 1908), the flat price of $3.00 per day is set 
 as the rate of pay for men doing certain difficult grades 
 of cutting which they could not be induced to undertake 
 at the piece rates paid for the ordinary grades. This 
 fact would seem to argue that $3.00 is so far in excess 
 of the ordinary earnings as to induce men to do the 
 disagreeable or difficult grades of work. Hence we 
 conclude that the average is less than $3.00. 
 
 The census figures * show for all men in the industry 
 an average annual wage as follows : 
 
 Average for men in U. S. in 1900 $461 oo 
 
 Average for men in Fulton Co. in 1900 305 oo 
 
 Average for men in Fulton Co. in 1905 490 oo 
 
 It must be noted here that this classification includes 
 all the males above 16 years of age and is therefore 
 practically valueless as a means for determining the earn- 
 ings of any one class. 
 
 From the New York State Department of Labor 
 Report, Bureau of Statistics, 1908, Part I, p. n, Table 
 A, we have the following : 
 
 Per cent, of Foreign American Wages Years 
 high grade born per born per per apprentice- 
 skill, cent. cent. week. ship. 
 
 Male 83.2 43.4 56.6 $12-18 3 
 
 Female ... 89.9 16.2 83.8 9-12 % 
 
 From the same report, p. 156, we have a report by 
 employers as to wages paid. 
 
 1 Glove Manufacturers' Schedule. See Appendix I . 
 1 Census, 1905, Bulletin 72. 
 
28 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 Cutters.. . ms. .. i 2 2214 
 
 i. Wages .. $11 $12 $13.50 $15 $16 $18 
 
 Operators.... j F^ms... 1312 
 *- Wages.. $10.50 $12 $14 $15 
 
 The same report gives the average wages of men in 
 other trades requiring three to four years' apprentice- 
 ship, as follows : 
 
 Trade Wages. Apprenticeship. 
 
 Cut glass ........................ $15 3-5 
 
 Castings and foundry ............ 18-20 3 -4 
 
 Jewelry ......................... 18 3-6 
 
 Furniture ....................... 12-15 3-4 
 
 Pianos .......................... 18-20 3-5 
 
 Newspaper printing ............. 14-23 3-5 
 
 From these tables we see that as compared with other 
 skilled workmen requiring the same period of prepara- 
 tion the glove cutters labor at a disadvantage. Further, 
 the slack season in the glove industry is longer than in 
 the other industries of the table, thus making the disad- 
 vantage even greater than it appears from the comparison 
 of the respective earnings. The outlook under present 
 conditions is not favorable for cutters. Their earnings 
 are so dependent upon the quality of the skins which 
 they have to cut, and their work so highly specialized, 
 that it is not fair to submit their trade to the same tests 
 applying to clothing cutters, etc., who have uniform ma- 
 terial upon which to work, whereas the glove cutters, as 
 shown under the discussion of processes, must use a high 
 quality of judgment in handling their greatly varying ma- 
 terial. Attempts are being made to organize the cutting 
 room on the factory basis. However, the exercise of 
 judgment required prevents the development of the re- 
 flex action so necessary to high organization and speed 
 work. In the cheaper grade of workmen's mittens, for 
 which all blemishes in the leather need not be removed, 
 
INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS 29 
 
 cutters may turn out as many as six dozen pairs per day. 
 In the finer grades of work the factory managers esti- 
 mate roughly an average of three dozen pairs per cutter 
 per day. The table which follows shows an average of 
 fourteen dozen per week. Added to the necessary ele- 
 ments of business condition and loss of time in slack 
 seasons, there is the further uncertainty occasioned by 
 the possibility of change in tariff rate. In a later chapter 
 this phase of the problem will be examined into more 
 fully. 
 
 In the case of the makers, the situation is quite dif- 
 ferent. While the cutters (about one thousand in num- 
 ber) are all found in Gloversville and Johnstown, the 
 makers are scattered all about the neighboring counties. 
 The census of 1900 previously referred to quotes " a 
 prominent manufacturer," whose name is not given, as 
 stating that there were at that time one thousand fam- 
 ilies in Hamilton, Saratoga, Herkimer and Montgomery 
 counties in whose homes gloves were " put out" to be 
 made wholly or in part. He estimates that most of the 
 women make 75 cents per, day or about $10 per month, 
 while at the same time attending to their household la- 
 bors. A manufacturer of Johnstown cited a case of a 
 farmer's family, the women members of which earn $45 
 to $50 per month. The gloves thus made outside of the 
 factory are chiefly of the coarser, cheaper grades. 
 
 There is a very active demand for makers and as a 
 consequence, it is impossible to establish any regular 
 discipline in the factories. Although the Manufacturers' 
 Association states in its schedule (see Appendix I) that 
 regular hours will be observed in all departments, the 
 rules cannot be enforced. Makers may be seen coming 
 and going at all hours and the air of the making room 
 although busy is not one of rush. This may be partic- 
 
THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 TABLE A 1 
 
 
 Product 
 
 in 
 
 
 
 Product 
 
 in 
 
 
 Cutter. 
 
 dozens and 
 
 I2ths 
 
 Wages. 
 
 Cutter. 
 
 dozens ?nd 
 
 I2ths 
 
 Wages. 
 
 
 of a dozen. 
 
 of a dozen. 
 
 
 i 
 
 6 
 
 A 
 
 $7.16 
 
 42 
 
 14 
 
 6^ 
 
 $15.13 
 
 2 2 
 
 19 
 
 A 
 
 20.58 
 
 43 
 
 18 
 
 A 
 
 19.35 
 
 3 
 
 fio 
 I 9 
 
 A l 
 A/ 
 
 19.56 
 
 44 
 
 46 
 
 5 
 19 i 
 
 1 
 
 5-75 
 20.32 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 A 
 
 10.78 
 
 47 
 
 17 
 
 
 18.46 
 
 5 
 
 28 
 
 
 29.68 i 
 
 48 
 
 ; 21 
 
 
 22.26 
 
 7 
 
 19 
 
 . . 
 
 20.14 ij 
 
 50 
 
 20 : 
 
 1 5 
 
 T2 
 
 21. 17 
 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 16 
 15 
 
 A 
 
 13.00 
 15.90 || 
 
 5< 3 
 
 (18 
 i 6 
 
 H 
 
 Y 
 
 25.48 
 
 16 
 
 (I 
 
 V}: 
 
 15.01 ;; 
 
 53 
 
 f 10 
 
 iio 
 
 
 19.84 
 
 17 
 
 17 
 
 
 18.02 : 
 
 55 
 
 9 
 
 A 
 
 10.34 
 
 18 
 
 {,0 
 
 !ll ! 
 
 13.38 j 
 
 56 
 57 
 
 M 
 4 
 
 H 
 
 K 
 
 1 5 
 
 15.17 
 4.95 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 A}| 
 
 18.61 |! 
 
 58 
 6 
 
 5 
 i 
 
 A 
 
 
 12 
 
 21 
 
 II 
 
 \ 9 
 
 I 4 
 
 ifl 
 
 13.69 |i 
 14.62 1| 
 
 9 
 II 
 
 Jio 
 I 6 | 
 13 
 
 A 
 
 JS.02 
 13.08 
 
 22 
 23 
 24 
 
 15 
 17 
 
 A) 
 
 15.99 1 
 
 9-93 :! 
 
 18.02 1| 
 
 14 
 
 26 
 
 u 
 (I 
 
 xl 
 
 J) 
 
 14.8l 
 
 25 
 
 12 
 
 5 
 
 9 ; 
 
 13.52 
 
 28 
 
 u 
 
 9 * 
 
 r% ( 
 
 15.40 
 
 27 
 
 6 
 
 i 2 *H 
 
 17.07 ; 
 
 . j 
 
 29 
 31 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 
 13.99 
 
 3.58 
 
 30 
 
 i 
 
 / 4 
 1 8 
 
 4 
 
 ! 
 12.78 | 
 
 32 
 
 ii 
 
 ( 6 
 
 A \ 
 H* 
 
 15.08 
 
 33 
 
 v o 
 
 8 
 
 ? ' 
 
 8.08 
 
 45 
 
 ; 1 9 
 
 A) 
 
 15-53 
 
 34 \i 
 
 flk 
 
 A/ 
 
 12.28 
 
 49 
 
 no ! 
 
 \ 7 i 
 
 7} 
 
 15.95 
 
 35 22 
 
 7 ! 
 
 18.07 ; 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 36 { 4 
 
 ill 
 
 A/ 
 
 13.12 
 
 52 
 
 Ij 
 
 
 I7.I8 
 
 37 10 
 
 
 10.62 
 
 54 
 
 10 
 
 '5 
 
 10.00 
 
 38 15 
 
 40 20 
 
 9 
 I 
 
 16.70 
 21.29 \ 
 
 41 
 
 fio 
 
 \ 4 
 
 
 15.09 
 
 No. of cutters, 54. 
 
 Total wages, $806.14. Average wages for week, $14.93. 
 
 Total no. gloves cut, 793 dozen. Average for week, 144- dozen per 
 cutter. 
 
 We note that these results agree substantially with the state reports 
 quoted on pages 27-28. 
 
 1 Wages of cutters working probably eight hours per day on grade of 
 gloves competing with imported gloves. Piece work, all table cutters 
 in shop included. Week ending September 15, 1910. 
 
 'Assisted by apprentice, wages of apprentice paid by cutter. This 
 table is a copy of the payroll for the week indicated, and is a fair sample 
 of general earnings throughout the industry. 
 
INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS $1 
 
 ularly fortunate, for the machines are power-driven and 
 constant application to them would doubtless prove too 
 great a strain for women to endure. 
 
 TABLE B ' 
 (MAKING PRIXSEAM) 
 
 
 
 
 
 4B 
 
 3 
 
 rt 
 
 i 
 
 Dozen. 
 
 I 
 
 *rt 
 
 OH 
 
 u 
 
 2 
 
 w^4 
 
 &SJ 
 | S 
 
 6 
 
 
 "/> 
 
 *- c 
 
 S vi 
 *S M H 
 
 111 
 
 
 
 <nA 
 
 t> U 
 bflO) 
 
 $ 
 
 IQI 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 $7 86 
 
 21 S 72 
 
 $8 2^ 
 
 
 III 
 
 2 \ 
 
 T T Q A 
 
 216 ! 5 
 
 fO*4 
 
 5-75 
 
 192 
 
 \ I 
 
 J 
 
 II.O4 
 
 217..., Q i 
 
 TO 64 
 
 101 
 
 II 
 
 
 12 75 
 
 218 8 * 
 
 9AO 
 
 1 04 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 i^./i 
 
 6 04 
 
 2IQ A 1 
 
 4v 
 4 80 
 
 IQ5... 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 O Q7 
 
 220 ' 7 
 
 4-y 
 8 o? 
 
 196 . .. . 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 y-y/ 
 
 8 72 
 
 !22I Q I 
 
 IO 45 
 
 197 
 
 A 
 
 7 
 
 4 60 
 
 i 222 7 O 
 
 1M*K> 
 
 8 91 
 
 198 
 
 
 2 
 
 SO4 
 
 22 ? 8 I 
 
 O 7O 
 
 199 
 
 g 
 
 8 
 
 9O7 
 
 224 7 
 
 y-o u 
 8 oc 
 
 200 
 
 6 
 u 
 
 i 
 
 7 oO 
 
 "** / 
 225 7 
 
 8O5 
 
 201 
 
 g 
 
 g 
 
 II 12 
 
 226 7 
 
 8 O e 
 
 202 
 
 
 10 
 
 9OI 
 .Ul 
 
 227 6 6 
 
 7 48 
 
 201... 
 
 ' 
 
 6 
 
 6 11 
 
 228 : 4 ii 
 
 5 65 
 
 204 .. 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 oo 
 8 72 
 
 22O A 8 
 
 5 >U 3 
 c 77 
 
 205... 
 
 
 
 
 II 12 
 
 *?y 
 
 230 ' 8 5 
 
 9*68 
 
 206 
 
 
 I 
 
 IO 45 
 
 271 1 II 
 
 4 en 
 
 207 
 
 
 II 
 
 iu.^3 
 e 6? 
 
 212 . 4 II 
 
 4O U 
 c 65 
 
 208 
 
 7 
 
 II 
 
 910 
 
 , *?* 
 
 27^ ..88 
 
 9O7 
 
 209 
 
 7 
 
 
 8 o^ 
 
 274... I 1 
 
 TTC 
 
 210 
 
 10 
 
 
 ii 08 
 
 *W" 
 27C T -I 
 
 I 44 
 
 211 
 
 
 S 1 
 
 8 ai 
 
 276 A 1 
 
 A 80 
 
 212 
 
 
 
 10 ^^ 
 
 *o' J 4 J 
 277... ? 
 
 4-y 
 
 57C 
 
 213 
 
 IO 
 
 
 11.88 
 
 278... ^ 
 
 1 07 
 
 214... 
 
 IO 
 
 
 ii 88 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total wages for each week, $382.94. Average for week, $7.94. 
 Total number of makers, 48. 
 
 Total number gloves made, 332 dozen, 10 pairs. Average, 7 dozen. 
 These averages are slightly below those given in state reports quoted 
 on pages 27-28. 
 
 1 A representative week for workers in regular shops on grade of 
 men's gloves that compete with imported gloves. (Week ending 
 August 3, 1911.) 
 
3 2 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 On page 27 we quoted the amount of women's pay 
 from the State report. In table B we give the actual 
 pay for makers working under factory conditions. 
 From these tables it may be seen that wages for full- 
 time workers are from $10 to $12 per week. It is not at 
 all uncommon to hear of an individual maker who for a 
 short period may maintain an average of three dollars 
 per day. These periods of high production, however, 
 are usually followed by corresponding times of low pro- 
 duction or even by an entire cessation of work. Hence 
 it is not the object of the manager to encourage these 
 sporadic efforts at speed, since a steady average will 
 produce better results in the long run. 
 
 A large marginal labor element is found in the making 
 branch of the industry, for many women make gloves for 
 " pin money." There is scarcely a family of the middle 
 or lower class of which some woman member does not 
 make gloves. In a large number of cases, particularly 
 where the head of the family is a cutter, this is made 
 necessary by the smallness or uncertainty of the bread- 
 winner's wages. Thus an increase in the cutter s pay 
 would automatically cut down the supply of makers, and 
 this artificial influence added to the natural economic 
 influence has much to do with the disparity between the 
 pay of men and women in the glove industry and the 
 corresponding ratio in other industries* 
 
 In making at home mothers are often assisted by a 
 small child, who can do some of the simpler tasks, such 
 as matching the smaller pieces with their corresponding 
 
 1 The condition of the laboring class is further complicated by the fact 
 that 80 per cent, of the heads of families in Gloversville have equities in 
 the houses they occupy, thus greatly affecting their freedom of move- 
 ment. So long as the whole family can earn a living total they will 
 remain. 
 
INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS 33 
 
 backs and palms from which they have been separated 
 during the process of silking. The matching is done by 
 means of the numbers put on by the cutters. Children 
 could not thus assist in factories under the Labor Law. 
 
 The extent to which the wage-earners of Gloversville 
 and Johnstown depend upon glove-making for employ- 
 ment makes the welfare of the community depend to an 
 unusual degree upon the prosperity of this one industry. 
 
 If we leave out of account made-to-order cities like 
 Gary, the industrial situation in Fulton County may well 
 be said to be unique. The New York Slate Department 
 of Labor Report for 1902 shows that in 1900 67.2 per 
 cent, of the value of manufactured products in Glovers- 
 ville was gloves ; 47 per cent, of the manufactured 
 products of Johnstown was gloves ; 82 per cent, of 
 wage earners of Fulton County were employed in gloves 
 and allied trades ; 87.6 per cent, of wage earners in 
 Gloversville were thus employed. In 1900 also the 
 value of the gloves produced in Fulton County was 
 $9,458,603 or 57.1 per cent, of the total for the United 
 States. 1 
 
 From the foregoing facts it appears that the labor 
 problems of Fulton County are almost entirely those 
 of the glove industry. In the summer of 1910 one 
 manufacturer was reported to have on hand 420,000 
 dozen of gloves cut and not made. Another large 
 manufacturer discharged half of his cutting force and 
 limited the remaining half to twelve dozen per week. 
 The supply of makers, on the other hand, is never equal 
 to the demand. For this reason many efforts have been 
 made by individual manufacturers and the Manufacturers' 
 
 l The value of gloves produced in New York City was $586,061; 
 Buffalo, $106,000; Syracuse, $56,434; Binghamton, $36,263. 
 
34 
 
 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 Association to increase the supply of makers. The 
 Gloversville Board of Trade, controlled by glove manu- 
 facturers, constantly seeks to increase the number of 
 families in the city, but by a strange contrast they are 
 said to oppose the existence of any other industry than 
 glove making and skin dressing. It is alleged that 
 efforts are made to keep out other lines of employment 
 to avoid the possible competition for men's labor. 
 Gloversville is situated upon a branch railroad. The 
 unfavorable freight facilities have much to do with this 
 situation. The materials for glove making are so light 
 as not to be seriously affected by high carriage charges. 
 
 One of the interesting efforts to increase the making 
 force was the establishment in November, 1909, of an 
 industrial department in the Gloversville High School to 
 teach glove making. No official report has yet been 
 issued. In the absence of such a report the writer made 
 a personal inspection of the plant. A well-lighted base- 
 ment room was fitted with a power table and sixteen 
 machines of standard type. 
 
 The class that was working was composed of thirteen 
 boys and two girls in all stages of progress. The 
 director is a woman who had had practical experience 
 as a teacher of beginners in the shops. It was interest- 
 ing to watch the development of the pupils in various 
 stages. 
 
 Practically all classes of the population were repre- 
 sented. German, Italian, American and among the rest 
 the son of a leading politician. One of the most notable 
 facts in connection with this school-shop is the fact that 
 boys are engaged in making. They are being trained 
 with a view to developing more careful businessmen for 
 the industry. Many attempts have been made in the 
 past to train boys at a later age and also to train men 
 
INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS 35 
 
 to take up making, but the nimbleness of fingers seems 
 to be lacking and there is a general feeling on the part 
 of boys that making is "women's work." Some of the 
 far-sighted men in the industry realize that to maintain 
 a normal and balanced community the superiority of 
 men's earning power must be established or, at least, 
 ways must be found to enable a man in the industry to 
 earn wages sufficient to maintain a family without the 
 necessity for the assistance of his wife or children of 
 school age. These men look forward with hope to the 
 educating influence of the industrial department of the 
 public school. 
 
 Changes are going on slowly in the methods of manu- 
 facture and factory organization. The complaint was 
 constantly made in the older days that the manufacture 
 was all guesswork. A fine scorn was shown for accu- 
 rate cost accounting. The manufacturer then was his 
 own foreman, and if the shop were not in his own back- 
 yard he sat down on the block with his dinner-pail and 
 visited with the men as they all ate together. 
 
 A study of the census figures shows that in 1905 the 
 number of factories was less than in 1900. This is largely 
 due to the introduction of machinery in some of the less 
 skilled branches. For example, a machine has been in- 
 vented for shaving or grinding the skins. This machine 
 reduces the cost of the process from $i per dozen skins 
 to $0.083^. Again, the cutting of linings for some of 
 the cheaper grades of children's gloves cost the smaller 
 manufacturer in earlier times about $0.06 per dozen pairs 
 of gloves. The modern manufacturer uses a machine 
 which reduces the cost to $o.oi^i per dozen pairs. Each 
 of the large manufacturers employs a statistical expert to 
 check cost accounting. The closeness of the computa- 
 tion is shown by the bids for some of the army contracts, 
 
36 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 where the prices of the various competitors sometimes 
 differ as little as two cents per pair. There yet remain 
 factories that produce at a disadvantage. Their presence 
 is on the whole detrimental to the industry because they 
 must cover inefficient methods largely by reducing wages 
 below the rate established by the Manufacturers' Associ- 
 ation. Efficiency and organization throughout the whole 
 industry is not so high as we have a right to expect it to 
 be in a protected industry. 
 
 LABOR ORGANIZATION 
 
 Records of union organization in Fulton County, New 
 York, are very hard to obtain. In the Manufacturers 1 
 Brief submitted to the Ways and Means Committee (p. 
 12) the statement is made that there exists no union in 
 the industry or any combination of manufacturers to 
 control the price of the product. The New York State 
 Department of Labor Reports, however, contain returns 
 from the Table Cutters' Union. ' This fact will be ex- 
 plained later in the present chapter. 
 
 It is true that the Manufacturers Association does 
 not approve of the existence of a labor union. It is 
 their fiat that there shall not be one, and as a conse- 
 quence the men will not admit membership in the union 
 or talk about labor conditions. Hence most of the in- 
 formation must be got from outside sources. But in a 
 city as small as Gloversville, where the welfare of all 
 business is so intimately connected with a single indus- 
 try, information as to the conditions of that industry is 
 pretty generally distributed. And by comparison it is 
 found that the various reports agree in substance. 
 
 The earliest record is that as a part of the Knights of 
 
 1 M Y. State Department of Labor Report, 1908, p. 116. 
 
INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS 37 
 
 Labor movement a strike was declared in 1881 for cash 
 payments. The strike was won by the men and no 
 further activity was, shown until 1893 when, in anticipa- 
 tion of the Wilson Tariff, the manufacturers announced 
 a cut in wages from $0.90 per dozen pairs to $0.80 per 
 dozen pairs for cutting standard grades of gloves. In 
 the face of the explanation that the reduced Tariff made 
 the cut necessary, the men accepted the new rate, but 
 began to organize their union on a fighting basis. 
 
 No further change occurred until September, 1897, 
 when after the passage of the Dingley Tariff, a demand 
 was made by the cutters for the restoration of the rate 
 of $0.90 per dozen, in existence before the cut of 1893. 
 At this time the rate for cutting was agreed upon by an 
 annual conference between the representatives of the 
 Manufacturers and the International Glove Table Cutters' 
 Union. The Manufacturers refused to make the advance 
 and a strike was declared, which lasted eleven weeks. 
 A compromise was finally reached at an advance of 10 
 per cent, or $0.88. Here we see a saving of two cents 
 per dozen resulting to the manufacturers as the net 
 result of the two changes extending over a period of 
 four years. 
 
 The annual conference agreement remained in force 
 whereby the manufacturers continued to treat with the 
 cutters as a unit until the fall of 1903. Then a demand 
 was made that the men individually sign an agreement 
 to work with any one who might be put into the shops. 
 Of course this meant the ultimate overthrow of the 
 union and the establishment of the open shop. The 
 practical success of the strike of 1897 and the final effect 
 of the terms of the proposed agreement, persuaded the 
 cutters to resist. Moreover, it was generally thought 
 that the real purpose of the manufacturers was to abro- 
 
38 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 gate the existing agreement so far as to enable them to 
 employ Russian cutters who were being driven out of 
 Warsaw about that time. 
 
 The importance of this demand further illustrated by 
 the fact that in 1901 an action had been brought at the 
 instigation of the International Glove Cutters, to recover 
 a penalty from a firm of glove manufacturers in Grinnell, 
 Iowa, 1 under the contract labor law. So important is 
 this case in its effect upon the relation of laborers and 
 manufacturers in the industry that an extract from the 
 opinion in the case is worthy of attention. 
 
 United States v. Morrison, 109 Fed. Reporter 891, 
 
 (Dist. Court, S. D., Iowa C. D. May 14, 1901.) 
 
 On demurrer to Information. 
 
 The information filed is in two counts. The first count in 
 substance charges that defendant a resident of Grinnell, Iowa, 
 did in June 1900 aid in bringing- from Prague, Austria one 
 Adolph Zuza, a cutter of ladies kid gloves, who was then a 
 native, resident and citizen of Prague, Austria, and then a 
 subject to the Emperor of Austria. 
 
 The information further charges that while Zuza was to 
 perform labor in this country, and under which agreement 
 Zuza came to the U. S. with money furnished him by the 
 defendant for his transportation, that the agreement preceded 
 furnishing the aid and preceeded Zuza's coming to America 
 pursuant to the agreement, and after having received the aid 
 in transportation from the defendant to perform in the U. S. 
 the services and labor of cutting ladies' kid gloves and the 
 information then changes. 
 
 " And the said Adolph Zuza was not . . . then and there a 
 skilled workman under any contract and agreement to per- 
 form labor and services in the United States in or upon any 
 
 'U. S. v. D. S. Morrison, U. S. Dist. Court, Des Moines, unre- 
 ported case. 
 
INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS 
 
 39 
 
 industry not then established in the United States, and not 
 established in the U. S., February 26, A. D., 1885." 
 
 The grounds for the demurrer are that a ladies' kid glove 
 cutter is an expert mechanic ; that he is not a person engaged 
 in common or ordinary labor ; that the business requires 
 skill, that Feb. 26, 1885, the business of making ladies' kid 
 gloves was not an established industry in the U. S.; that the 
 trade of a ladies' kid glove cutter requires skill and intelli- 
 gence and is an art or profession known to but very few 
 persons in the world. The count then recites the history of 
 the Contract Labor Law and continues. But the truth is that 
 the protective Tariff laws and the laws against importing an 
 alien laborer are upon the same subject and have the same 
 purpose in view, which is that of protecting the laboring man 
 of our country from the competition of the laboring man of 
 foreign lands. And the subject of " kid gloves " as it is found 
 in the schedules of the last formed tariff laws of the United 
 States, will show the ever-increasing concern of congress to 
 not simply raise a revenue, but to bring about the manu- 
 facture of such gloves in this country. 
 
 The practical effect of all this and especially the result of 
 the tariff act of 1897 is of great interest. But so far as this 
 case is concerned the difficulty is not to get the information 
 but to get information of which a court will take judicial 
 notice, ... I have made the most diligent and tireless search 
 in the reports of the departments for data and facts germane 
 to the imports of ladies' gloves, and the manufacturer thereof 
 in this country and received practically no information. It 
 is plain to me that the tariff laws, and especially the one now 
 in force had for one of its objects either the creation of the 
 industry, if not already established, or its maintenance if 
 already established. And this perhaps is the one question in 
 this case ; Is the manufacture of ladies' kid gloves an estab- 
 lished business in the U. S.? If established, when was it 
 established? 
 
 But the U. S. Attorney charges in the information and 
 charges it most specifically that February 26, 1885, as well as 
 
4 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 in the year 1890, the manufacture of ladies' kid gloves was 
 an established industry in the United States. This allegation 
 calls for proof and the government must furnish it. And it 
 follows that the demurrer must be overruled because of the 
 allegations in the information. I have a belief touching them, 
 but it may be that the government will furnish evidence, of 
 which I know nothing ; at all events I cannot judicially 
 notice the facts, and the material facts are practically all in 
 dispute. What are the duties of a ladies' glove cutter ? Is it 
 skilled labor ? Can it readily be procured in this country ? 
 Is it an occupation or profession? Is it an established busi- 
 ness in this country? If so, when was it established? Some 
 of these questions, probably all, are involved. So I will sub- 
 mit the facts to the jury to find the facts. We will then know 
 the services of a ladies' glove cutter ; ... we will learn how 
 extensively ladies' kid gloves were manufactured in the United 
 States, February 26, 1885, and how extensively they were 
 manufactured in 1890 ; we will ascertain whether it is true 
 that there are but few such cutters in the United States, and 
 possible but the one, or but few at most, of such west of the 
 Mississippi river, and but few in the country; ... we will 
 learn the truth of this and the statute will be construed so as 
 to give aid to the American laborers and not such construction 
 as to throw them out of employment. 
 
 In the hearing upon the case for the determination of 
 the facts referred to, part of the evidence submitted con- 
 sisted of the files of the Gloversville newspapers, contain- 
 ing advertisements for cutters. The decision held that 
 these advertisements were sufficient to show a need for 
 more men in the industry in the United States, and that 
 the testimony tended to show that the International 
 Glove Cutters' Union was a closed corporation, since by 
 its rules the trade could only go from father to son. 
 Therefore recovery could not be made, and importation 
 of cutters under contract could not be stopped. The 
 
INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS 4 I 
 
 cutters maintained that there never were any places open, 
 that the advertisements had been run for the purpose of 
 making ^prima facie case under just such circumstances. 
 However this may be, the decision referred to, together 
 with the coming of the Russian cutters, no doubt had 
 much to do with the demand of the manufacturers at this 
 time. 
 
 On December 21, 1903, the men decided to strike. 
 The struggle lasted until June 28, 1904. A few shops 
 ran all through the strike, but the industry was prac- 
 tically crippled. The Union was beaten and broken. 
 Since that time all but a few small shops have been run 
 on the open-shop basis. 
 
 About 1907 the union referred to at the beginning of 
 this chapter, and reported in the New York State Re- 
 ports, was formed. It may more properly be called a 
 philosophical union than anything else, so the statement 
 of the manufacturers to the Ways and Means Committee 
 may be said to be true in substance. 
 
 The contrast between the apparent intent of the deci- 
 sion quoted and its effect upon the industry is clearly 
 evident from the consequences which have followed the 
 decision. Curiously enough the majority of the men in 
 the Cutters' Union in 1907 were those admitted to the 
 United States as a result of this decision. They were 
 used as instruments to break the earlier union and are 
 now the nucleus of the existing union. 
 
 Reference is here made only to the Glove Cutters' 
 Union. There has never been a union among makers in 
 Fulton County. This is undoubtedly due to the fact 
 which we have already noted, that the supply of makers 
 is far below the demand at all times. The natural result 
 is a correspondingly favorable treatment of makers and 
 relatively high pay. The rates are assumed to be uni- 
 
4 2 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 form, but undoubtedly even in the face of disapproval on 
 the part of the Manufacturers' Association special rates 
 may secretly be extended to specially skilled sewers. 
 
 THE MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION 
 
 The existence of a strong organization in the labor 
 field of any industry implies that sooner or later there 
 must be an equally strong association of manufacturers, 
 otherwise the labor force by piecemeal attack will event- 
 ually drive out profits. 
 
 This is the case in the glove industry. The early 
 associations, both of cutters and manufacturers, were not 
 strong, but following the strikes of 1897 the Interna- 
 tional Glove Cutters' Union grew to such power that an 
 association of manufacturers was formed to resist the 
 demands of the cutters. This organization is in exist- 
 ence to-day, and to it may be traced many of the real 
 advances that have come to the industry. The present 
 association was organized in 1902 under the voluntary 
 associations law of New York State. 1 It is an unincor- 
 porated body. 
 
 The membership in the association while not restricted 
 to, is in fact confined to, manufacturers in Gloversville 
 and Johnstown who make chiefly fine dress gloves. Al- 
 though its membership in point of volume of production 
 of fine gloves represents about 50 per cent, in numbers 
 of manufacturers it includes not more than 20 per cent, 
 or about thirty members. Membership is by firms, not 
 by individuals. 
 
 The first real problem of the association was the strike 
 of 1903, and it proved a severe test to the organization. 
 We have pointed out that the Cutters' Union having 
 
 'Mr. James Warbasse, Secretary Glove Manufacturers' Association. 
 
INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS 43 
 
 won the strike of 1897 had grown in strength. The first 
 point of attack by the union had been the suit previously 
 mentioned, to prevent the importation or employment of 
 any cutters not members of the union. Encouraged by 
 the decision, in this case favorably to the manufacturers, 
 the Association decided to force matters, with the result 
 that they broke the union and have maintained an open- 
 shop basis since that time. There is only one small 
 union shop in Fulton County. 
 
 The general trend of the efforts of the association has 
 been for the improvement of the industry and the estab- 
 lishment of a higher plane of efficiency. The uniform 
 rate of pay has had a tendency to prevent constant shift- 
 ing about of the cutters. It has not been quite so suc- 
 cessful in the case of makers. Another point that must 
 not be overlooked is that the association makes for 
 standardization of output and reliability of goods. In 
 this it reminds us of the strict regulations as to quality 
 which were in force in the Scotish guilds of glove 
 makers. 
 
 So far as the association has assisted in keeping down 
 the wages of men, and in this the open shop probably is 
 the only definite step, the effect has been on the whole 
 bad for the trade because the low average wages paid to 
 cutters is already having its effect upon the supply of 
 cutters which hitherto has equaled or exceeded the 
 demand. Boys will not take up a trade with so little 
 certainty and promise. During the summer of 1912 
 reports began to be current of an actual shortage of 
 cutters. In time this must act to force up wages but 
 only if some degree of certainty can be established in 
 the industry. 
 
 In matters outside of the manufacture proper the 
 association has been active. In the legislative steps 
 
44 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 leading up to the Payne-Aldrich Tariff act the association 
 played a prominent part as shown by the hearings of the 
 Ways and Means Committee. 1 The real future of the 
 industry is along the line of permanent settling of the 
 Tariff and strengthening of the Manufacturers Associa- 
 tion which will then be able to devote its attention to 
 building up the industry from within. 
 
 FACTORY DISTRIBUTION 
 
 There is practically no such thing in the glove industry 
 as a factory district in the usual sense of the term, and 
 no necessity for the development of a sweat-shop district 
 or plan of manufacture. Factories are located in widely- 
 scattered parts of the cities and in the majority of cases 
 have plenty of air and light. This scattered distribution 
 has its influence upon the health and the whole life of 
 the community. Little stores are situated at intervals 
 along all the residence streets, and bakers' wagons go 
 about announcing their coming by the ringing of a bell. 
 So busy are most of the housekeepers that they will not 
 take time to go to a common shopping or marketing 
 center. The doorbell is often answered by a woman with 
 an unfinished glove in her hand. A great amount of 
 work is sent into the homes of the workers. This is 
 easy because of the lightness of the goods and their small 
 bulk. Occasionally one sees a small boy carrying a 
 bundle of unfinished or finished gloves to or from the 
 factory, but by far the greater part of the distributing is 
 done by the agents of the manufacturer, who go about 
 in a wagon or automobile. The distribution is really 
 done at the expense of the makers, for a lower price is 
 paid for some work done out of the factory than is paid 
 
 1 Tariff Hearings, Nov. 28, 1908. 
 
INDUSTRIAL ASPECTS 45 
 
 for the same grade of work done in the factory. 1 We 
 must keep in mind also that in most cases factory makers 
 are compelled to furnish their own machines and to pay 
 for repairs upon them. 
 
 Through the courtesy of one of the manufacturers the 
 writer was permitted to accompany his agent in his 
 rounds and covered in the course of a forenoon most of 
 the streets of Gloversville. The driver, who has had six- 
 teen years' experience in that particular business, states 
 that practically every street in the city has some houses 
 where glove making in some of its branches is done. 
 The power wires running from poles in the street to the 
 houses also corroborate this statement. 
 
 The Fulton County Gas and Electric Company re- 
 ported in 1910 that they had 1000 motors in private 
 houses or small privately-owned buildings, for use in 
 driving sewing machines. The number given includes 
 both Gloversville and Johnstown. In 1911 the same 
 company reported that the number had risen to 1300. 
 Upon a rough estimate this number would represent an 
 average of one motor in every four or five houses. Some 
 families have more than one, so the actual number of 
 dwellings wired for power would be a little below the 
 average of one in five. A standing charge of fifty cents 
 per month is made for installing the motors and the total 
 cost is about $1.20 to $1.50 per month. The extended 
 use of motors in this way is one of the most significant 
 facts of the industry. Some home operators report that 
 the use of the motor- driven machine increases their out- 
 put by one dozen pairs per day. Judged by factory 
 standards of production this estimate seems rather high, 
 
 it may be explained by the fact that in home work 
 
 'See Appendix I. 
 
46 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 hours are not limited as in the factory. This industry, 
 through the peculiar system of putting out gloves, forms 
 an interesting link between industry and agriculture, 
 enabling workers to live at great distances from the fac- 
 tory, where they can have gardens and plenty of room. 
 The increased use of electric power, although holding 
 possibilities of increased nervous strain, yet offers great 
 physical relief and makes possible the use of the many 
 small water powers in which the foot-hills of the Adiron- 
 dacks abound. The limits of the industry may also be 
 greatly extended by the use of the automobile for col- 
 lecting and distributing gloves, and the establishment of 
 the parcel post may do much in this direction. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 TARIFFS. 
 
 IN the preceding chapters we have made a brief study 
 of the history, organization, wages and labor conditions, 
 of the glove industry. It is the purpose of this chapter 
 to ascertain the exact bearing of the tariff rate upon the 
 industry. 
 
 The vital questions are : First, who are the persons or 
 classes effected by the tariff? Second, can the industry 
 exist without the tariff? And third, what facts should 
 determine the rate of tariff? 
 
 In answer to the second question we may quote from 
 the Argument of the Manufacturers' Association before 
 the Ways and Means Committee. " Before the McKinley 
 Act of 1890 there was no glove industry in the United 
 States competing in our markets with foreign made 
 gloves." 1 
 
 Previous to 1890 the rate of duty on men's fine gloves 
 was 50 per cent, ad valorem. Much litigation resulted 
 upon charges of undervaluation and from the adminis- 
 trative point of view the ad valorem rate was not satis- 
 factory. Hence in framing the McKinley law the rate 
 was made 50 per cent, plus $1.00 per dozen pairs. This 
 rate also proved unsatisfactory and in 1894 the rate was 
 made entirely specific and fixed at $4 per dozen pairs. 
 The Dingley law in 1897 left the rate on men's gloves 
 unchanged. The rate as fixed on men's gloves in 1909 
 
 'See Appendix III. 
 
 47 
 
4 8 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 is also $4 per dozen pairs. Certain cumulative items 
 may bring the total up to $4.80 per dozen pairs. 1 
 
 This means that for every pair of men's gloves made 
 in the United States or imported to the United States 
 the wearer may be forced to pay thirty to forty cents 
 extra because of the tariff. In fact the testimony of the 
 Manufacturers' representative before the Ways and Means 
 Committee shows this to be true. 2 
 
 On women's gloves the duty under the present law is 
 from $1.25 to $2.50 per dozen pairs. 
 
 The explanation of this difference between the rates 
 on men's and women's gloves brings out a curious state 
 of affairs. According to Mr. Frederick Brooks, who 
 appeared before the Ways and Means Committee, as 
 counsel for the importers, the question of the tariff rate 
 on gloves had been considered ever since 1890 as settled 
 upon a basis of division of the field. By this actual or 
 tacit agreement, the importers were given control of the 
 market in ladies' gloves, while the men's glove business 
 was left to the domestic producers. 3 
 
 The effect of the difference in rate is shown by a study 
 of the percentage of production of the two kinds of 
 gloves in the United States. About 95 per cent, of the 
 men's fine gloves used in the United States are made 
 here while only about 5 per cent, or 6 per cent, of the 
 women's gloves used in the United States are made 
 here. 4 Two factors are found here, however, one the 
 larger profit on men's gloves and the other the smallness 
 of the trained labor force. The latter fact was brought 
 out in the preceding chapter. 
 
 *See Tariff Law, Appendix IX. 
 1 Tariff Hearings, Nov. 28, 1908. 
 
 8 This statement does not appear in the Hearings, but was made to 
 the writer by Mr. Brooks in an intervie^w. ^ 
 4 Tariff Hearings, Nov. 28, 1908, pp/-S5i3 seq. 
 
TARIFFS 49 
 
 Clearly, then, the admitted increase of selling price of 
 men's gloves entitles the public to know the facts upon 
 which are based the tariff rate making the increase 
 possible. 
 
 The manufacturer argues that he does not get the in- 
 crease, that it is just sufficient to cover the difference in 
 cost of production in American and European glove-pro- 
 ducing centers. Our problem now is to trace this tax 
 to its point of incidence. 
 
 To answer our first question we must first lay down 
 some principles by which to test the tax. Three groups 
 must be considered: the laborers, the manufacturers, 
 and the consuming public. The first two classes are to 
 a degree identical with the third class, but the degree is 
 so slight that we may say they are mutually exclusive. 
 
 To the laborer the question of importance in a tariff 
 rate is the question as to whether the rate is sufficient 
 to enable him to collect wages to cover the cost of liv- 
 ing according to the standard of his own country. 
 
 To the manufacturer it is important to have tariff 
 high enough to enable him to pay a rate of wages suffi- 
 iently high to attract laborers from the competing trades 
 of his own country and leave a margin for a reasonable 
 profit. In considering the rate upon a single product 
 the question of the equivalence between the wages of the 
 workers in the foreign and domestic fields is of less 
 immediate importance than the relative rates of pay in 
 the given industry and in other domestic industries 
 demanding labor of the same grade. 
 
 The consumer appears to be the person upon whom 
 the benefits are last conferred but upon whom the 
 burden falls immediately in the form of an increased 
 price. The weight of the burden in the glove industry 
 has been indicated in paragraph 5 of this chapter. 
 
5 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 So long as the manufacturer conducts his business 
 upon a purely individual basis and does not ask for help 
 from the public in the form of tariff restriction, we may 
 fairly say he is entitled to secrecy in his business and the 
 profits which he may make from it; but as soon as he 
 asks for a protective rate, the burden of which falls upon 
 the consumer, the public is entitled to such information 
 concerning his business as will enable its agents to place 
 the rate at the lowest possible point. 
 
 This investigation should always keep in mind the 
 bearing of the determination upon the laborers in the 
 industry as well as upon the general public. 
 
 As stated in the introduction, the glove industry 
 presents a striking example of the relation between 
 economic theory and practical politics. Before the Ways 
 and Means Committee on November 28, 1908,' there 
 appeared representatives of the importers of gloves and 
 also a representative of the Glove Manufacturers' As- 
 sociation of the United States. Though the consuming 
 public is frequently mentioned in the discussion, it is 
 rather as an argument for one side or the other side 
 than out of consideration for the consumer himself. 
 
 To settle the third and most important question of 
 this chapter we must examine the available data as to 
 wages paid in the glove industry in the United States 
 and Europe. For the purpose of determining the basis 
 of a tariff rate the glove industry offers some advantages 
 not found in many other industries. In the first place 
 nearly all of the processes of manufacture are paid for at 
 piece rates. Hence the labor cost per unit of product' 
 can be found directly from the wages paid. In the sec- 
 
 /^^J 
 1 Tariff Hearings, Ways and Means Com., Nov. 28, 1908. p.' ,2516, 
 
 seq. 
 
 'The unit in the glove industry is one dozen pairs. 
 
TARIFFS -! 
 
 ond place very little machinery is employed, nearly all the 
 processes being carried on by hand. In the third place 
 most of the machinery and tools used in the American 
 system of manufacture, at least, is owned by the laborers, 
 who at the time of the passage of the Payne-Aldrich law 
 even paid charges for power used in driving such of them 
 as are power-driven, thus relieving the manufacturer of 
 part of his overhead charges. Hence we see that wages 
 represent practically the whole manufacturing cost. 
 
 The Bulletin of Information for the Committee, 1908, 
 shows that the principal sources of supply for imported 
 gloves are England, Germany and France. The fixing 
 of labor cost of gloves made in these countries is a diffi- 
 cult process as compared with the determination of sim- 
 ilar costs in the United States. The wages paid in the 
 United States are uniform, and are fixed by the Glove 
 Manufacturers' Association. 1 Previous to 1903, while 
 the Glove Cutters' Association was strong, the rates 
 were fixed by conferences of representatives of the man- 
 ufacturers and cutters, but at present there is, as we 
 have shown, no effective organization of cutters with 
 which the manufacturers can confer, and there never has 
 been an organization of makers in Fulton County. 
 Hence the rates cannot represent a united agreement. 
 
 In foreign countries there is no organization similar 
 to the Glove Manufacturers' Association of the United 
 States. No general figures are obtainable for English 
 costs nor for the earnings of English glove workers. 
 Two affidavits of individual makers were submitted to 
 the Ways and Means Committee, but no attempt is made 
 to show that these rates are representative of costs all 
 over England, and furthermore they cover only a single 
 
 'See Schedule, Appendix I. 
 
cj2 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 part of fabrication cost. Many of the leading English 
 firms maintain factories in the United States and conse- 
 quently are in a position to furnish the complete facts if 
 they chose to do so. While our tariff schedules are 
 made upon the present bases they will simply shift the 
 manufacture for their trade in the United States from 
 one country to the other as the rate varies. 
 
 In the case of German manufacturing costs we are 
 somewhat better off from the fact that figures represent- 
 ing cost of fabrication were submitted to the Ways and 
 Means Committee l by representatives of the importers 
 and also by representatives of the Glove Manufacturers' 
 Association of the United States. The German Govern- 
 ment also submitted certain statements which are, how- 
 ever, merely assertions of isolated costs and are not shown 
 to be representative. 2 Hence we are thrown back upon 
 a comparison of costs as estimated by the importers and 
 manufacturers. 
 
 It is readily seen that the tendency of each advocate in 
 a controversy of this sort will be to represent the facts 
 in the light most favorable to his side. This does not 
 imply bad faith, but comes from the fact that it is gen- 
 erally understood that the final determination will in all 
 probability be a compromise. The tendency of the do- 
 mestic manufacturer will be to underestimate the foreign 
 cost and overestimate his own, and thus secure the ben- 
 efits of an overestimated difference in cost. In the same 
 way the foreigner will overestimate his own cost to get 
 the benefit of a rate fixed upon too low an estimated dif- 
 ference. Consequently when we find an estimate of the 
 
 1 Tariff Hfarings, Nov. 28, 1908, p.'-2523> Sen. Doc. 68, 6ist Cong., 
 p. 42; Sen. Doc. 74, 6ist Cong. 
 
 2 Senate Document 68, part 2, 6ist Cong., ist Session. 
 
TARIFFS 53 
 
 two sides in agreement we may fairly say that it repre- 
 sents the actual cost. 
 
 For a given sample of gloves the manufacturers' repre- 
 sentative estimated the German fabrication cost at $2.14 
 per dozen pairs. 1 The cost of manufacturing a similar 
 kind in Germany, as stated by the importers, varies from 
 $1.51 to $1.91 per dozen pairs. 
 
 The cost of manufacturing the same sample of gloves 
 in the United States, as stated by the manufacturers' 
 representative, is $5.49 per dozen pairs, and as stated by 
 the importers it is $3.72. 
 
 We note that there is substantial agreement in Ger- 
 man cost of fabrication and a wide divergence in the 
 estimated cost of fabrication in the United States. 
 Hence we have made an attempt to reach the actual cost 
 in the United States by adding together the cost of the 
 various parts of the work as found in the Manufacturers' 
 Schedule and adding an allowance for the parts of the 
 work not covered by piece rates (general expenses). 
 This allowance is determined by adding to higher general 
 expenses, as stated in the importers' schedule, for Ger- 
 man cost 30 per cent. This computation gives us $3.50, 
 a sum even higher than the importers' estimate. It 
 must be noted in connection with this estimate that we 
 are using net labor costs, and that an added number of 
 inspections would change the total. We are, however, 
 including all costs as found in the average or ordinary 
 factory. 
 
 The following tables, I and III, present the facts sub- 
 mitted to the committe as a basis for action. Table II 
 (as indicated in the introductory notes) is our own com- 
 bination of the various costs. We note in Table I the 
 
 Tariff Hearings, p. 
 
54 
 
 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 tendency to which we have referred, namely, the attempt 
 to overestimate costs to obtain a favorable difference. 
 The item " Dyeing," included in Table I, is not a proper 
 making charge, but is part of the process of finishing 
 leather. To make the comparison a fair one, this item 
 must be subtracted, as indicated in the table. 
 
 TABLE I 
 
 COST OF MANUFACTURING GLOVES IN GERMANY 1 
 
 Lamb and schmaschen, 3 inch, men's and ladies' 
 
 Marks per Marks per 
 
 dozen. dozen. 
 
 Dyeing (not proper making charge) 1.50 2.00 
 
 Cutting 2.30 2.80 
 
 Trimming 10 .20 
 
 Sewing (including material) 2.30 2.80 
 
 Laying or dressing 30 .40 
 
 General expenses 1.50 2.00 
 
 8.00 10.20 
 
 Less item I (not proper making charge) 6.50 8.20 
 
 Equivalent in United States money 2 .................. $1.51 $1.91 
 
 General expenses include foremen, tacking, polishing, making press 
 cutting, stamping, ridelling, and blacking. 
 
 From these figures we must attempt to ascertain the 
 real difference in labor cost in the United States and 
 Germany. Combining these various estimates we get 
 widely varying results, as may be seen from the tables 
 following. 
 
 If we accept the estimate of the American manufac- 
 turers as to costs in both countries, we obtain a differ- 
 ence of $3.25 per dozen. If we accept the figures of the 
 importers as to costs in both countries, we have, re- 
 spectively, $2.21 and $1.81, as we take the low or high 
 estimate for German costs. 
 
 1 Tariff Hearings , 1908, p. 523. Statement submitted to Ways and 
 Means Committee by Importers of Gloves. 
 1 Mark taken as equal to 24 cents. 
 
TARIFFS 55 
 
 TABLE II 
 
 COST OF MANUFACTURING MEN'S GLOVES 1 IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 Column I, prices as found in Manufacturers' Schedule for 1910. 
 (Same as for 1908). See Appendix I. 
 
 Column 2, prices as found in Importers' Statement, Tariff Hearings, 
 P- 2523. 
 
 Price per Price per 
 
 dozen. dozen. 
 
 Shaving $0.30 
 
 Cutting 90 $1.20 
 
 Slitting 10 
 
 Trimming (included) 10 
 
 Needle sewing 18 
 
 Silking (included) 18 .35 
 
 Pulling 06 
 
 Making ^ i.io i.oo 
 
 Hemming t,'- 12 .15 
 
 Laying off .15 
 
 Fastening 
 
 Tacking .12 
 
 Examining .20 
 
 Sciling .55 
 
 Banding 
 
 Boxing 
 
 $3-04 $3.72 
 
 Add allowance for processes not paid for by piece . 
 rates 467 
 
 $3.507 
 
 Now using our own estimates (Table II) of the 
 United States' cost and the importers' estimate of 
 German cost we have as the difference in labor cost 
 $1.99 or $1.59 according to whether we take the low or 
 high estimate for German cost. Using our estimate for 
 United States' cost and the American manufacturers' 
 estimate of German cost we have $1.36. 
 
 1 General expenses are computed as being slightly more than 307 per 
 cent, higher in United States than in Germany. The total ad valorem 
 equivalent of present tariff is 41 per cent. (Information for Committee, 
 1908). Cost of fabrication of women's gloves is the same as for men's 
 gloves. 
 
5 6 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 TABLE III 
 
 COST OF FABRICATION IN GRENOBLE, MEN'S AND LADIES ' ; 3-INCH OVER- 
 SEAM. NO FASTENINGS 
 
 Column i, low cost; column 2, high cost. 
 
 Francs per dozen. 
 
 Cutting (riddling) 3.150 3.25 
 
 Choosing 1.50 
 
 Stamping , 025 
 
 Press cutting OQO .09 
 
 Cutting glove to length 015 .05 
 
 Cutting thumbs and fourchettes 355 
 
 i row embroidery or point .300 .75 
 
 End pulling .150 
 
 Closing 1. 100 1.90 
 
 Matching fourchettes .090 .09 
 
 Thumbs i.ioo 
 
 Tacking tapes (Col. 2 Rabbatur) 300 .25 
 
 Sewing welts and bandalettes 400 .40 
 
 Tacking welts and bandalettes 250 .30 
 
 Blacking no .10 
 
 Tacking together 035 .05 
 
 Dressing 300 .30 
 
 Polishing 100 
 
 Salaries 1.560 
 
 Dyeing 1.470 1.50 
 
 Silk .314 .15 
 
 Thread 077 
 
 T>Pe 155 
 
 General 1.335 3.50 
 
 12.481 14.18 
 
 Less dyeing, not a proper making charge 1-470 1.50 
 
 ii.oii 12.68 
 
 Equivalent in United States money $2.20 $ 2 53 
 
 To summarize these facts, the American manufacturer 
 says the difference of labor cost in the manufacture of a 
 dozen pairs of gloves in Germany and the United States 
 is $3.25 ; the importer says it varies from $1.81 to $2. 21. 
 Our computation puts the difference between $1.36 and 
 $1.99. The tariff rate (which includes 20 per cent, duty 
 on the raw material) is $4.80. 
 
 In the following tables we present the computations 
 
 from which these conclusions are drawn. 
 
 Jc ?S 
 1 Tariff Hearings > Nov. 28, 1908, p.**5-23. Statement submitted to 
 
 Ways and Means Committee by Importers of Gloves. 
 
TARIFFS 57 
 
 It must be observed that in Table I the first item has 
 not been included in the total since it is not a proper 
 charge upon making cost. If then we compare the 
 results found with the statement of German cost as 
 found in the estimate of the American Manufacturers, 
 we have a fair working basis as follows : 
 
 CASE A l 
 
 Cost of fabrication (for sample shown) in Gloversville $5-49 
 
 Cost of fabrication (for sample shown) in Germany 2.14 
 
 Difference in labor cost $3-35 
 
 Add tariff on raw material (20 per cent, adval.} 1.25 
 
 Labor cost difference in Gloversville and Germany $4.60 
 
 Rate of present tariff $4.80 
 
 CASE B 
 
 Cost of fabrication in United States $3-72 
 
 Cost of fabrication in Germany 1.51 
 
 Difference in cost in United States and Germany $2.21 
 
 Add tariff on raw material 1.25 
 
 $3^46 
 
 In Case B we have taken the American cost as stated 
 by the importers a and deducted from it the low cost as 
 found in Table I. Now let us take cost of manufacture 
 in United States as determined in column i of Table II 
 and we have the following : 
 
 CASE C 
 
 Cost of fabrication in United States $3-50 
 
 Cost of fabrication in Germany 1.51 
 
 Difference in labor cost in Germany and United States $i-99 
 
 Add tariff on raw material 1.25 
 
 Rate of tariff just equal to difference $3.24 
 
 If now we substitute in these computations a rate of 
 cost in Germany equal to the higher set of corrected 
 figures in Table I, we have : 
 
 1 Tariff Hearings, p.sj^3. f See Table II. 
 
58 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 CASE B' 
 
 Cost of fabrication in United States $3.72 
 
 Cost of fabrication in Germany i.gi 
 
 Difference in labor cost $1.81 
 
 Add tariff on raw material ... 1.25 
 
 Rate of tariff just equal to difference $3.06 
 
 CASE C 
 
 Cost of fabrication in United States $3.50 
 
 Cost of fabrication in Germany 1.91 
 
 Difference in labor cost $1.50 
 
 Add tariff on raw material 1.25 
 
 Rate of tariff just equals difference $2.84 
 
 For further comparison let us turn to Table III for 
 the costs of fabrication in France as reported in the im- 
 porters' statements. There is no such method of check- 
 ing these figure* as we found in the case of the German 
 manufacture, because the manufacturers of the United 
 States did not include in their evidence any statements 
 as to cost in France. The rates of wages as given in 
 Dr. Cote's 1 study of the French industry are so varied 
 that it is impossible to reach a basis of comparison even 
 for the part of the work covered. He gives only the fig- 
 ures for cutting costs, which represent not more than 
 one-quarter of the total fabrication cost. It must be 
 noted that we have eliminated from the table certain 
 items which are not properly included in the costs of 
 fabrication, but are a part of the cost of raw material, 
 which is assumed to be the same in all these compari- 
 sons. Comparing costs from Tables II and III by the 
 same methods which are used in comparing German and 
 United States cost of fabrication, we see that using the 
 American manufacturers' estimates of cost of fabrication 
 in the United States and the importers' statement of 
 
 'Cote, U Industrie gantiere , etc. 
 
TARIFFS 59 
 
 cost of fabrication in France we get a difference in labor 
 cost of $3.29, or $2.96, according to whether we are 
 using the low or high estimate of cost in France. 
 
 Using our own estimate of cost as found in the United 
 States and the importers' estimates of cost in France, the 
 only ones obtainable, we have $1.30, or $0.97 as the dif- 
 ference. 
 
 Or, in other words, the manufacturers' figures would 
 show that it costs from $2.96 to $3.29 more to make a 
 dozen pairs of gloves in the United States than it costs 
 in France. 
 
 The importers say that it costs from $1.19 to $1.52 
 more to make a dozen pairs of gloves in the United 
 States than it costs in France. 
 
 Our estimate shows that it costs from $0.97 to $1.30 
 more to make a dozen pairs of gloves in the United 
 States than it costs in France. 
 
 The computations upon which these facts are derived 
 are placed here for convenience : 
 
 Case D. Case E. Case F. 
 
 Cost of fabrication in United States $3-72 $3-50 $S-4Q 
 
 Cost of fabrication in France 2.20 2.20 2.20 
 
 Difference in labor cost $1.52 $1.30 $3.20 
 
 Add tariff on raw material 1.25 1.25 1.25 
 
 Tariff just equal to difference $2.77 $2.55 
 
 Present rate of tariff $4.80 $4,80 
 
 Case D'. Case E'. Case F'. 
 
 Cost of fabrication in United States $3.72 $3-50 $5-40 
 
 Cost of fabrication in France 2.53 2.53 2.53 
 
 Difference in labor cost $1.19 $0.97 $2.96 
 
 Add tariff on raw material 1.25 1.25 1.25 
 
 Tariff just equal to difference $2.55 $2.22 $4.21 
 
 Present rate of tariff $4.80 $4.80 $4.80 
 
 These computations assume the accuracy of the costs 
 as shown in the Tables I, II and III and make no allow- 
 
60 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 ance for a margin to cover "reasonable profit." We 
 believe that what is wanted first of all is an exact deter- 
 mination of the absolute difference in the fabrication 
 cost of the product in question. When we have secured 
 this net difference it will be a simple matter to add to it 
 a percentage or general allowance which will be the 
 same for all industries. All the computations further 
 assume the use of a grade of leather suitable for making 
 gloves to sell at $12.50 per dozen, wholesale. It is in 
 this way that we derive the amount to be added for 
 tariff on raw material. The testimony at the Tariff 
 Hearings shows that 20 per cent, on raw material is 
 equal to about 10 per cent, of the value of the finished 
 goods. 
 
 While leather suitable for making fine gloves is manu- 
 factured in the United States, yet the percentage in 
 proportion to the total consumption is small and if we 
 eliminate "Mocha" in the production of which the 
 Americans have a practical monopoly, we see that the 
 benefit of the tariff on raw material is very little dis- 
 tributed. On the other hand, the burden of this part of 
 the tariff falls on all consumers. In the Hearings of 
 1908, the manufacturers asked to have this part of the 
 tariff continued, on the ground that while asking for 
 protection for themselves they could not consistently 
 withhold their support from the allied branch of the 
 industry. While we cannot overlook the generosity of 
 the argument as between the manufacturers of gloves 
 and leather, we must also remember that the contribu- 
 tion to the leather manufacturer comes from the con- 
 suming public and not from the makers of gloves. 
 
 The feeling among the producers of leather is that if 
 compelled to submit to a reduction of the tariff, the 
 manufacturers of gloves will consent to the removal of 
 the duty on the raw material first of all. 
 
TARIFFS 61 
 
 The only effect of the removal of the tariff on raw 
 material upon the manufacturer of gloves will be to re- 
 duce slightly the amount of capital required to carry on 
 his business. The effect upon the maker of glove- 
 leather may be more serious, but with that we cannot 
 deal here. As we have shown in Chapters I and II, the 
 raw material for the glove manufacturer is tanned leather, 
 and we are necessarily concerned here with getting the 
 cheapest possible supply of raw material. 
 
 The saving to the consumer from the removal of the 
 twenty-per-cent duty on glove-leather could not exceed 
 ten per cent of the present price of the glove, and would 
 be from ten to fifteen cents per pair. 
 
 The question cannot be left here. We must consider 
 whether the facts justify a further saving to the con- 
 sumer. From the computations and tables in the earlier 
 part of this chapter we see that while the tariff rate on 
 men's gloves varies from $4 to $4.80 per dozen pairs 
 (including the tariff on raw material), the actual differ- 
 ence in labor cost varies according to the particular set 
 of facts upon which it is based, from $3.25 to $0.97. 
 
 Hence removing the tariff on raw material and taking 
 the lowest estimate of difference in labor cost, viz., that 
 in Case E', we see that the tariff on this basis may be 
 brought from $4.80, the present total, to $0.97, thus re- 
 sulting in a saving to the consuming public of $3.83 per 
 dozen pairs of gloves, or, in terms of individual use, 
 nearly $0.32 per pair. 
 
 We must notice that the case taken here uses as a basis 
 the lowest difference in labor cost between France and 
 the United States. The lowest difference between Ger- 
 many and the United States as shown in our tables is 
 $1.36. If this be made the basis of the tariff, the saving 
 to the consumer will be $3.44 per dozen pairs, or 
 approximately $0.29 per pair. 
 
62 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 We have one further means of testing the rate. We 
 pointed out that in 1890 an attempt was made to so fix 
 the rate as to give the market in women's gloves to the 
 importers. This principle remained in force until 1908, 
 and the testimony of the domestic manufacturers showed 
 at that time that they were making about five or six per 
 cent of the total amount of women's gloves used in the 
 United States, in competition with gloves imported under 
 the rates lower than on men's gloves. 1 
 
 The rates then in force varied from $1.75 to $2.50 per 
 dozen pairs. Let us assume that all the women's gloves 
 made here are similar in material to those covered by our 
 tables; then the part of the rate attributable to duty on 
 raw material will be $1.25, and the remainder of the rate 
 will represent the difference in labor cost. This remain- 
 der will be $1.25, a sum so near $0.97 and $1.36 as to 
 indicate the probability of accuracy in our estimate. 
 
 There is a peculiar psychological consideration affect- 
 ing the saving which we have indicated. 
 
 In the argument of the American manufacturers, stress 
 is laid upon the fact that prices in gloves usually run in 
 even quarters of a dollar, and the inference is that no 
 savings between these figures will be passed on to the 
 consumer unless his psychology changes or keener 
 competition arises among the retailers. But this ten- 
 dency is already felt. It is not at all uncommon to see 
 gloves displayed in furnishing stores at $1.10 and $1.15, 
 and the department stores are acquainting their cus- 
 tomers with such prices as $0.79 and $0.89. 
 
 Further importance is given to the present discussion 
 by the fact that at the time of the passage of the latest 
 tariff law the House Bill carried a rate that was the same 
 
 1 Tariff Hearings. 
 
TARIFFS 63 
 
 both upon men's and women's gloves. Thus it may be 
 seen that if the present rate is prohibitive with respect 
 to men's gloves it would become so at once in the case 
 of women's. This would have added at once to the pro- 
 tected business of this country an amount of five million 
 dollars annually. 
 
 It is conceded that the cost of making men's and 
 women's gloves of the shorter lengths is approximately 
 the same. The decrease in the cost of the smaller amount 
 of leather in a woman's glove is nearly equaled by the 
 extra cost of the somewhat finer ornamentation. Thus 
 the two kinds are about equally expensive, so far as ma- 
 terial is concerned. Exactly the same rates are paid for 
 cutting and sewing the two kinds. There is only one 
 real point of difference, and that is a trade difficulty 
 rather than one of manufacture. The element of style 
 plays an important part in the market for women's 
 gloves. 1 The change in the length of the sleeves of 
 women's clothing may effect an entire change in the de- 
 mand for gloves : calling now for one length in gloves 
 and now for another. Since one of the great difficulties 
 of the present situation is the occurrence of a succession 
 of alternate rush and slack seasons, it is reasonable to 
 suppose that the addition of a new element of uncer- 
 tainty might prove to be so disadvantageous as to offset 
 the gain coming from the enlargement of the field. This 
 objection seems to be a minor one, and if we leave it out 
 of consideration it is difficult to see why the logic of the 
 situation does not demand the same tariff upon both 
 men's and women's gloves. 
 
 This very fact led to the bitter controversy that arose 
 over the determination of the tariff rate for the Payne- 
 
 1 Cote, Chapter II, Sur la Mode. 
 
64 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 Aldrich bill. The Manufacturers' Association asked for 
 a uniform rate ' upon men's and women's gloves, ignoring 
 it is charged, the alleged agreement of 1890; which pro- 
 vided for a division of the field. The house Bill carried 
 the rate asked for by the manufacturers, while the Senate 
 bill carried the rate of the present law. 
 
 The report of these facts called forth a storm of pro- 
 test from consumers of gloves all over the United States. 
 Many newspapers took up the discussion, not uninflu- 
 enced, it is charged, by the fact that the majority of the 
 importers were closely allied with the large department 
 stores which are extensive advertisers. The greater 
 part of the product of the domestic maker is handled by 
 small haberdashers, who do not make extensive use of 
 the great city dailies. 
 
 The final decision was made in the conference com- 
 mittee on July 29, 1909. All other items of the schedule 
 except lumber and gloves had been settled and it was 
 expected that in the case of gloves the rate of the house 
 bill would be approved. This rate would have made the 
 duty on men's and women's gloves alike $4.00 with 
 certain cumulative additions for grades receiving more 
 work than the ordinary kinds. 
 
 As the matter was being pressed to its conclusion a 
 letter from the President was handed to the Chairman. 
 Immediately an adjournment was taken, and in the re-con- 
 vened session the rate upon gloves was fixed as found in 
 the Senate bill. This was slightly lower than the rate 
 of the Dingley law upon Ladies " Schmaschen " gloves 
 and the same as the Dingley law on all other grades. 8 
 
 The natural inference would be that the change of 
 
 1 See Appendix for proposed rate. 
 'See Appendix IX. 
 
TARIFFS 65 
 
 attitude in the Conference was traceable to the Presi- 
 dent's letter. That such is the fact is borne out by the 
 interview published in the Outlook of Dec. 2, 1911. 
 
 " But I could not get free lumber either. The only way 
 I procured the substantial reduction from $1.50 was by 
 sending the Conference Committee an intimation that I 
 should veto the bill if it carried a lumber duty higher 
 than $1.25. / took a similar and equally successful stand 
 regarding gloves, on some classes of which an increase 
 had been proposed for the benefit of an " infant industry." 
 Some of my critics will ask " If you could do so much 
 in these instances by swinging your veto club* why did 
 you not use the same weapon all along the line?" 
 
 Here at once we have both the difficulty of the tariff 
 situation and the remedy. We have shown that the 
 Committee did not have in its possession facts sufficiently 
 authenticated to permit of a scientific determination of 
 the rate of duty. But that such facts are obtainable we 
 believe this study has shown. In fact some of them 
 have been established to the satisfaction of a court of 
 law. 2 
 
 That a proper use of the facts can be made, once they 
 are known, seems clear from the effect of the President's 
 action in the case of the Payne-Aldrich law. True, he 
 was no doubt influenced by the newspaper campaign fos- 
 tered by the importers. But if the facts were ascertained 
 by a properly authorized government agent, canvassing 
 the foreign fields as we have covered the domestic field, 
 the publication of the facts themselves would be a suffi- 
 cient answer to all misrepresentation. No room would 
 remain for half statement or misstatement of costs, and 
 
 1 Italics are the writer's. 
 
 *U. S. v. D. S. Morrison, 109 Fed. Reporter, 891. See p. 387. 
 
66 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 consequently the preliminary political skirmishing would 
 be entirely removed. 
 
 Only in the final enactment of the rate would political 
 action be called for, and this would become largely a 
 matter of form. The people would always have in the 
 reports of the committee or commission a ready check 
 for any attempt to give undue advantage to any interest. 
 The action of the President could then be as definite as 
 it was in 1909, and would rest beyond any question upon 
 a fair basis of fact. 
 
 In answering the questions outlined at the beginning 
 of this chapter we have shown, first, that the burden of 
 the tariff falls upon the consumer of gloves ; second, that 
 some tariff is necessary to maintain the industry in the 
 United States because of the labor cost here, which is 
 higher than in European glove centers; third, that the 
 present rate of tariff on men's gloves is higher than is 
 necessary to meet the difference in labor cost. In assert- 
 ing this we must remember that no manufacturer can be 
 expected to invest capital in the building of a plant the 
 utility of which may be destroyed by a legislative act. 
 Hence before attempting to fix the fair rate of tariff we 
 must find a better method of fixing it, one depending 
 upon economic fact and not on political change. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 
 
 IN our summary of the leather-glove industry of the 
 United States we have shown that it furnishes one of the 
 best examples obtainable of the working of the tariff sys- 
 tem of the United States. We have shown that it pre- 
 sents a favorable opportunity for the application of the 
 principles of scientific tariff-making. 
 
 To do this we have traced the development of the in- 
 dustry through all the stages of industrial evolution from 
 the simplest kind of domestic production to the stage in 
 which factory organization and methods have been 
 brought to a fairly good state of perfection. We have 
 pointed out the fact that in the earlier stages of the in- 
 dustry, when the conditions of supply for raw materials 
 were much more favorable than they have been since 
 1890, growth was slow. On the other hand, it appears 
 that with the adoption of the tariff of 1890, which was 
 the first tariff to be fixed upon the basis of protection in 
 the modern sense, there began a new period of remark- 
 ably rapid growth. During this period, from 1890 to 
 1912, the glove industry has reached its maturity. The 
 importance of this growth can only be appreciated after 
 examining, as we have done, the nature of the industry. 
 Glove making presents so curious a combination of art 
 and industry that marked advances in Europe have been 
 very slow. European glove-workers, particularly cutters, 
 consider themselves artists rather than artisans. 
 
 67 
 
68 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 This attitude was shown by workers in the American 
 glove industry up to 1901. The effect of the decision 
 of the courts handed down in that year, permitting the 
 importation of foreign cutters, was to change this attitude. 
 The resulting increase in the number of cutters made 
 them more dependent upon the demands of the manufac- 
 turers and hastened the organization of the factories upon 
 a more modern industrial basis. We may say that in the 
 United States the industry has been put upon a strictly 
 modern basis for the first time in its history. This 
 advance has been made with almost none of the disad- 
 vantages usually accompanying factory growth. As we 
 have shown in our discussion the absence of the usual 
 factory district in the glove centers has prevented crowd- 
 ing and congestion which generally occur in a highly 
 centralized industry. The scattered location of the fac- 
 tories in the cities of Gloversville and Johnstown gives 
 plenty of opportunity for the erection of well-lighted, 
 well-ventilated factories. 
 
 In addition to the factory side of the industry there is 
 a large amount of work done in the homes of the 
 workers under conditions which seem strikingly free 
 from the evils of home work as they exist in large cities. 
 The housing conditions of the two glove cities are very 
 favorable. By far the larger part of the population live 
 in detached houses, rarely are there more than two 
 families in one house. We have shown the great extent 
 of this kind of production and its growth as indicated by 
 the increased use of small motors installed in the homes 
 of workers for the operation of sewing machines. There 
 were in 1911, 1300 of these motors in private houses, an 
 increase of nearly thirty per cent over the previous year. 
 This increase is one of the most significant tendencies of 
 the industry. It promises a much wider extension of 
 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 69 
 
 the home working system than has existed up to the 
 present time and a utilization of a greater number of the 
 small power sites that abound in the foothills of the 
 Adirondacks. The most serious limitation upon the ex- 
 tension of home working has been the problem of trans- 
 portation among the scattered houses of the outlying 
 hamlets and farming sections. In the summer months 
 the use of automobiles has done much to remedy this 
 difficulty. But the summer months include the slack 
 season, and in the winter months of the rush season the 
 roads of Fulton county and the surrounding counties are 
 not easily traveled by any vehicle. With the beginning 
 of the year 1913 a very effective method of handling this 
 problem will come into use in the form of the parcel 
 post. Gloves made and unmade are light in weight and 
 small in bulk, so they can easily be sent through the 
 mails. This method will be particularly effective in 
 reaching workers living upon rural free-delivery routes. 
 From all these facts we see that the glove industry is 
 in a promising condition from a manufacturing point of 
 view. In the earlier chapters we showed the relation be- 
 tween the tariff and the condition of the industry in the 
 United States. We showed that there is an actual dif- 
 ference in the labor cost of making a dozen pairs of 
 gloves in the United States and either Germany or 
 France, the countries from which most importations of 
 gloves come. Without some tariff to offset this differ- 
 ence in labor cost, the industry could not have advanced 
 to its present state of development. The period of pro- 
 tection in the glove industry needs to be somewhat 
 longer than in other industries, because the training of a 
 force of workers in a glove industry is a relatively slow 
 process. Once trained, the force becomes more perma- 
 nent than in many other lines of manufacture, because 
 
70 THE LEATHER GLOVE INDUSTRY 
 
 women who as girls learned the trade of sewing gloves 
 are able to carry it on in their homes after marriage. 
 We considered both the advantages and disadvantages of 
 this form of work in the proper place. 
 
 Our final consideration was the question as to the per- 
 manency and amount of the tariff upon gloves. If we 
 concede the principle of protection it must undoubtedly 
 be at the minimum rate; but again the minimum rate 
 implies permanency in the rate, for capital will not flow 
 into an industry protected at the minimum rate for a 
 short or indefinite period. That the rate of the Payne- 
 Aldrich law was not at the minimum we believe we have 
 shown. The reason for the high rate we have shown to 
 lie in the method of determining the rate. This study 
 shows that the facts for the scientific determination are 
 obtainable and the proper method of handling these facts 
 calls for the establishment of a permanent non-partisan 
 body with power to obtain the facts in this as in every 
 other industry, and power to fix the rate of tariff upon 
 those facts when found. This power implies the right 
 of the body to make changes in the rate for proved cause 
 when necessary. 
 
 From our study of the glove industry we conclude, first, 
 that during the twenty-two years of its protected exist- 
 ence since 1890 it has developed a trained labor force, so 
 fortunately situated in living and working conditions and 
 with such prospects of immediate growth as to entitle 
 the industry to at least a temporary continuation of 
 protection. 
 
 Second, that the present method of fixing the rate of 
 protection upon the industry is responsible for the exces- 
 sive rate and the improper distribution of the benefit of 
 the rate between manufacturer and laborer, the liability 
 to change in rate enabling the manufacturer to resist the 
 demand of the laborer for his share in the protection. 
 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 7 ! 
 
 And, finally, if the tariff be adjusted by a permanent 
 nonpartisan body able to make adjustments for proved 
 cause when needed, and empowered to demand the high 
 efficiency necessitated by a close adjustment of the rate 
 to actual difference in labor cost of production in the 
 factories of the more efficient class, the future of the 
 industry is assured and it will form a strong part in our 
 diversified system of production. 
 
APPENDIX I 
 SCHEDULE OF PRICES 
 
 Of the Glove Manufacturers Association of the United States 
 as adopted for the year 1910, for Table Cutting:, American 
 Table Cutting:, Sewing: Fine Gloves. (Second column, table 
 as agreed upon for year ending: December i, 1900, by repre- 
 sentatives of the Glove Manufacturers Association and of the 
 Fulton County International Glove Table Cutters Union.) 
 
 Price per doz. pr. 
 Kind of Work. 1910. 1900. 
 
 Imported or domestic kid or suede $0.90 $0.88 
 
 Mocha castor or Mocha reindeer i.oo .93*4 
 
 Mocha castor for fur-lined gloves pr where two inches 
 
 or more of extra leather is required i.io 1.05 
 
 Craven tan, napa or dipped lamb or sheep 95 .95 
 
 Same if for lamb or fur-lined gloves 1.05 1.05 
 
 Real kid or goat i.oo i.oo 
 
 Oil or alum-dressed deerskins i.io 
 
 Indian-tanned deerskins 95 .95 
 
 Little jacks 1.20 1.20 
 
 Cambretta and Mocha kid 99 .99 
 
 Coltskin i.io 
 
 Calfskin 1.05 
 
 Chamois or fleshers, all colors 86 .84 
 
 Women's wide cuff gauntlets, flare included but not 
 
 bound 1.20 
 
 Women's wide cuff gauntlets, flare included with bind- 
 ing . 1.25 
 
 Women's gauntlets, with cuff up to 2# inches wide. 
 
 including flare 1.05 1.05 
 
 Automobile gauntlets, not combination 1.50 
 
 For dowling the cuffs of women's gauntlets extra 10 .10 
 
 All mittens 18 cents per doz. less than corresponding 
 
 gloves 
 
 Boys' gloves not to exceed 8% inches of leather for 
 lined or 8 inches for unlined and 2^ inches in top 
 
 length, not cur on cadet patterns 80 .80 
 
 Cutting lamb linings 70 
 
 Cutting fur linings i.oo 
 
 Tilburys with fourchettes and part thumbs 50 
 
 Backs.. 40 -40 
 
 Palms Kid palms incl. fourchettes and thumbs 70 
 
 Mocha palm incl. fourchettes and thumbs 75 
 
 Buck or cambretta incl. fourchettes and thumbs... .80 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 73 
 
 Extras. 
 Spring pieces ........................................................ 03 .03 
 
 Laps ..................................................................... 05 .05 
 
 Ridelle ................................................................... n .11 
 
 Gores ..................................................................... 05 .05 
 
 Blue mark running length of glovr .......................... 05 
 
 Extra wrist binding ............................................. 05 
 
 Flat slit welt ......................... ................................. 03 ...... 
 
 Band tops ........ .................................................... 15 .15 
 
 Quirks if not in pattern ............................................. 10 .10 
 
 Mocha or reindeer rags to be cut by day at ............... 3.00 ...... 
 
 Deerskin rags, per dozen ......................................... 10 ...... 
 
 Men's goods or women's lined gloves, cut with more 
 
 than % inch flare on each side ............................... 10 
 
 Women's barritz and mousquetaire gloves, where 
 
 flare is used, with more than % inch on each side... .10 
 
 Punching and trimming gloves ................................. 10 ...... 
 
 Punching and trimming mittens ................................ 10 ..... 
 
 Slitting gloves by hand .......................................... 40 
 
 Slitting mittens by hand .......................................... 15 ...... 
 
 Slitting one-finger mittens by hand .......................... 20 
 
 Cutting single pairs ............................................... 15 
 
 Cutting single pairs and slitting by hand .................... 25 
 
 7^ cents per inch for every inch or part of an inch in 
 
 length in excess of 3# inches on men's and 4# 
 
 inches on women's gloves excepting on all chamois, 
 
 which shall be 5 cents per inch. 
 
 French chalk applied if wanted. 
 
 Only two kinds of gloves and one throw-out (boys) shall 
 be required from one batch of leather. 
 
 Fourchettes shall be replaced only before the glove is made. 
 
 Cutters will be allowed to draw up to $20 if they have 
 earned same, on the second Saturday after regular pay-day. 
 
 Any special extra work, not provided for in this schedule, 
 may be adjusted between the manufacturer and the cutter. 
 
 Dowling. * 
 Dowling per dozen gloves up to 4/^ inch top ............. $0.30 $0.30 
 
 Dowling per dozen gloves 4^ to 8 inch top ............. 43# -43/4 
 
 Dowling per dozen gloves 8 to 12 inch top ............. 57> 
 
 Dowling per dozen gloves 12 to 16 inch top ............ .75 
 
 Dowling per dozen gloves 16 to 20 inch top .......... 90 
 
 Imported or domestic suede ...................................... 5 
 
 Cambretta or Mocha ....................... ......................... 32^ 
 
 Where the cutter dowls the skins and then cuts the gloves 
 therefrom, he shall be credited for both the dowling and cut- 
 ting per dozen gloves in accordance with the table-cutting 
 schedule and not in any other way. 
 
 Prices for cutting men's gloves up to 3/^ inch top and 
 
74 APPENDIX I 
 
 women's gloves up to 4/^ inch top with slit binding:, number- 
 ing:, sizing, punching thumbs and fourchettes, including Eng- 
 lish thumbs, when cut from the following stock: 
 
 AMERICAN TABLE CUTTING SCHEDULE 
 
 As adopted by the Glove Manufacturers Association of the 
 United States tor the year 1910. 
 
 CLASS A 
 
 The following is required of "A" cutting: " Lined, un- 
 lined and silk-lined/' 
 
 Tranks accurately measured crossways, or lengthways if 
 faults should make it necessary, and spudded. 
 
 Thumb tranks accurately measured, and spudded, numbered, 
 sized, and punched or not, as required. 
 
 CLASS B 
 
 Class " B " consists of lined gloves or mittens. 
 
 Tranks measured and spudded. 
 
 Thumbs not measured but so worked out that they will be 
 in due proportion to the size of the glove, sized, and punched 
 or not, as required. 
 
 CLASS C 
 
 Class "C" calls for same trank measurements, but not as 
 careful workmanship as class " B," numbered, sized, or not, 
 as required. 
 
 Tranks not spudded. Thumbs not measured, but num- 
 bered, sized, and punched or not, as required. 
 
 Prices for cutting men's and women's gloves and mittens 
 with slit binding, numbering, sizing, punching thumbs and 
 fourchettes, including English thumbs, when cut from the 
 following stock: 
 
 Class 
 
 Kind of Work. A. B. C. 
 
 Imported or domestic kid or suede, or flesher $0.40 $0.65 $0.55 
 
 Mocha castor or Mocha reindeer 80 
 
 Friezed lamb 80 .75 
 
 Mocha castor, or Mocha reindeer, or friezed lamb 
 or sheep if for lamb or fur-lined gloves, or where 
 two inches or more of extra leather is required... .85 
 
 Cravan tan, napa, or dipped lamb or sheep 75 .65 .55 
 
 Oil-dressed deerskin gloves, colored or smoked, 
 
 punched or not, as required i.oo 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 75 
 
 Deerskin mittens, all kinds, punched or not, as re- 
 
 Suired 78 
 ian-tanned deerskin gloves, punched or not. as 
 
 required 95 
 
 Little jacks, gloves, punched or not, as required.... 1.05 .95 
 
 Cambretta and Mocha kid gloves 80 
 
 Coltskin gloves i.oo 
 
 Calfskin gloves 95 
 
 Chamois 70 .65 
 
 Women's wide-cuff gauntlets, flare included but not 
 
 bound .95 .85 .75 
 
 Women's wide-cuff gauntlets, flare included, in- 
 cluding binding i.oo .90 .80 
 
 Women's gauntlets, with cuff up to 2)4 inches 
 
 wide, including flare 80 .76 .60 
 
 Automobile gauntlets i.oo 
 
 Automobile gauntlets, combination .90 
 
 Automobile gauntlets, cuff and gores cut by hand.. 1.25 
 
 Boys' gloves, lined or unlined, not to exceed nine 
 
 inc hes of leather, not cut on cadet patterns 60 .52^ .40 
 
 Boys' deerskin gloves 80 
 
 Boys' Mocha gloves 75 .65 
 
 Gloves and mittens of German deer, 15 cents per 
 
 dozen above price paid for cutting Mocha. 
 
 Childrens mitts, kid or suede 42^ -35 -20 
 
 Childrens mitts, Mocha or buck 55 .40 .30 
 
 Cutting lamb linings from skins, long wool 70 
 
 Cutting lamb linings from skins, short wool 60 
 
 Cutting lamb linings from plates 60 
 
 Cutting fur linings from skins 90 
 
 Cutting fur linings from plates 80 
 
 Tilburys with fourchettes and part thumbs 50 
 
 Backs, kid or suede 30 
 
 Backs, buckskin 35 
 
 Palms, kid or suede, including fourchettes and 
 
 thumbs 50 .45 .30 
 
 Palms, Mocha, including fourchettes and thumbs... .60 
 
 Palms, buck, including fourchettes and thumbs 75 
 
 Men's or women's mittens, when not otherwise 
 
 provided for, 15 cents less than corresponding 
 
 gloves. 
 
 Extras. 
 
 Button stays $0.05 
 
 Laps, 24 to the dozen 05 
 
 Gores, where split bindings are also required 05 
 
 Extra wrist binding 05 
 
 Quirks, if not in pattern 10 
 
 Mocha or reindeer rags, per dozen 15 
 
 Men's and women's gloves cut with more than % inch flare on 
 
 each side 10 
 
 Deerskin rags, per dozen extra 15 
 
 Punching and trimming gloves 10 
 
 Punching and trimming mittens 05 
 
 Cutting single pairs, per pair 10 
 
76 APPENDIX I 
 
 Cutting single pairs and slitting by hand 25 
 
 Punching silk-lined thumbs 05 
 
 Gloves or mitts, for fur or lamb-lined, where two cr more inches 
 of leather is required 05 
 
 No more than three kinds of gloves shall be required from one batch 
 of leather. 
 
 The expense of mistakes is to be borne by those who make them. 
 This applies to working over of tranks and all other mistakes. 
 (Last two notes same as last two in Table Cutting Schedule.) 
 
 SCHEDULE OF MAXIMUM PRICES FOR SEWING FINE GLOVES 
 
 AS ADOPTED BY THE GLOVE MANUFACTURERS* ASSOCIATION OF THE 
 UNITED STATES FOR THE YEAR IQIO 
 
 In Out of 
 Kind of work. factory, factory. 
 
 Silking (two, three or four-needle machines). 
 
 Two-needle completely around center row $0.18 $0.18 
 
 Single, double or triple drawn or plain four-needle .... 8 to 10 8 to 10 
 
 Two-needle around center row, one end open i2> .12% 
 
 Two-needle around center row, one end open, ends 
 
 picked 
 
 Two-needle reverse around center row, one end open. .15 .15 
 
 Three or four-needle around center row, one end open .18 .18 
 
 Single needle machine. 
 
 Making draw on single needle machine n .11 
 
 Brosser machine. 
 
 One row brosser 10 .10 
 
 Baker or Union Special Machine. 
 
 One row embroidery 10 .10 
 
 Two rows embroidery 14 .14 
 
 Three rows embroidery 18 .18 
 
 Hand Work. 
 
 Making full spear points 30 .30 
 
 Making drops for spear points 20 .20 
 
 Sewing on ordinary slit stay pieces 05 .05 
 
 Making button holes 12 .12 
 
 Buttons sewn on plain 07 .07 
 
 Buttons sewn on with tape 10 
 
 Sewing tape stays for one fastener up to 2% inches long .08 .08 
 
 Sewing tape stays for two fasteners, up to 4 inches long .10 .10 
 Sewing leather stays for one fastener, up to 2# inches 
 
 long - 10 .10 
 
 Sewing leather stays for two fasteners, up to 4 inches 
 
 long 12 .12 
 
 End pulling according to work required 2 to 6 2 to 6 
 
APPENDIX I 77 
 
 Hemming, etc. 
 
 Putting on white hem on overseam, sewing down on 
 
 both sides 12 .12 
 
 Self hem on overseam 06 .06 
 
 Sewing slit binding on lockstitck 05 .05 
 
 Reinforcing slits on lockstitch 10 .10 
 
 Sewing continuous binding around slit and top on 
 
 overstitch machine 09 .09 
 
 Sewing continuous binding around hem and slit, once 
 
 around on lockstitch machine 10 .10 
 
 Sewing down and trimming slit binding 08 .08 
 
 Sewing on slit binding and stitching once around the 
 
 slit and twice across the top 18 .18 
 
 Sewing on slit binding and stitching twice around the 
 slit and twice across the top known as the " Horse- 
 shoe'' hem 20 .20 
 
 Sewing on slit binding and stitching once around slit 
 and twice across the top, where slit binding is 
 trimmed by hemmer to leave part of slit binding to 
 
 serve as button piece 20 .20 
 
 Sewing in slit binding, stitching once around slit and 
 twice across top and fastening by a single row of 
 stitching, the button piece part of the binding thus 
 
 forming the ordinary box hem 22 .22 
 
 Same as next preceding item when operator is required 
 
 to mark pattern for box 25 .25 
 
 Rubbering with six rows and in center gore 20 .20 
 
 Rubbering with six rows with side gore 15 .15 
 
 Rubbering with six rows if side gore is already in 10 .10 
 
 Double rubbering on extra long top and setting in gore .22 .22 
 
 Furring straight around 15 .15 
 
 Furring spring top 40 .40 
 
 Making fleece or plush glove lining .10 .10 
 
 Making fleece or plush mitten lining 08 .08 
 
 Sewing. 
 Inseam. 
 
 Making lined or silk-lined gloves, with or without 
 quirks, without quirks, slit bindings tacked but not 
 
 sewn on, fourchettes trimmed 70 .60 
 
 If made mock pique, side seam stitching on palm .85 .75 
 
 If made mock pique, side seam stitching on back 90 .80 
 
 Closing glove where fitting up has been done by an 
 
 operator other than the closer 20 .20 
 
 Making hem-top mittens complete 45 .45 
 
 Making fur-top mittens complete 35 .35 
 
 Making fleece-lined gloves complete i.oo i.oo 
 
 If made without laps or quirks 5 cents less for each. 
 
 Overseam. 
 Men's or women's gloves with quirks, not hemmed, 
 
 but with binding sewn on 85 .75 
 
 Men's or women's gloves, without quirks, but with 
 
 bindings sewn on 75 .65 
 
7 8 APPENDIX I 
 
 Men's or women's overseam mittens 30 .30 
 
 Misses' or children's overseam mittens 25 .25 
 
 Gloves made without bindings or welts, deduct 5 cents 
 from schedule price for making such gloves. 
 
 Pique. 
 Fitting up for pique or inseam, slit welts sewn on, 
 
 fourchettes trimmed and ends tied 55 .50 
 
 Same without slit welts 50 .45 
 
 Closing gloves on pique 85 .78 
 
 Making pique mittens.. 38 .36 
 
 Fitting up pique mittens ro .10 
 
 Closing pique thumbs 10 .10 
 
 Triple Stitch. 
 
 Making gloves on triple-stitch machine, with quirks 
 but not hemmed, all ends tied i .40 
 
 Prixseam. 
 
 Making prixseam with quirks, but not hemmed, all 
 ends tied 1.30 1.20 
 
 Gauge Outseam. 
 When gauge is used. 
 
 Making men's or women's all outseam, with or with- 
 out quirks, all ends tied 1. 10 i. oo 
 
 Making men's or women's half outseam, with or with- 
 out quirks, all ends tied.. ....' 85 .80 
 
 Making men's or women's outseam mittens.. 30 .30 
 
 Above with thumbs sewn in flat 10 cents extra. 
 
 Trimmer Outseam. 
 
 Making full outseam with quirks, slit binding tacked. .90 .80 
 
 Making half outseam with quirks, slit binding tacked. .75 .65 
 
 Making outseam mittens, round thumb 30 .30 
 
 Making outseam mittens, English thumb . 30 .30 
 
 Above with thumbs sewn in flat in cents extra. 
 
 The clause in the schedule " all ends tied " refers to all ends 
 except quirk ends, and quirk ends should be fastened by back- 
 stitching at least four stitches. 
 
 Mousquetaires and Barritz. 
 
 Musoquetaircs made overstitch, slit sewed on : 
 
 6-8 inches .80 
 
 10 inches 85 
 
 12 inches i.oo 
 
 16 inches i.io 
 
 20 inches 1.20 
 
 Barritz made overseam, no slit bindings : 
 
 6-8 inches 75 
 
 10 inches 80 
 
 12 inches 95 
 
 16 inches 1.05 
 
 20 inches 1.15 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 Mousquetaire made gauge (when gauge is used) with- 
 out slit bindings : 
 
 79 
 
 6 inches. 
 
 8 inches. 
 10 inches. 
 12 inches. 
 16 inches. 
 
 ,10 
 
 IS 
 
 .20 
 25 
 .40 
 
 Mousquetaires made pique Fitting : 
 Fitting up 
 
 6 inches 55 
 
 8-12 inches 60 
 
 Above 12 inches 65 
 
 Closing 
 
 6 inches 85 
 
 8 inches 90 
 
 10 inches.. 95 
 
 12 inches. 
 14 inches. 
 16 inches. 
 18 inches. 
 20 inches. 
 
 ,00 
 05 
 ,10 
 
 .20 
 
 Silking monsquetaires, drawn back : 
 
 Above 8 inches 12 
 
 Two draw 12 
 
 Stitching around 15 
 
 FACTORY HOURS 
 Making Department 
 
 Factories shall be open from 7 to 12 o'clock in the forenoon 
 and from I to 6 o'clock in the afternoon, Saturdays excepted, 
 when the closing 1 hour shall be 5 o'clock, excepting: during the 
 months of June, July and August, when the closing hour shall 
 be 12 o'clock noon. 
 
 Piece workers in the making department shall work not less 
 than seven hours each working day, from 8 a. m. to n a. m.; 
 i p. m. to 3 p. m., except on Saturdays during June, July and 
 August, when they shall work four hours, from 8 a. m. to 
 12 m. 
 
APPENDIX II 
 
 PROPOSED SCHEDULE* 
 
 Submitted to the Ways and Means Committee by the Glove 
 Manufacturers' Association of the United States. 
 
 Paragraph 439. 
 
 Act of 1897. 
 
 Gloves : 
 
 Gloves, made wholly or in 
 part of leather whether wholly 
 or partly manufactured, shall 
 pay duty at the following- 
 rates : 
 
 The lengths stated in each 
 case being the extreme length 
 when stretched to their full 
 extent, namely : 
 
 Paragraph as amended or 
 reconstructed. 
 Gloves : 
 
 Gloves, made wholly or in 
 part of leather whether wholly 
 or partly manufactured, shall 
 pay duty at the following 
 rates, namely : 
 
 On gloves not exceeding 
 eleven inches in length, four 
 dollars per dozen pairs ; 
 
 On gloves exceeding eleven 
 inches in length, an additional 
 duty of fifty cents per dozen 
 pairs for each inch or major 
 portion of an inch in excess 
 of said eleven inches, the 
 length in each case being the 
 extreme length when stretched 
 to its full extent. 
 
 80 
 
 Tariff Hearings, Nov. 28, 1908. 
 
APPENDIX II 8l 
 
 Paragraph 440. 
 
 Act of 1897. Paragraph as amended or 
 
 reconstructed. 
 
 Women's or children's 
 "glace" finish, Schmaschen 
 (of sheep origin), not over 
 fourteen inches in length, one 
 dollar and seventy-five cents 
 per dozen pairs ; 
 
 Over fourteen inches and 
 not over seventeen inches in 
 length, two dollars and 
 twenty-five cents per dozen 
 pairs ; 
 
 Over seventeen inches in 
 length, two dollars and 
 seventy-five cents per dozen 
 pairs ; 
 
 Men's " glace " finish, 
 Schmaschen (sheep), three 
 dollars per dozen pairs. 
 
 Paragraph 441. 
 
 Act of 1897. Paragraph as amended or 
 
 reconstructed. 
 
 Women's or children's 
 " glace " finish, lamb or sheep, 
 not over fourteen inches in 
 length, two dollars and fifty 
 cents per dozen pairs ; 
 
 Over fourteen and not over 
 seventeen inches in length, 
 three dollars and fifty cents 
 per dozen pairs ; 
 
 Over seventeen inches in 
 length, four dollars and fifty 
 cents per dozen pairs ; 
 
 Men's "glace" finish, lamb 
 or sheep, four dollars per 
 dozen pairs. 
 
82 APPENDIX II 
 
 Paragraph 442. 
 
 Act of 1897. Paragraph as amended or 
 
 reconstructed. 
 
 Women's or children's 
 "glace" finish, goat, kid or 
 other leather than of sheep 
 origin, not over fourteen 
 inches in length, three dollars 
 per dozen pairs ; 
 
 Over fourteen and not over 
 seventeen inches in length, 
 three dollars and seventy-five 
 cents per dozen pairs ; 
 
 Over seventeen inches in 
 length, four dollars and 
 seventy-five cents per dozen 
 pairs ; 
 
 Men's "glace" finish, kid, 
 goat, or other leather than of 
 sheep origin, four dollars per 
 dozen pairs. 
 
 Paragraph 443. 
 
 Act of 1897. Paragraph as amended or 
 
 reconstructed. 
 
 Women's or children's, of 
 sheep origin, with exterior 
 grain surface removed, by 
 whatever name known, not 
 over seventeen inches in 
 length, two dollars and fifty 
 cents per dozen pairs ; 
 
 Over seventeen inches in 
 length, three dollars and fifty 
 cents per dozen pairs ; 
 
 Men's, of sheep origin, 
 with exterior surface removed, 
 by whatever name known, 
 four dollars per dozen pairs. 
 
APPENDIX II 83 
 
 Paragraph 444. 
 
 Act of 1897. Paragraph as amended or 
 
 reconstructed. 
 
 Women's or children's, kid, 
 goat, or other leather than of 
 sheep origin, with exterior 
 grain surface removed, by 
 whatever name known, not 
 over fourteen inches in length, 
 three dollars per dozen pairs ; 
 
 Over fourteen inches and 
 not over seventeen inches in 
 length, three dollars and 
 seventy-five cents per dozen 
 pairs ; 
 
 Over seventeen inches in 
 length, four dollars and 
 seventy-five cents per dozen 
 pairs ; 
 
 Men's goat, kid, or other 
 leather than of sheep origin, 
 with exterior grain surface 
 removed, by whatever name 
 known, four dollars per dozen 
 pairs. 
 
 Paragraph 445. 
 Act of 1897. Paragraph as amended or 
 
 reconstructed. 
 
 In addition to the foregoing In addition to the foregoing 
 rates there shall be paid the rates there shall be paid the 
 following cumulative duties : following cumulative duties : 
 On all leather gloves, when On all gloves, wholly or 
 lined, one dollar per dozen in part of leather, when lined 
 pairs ; with cotton, woolen or silk 
 
 fabrics, one dollar per dozen 
 pairs ; 
 
 When lined with skin or 
 fur, five dollars per dozen 
 pairs ; 
 
 On all pique or prixseam On all pique or prixseam 
 gloves, forty cents per dozen gloves, forty cents per dozen 
 pairs ; pairs ; 
 
 On all hand-sewn gloves, 
 one dollar per dozen pairs ; 
 
8 4 
 
 APPENDIX II 
 
 On all gloves, stitched or 
 embroidered, with more than 
 three single strands or cords, 
 forty cents per dozen pairs. 
 
 On all gloves having crows' 
 feet stitched, sewn or silked 
 on the backs thereof, or hav- 
 ing stitched, sewn, embroid- 
 ered or silked on the backs 
 thereof points, each point con- 
 sisting of more than a single 
 row of stitching, sewing, em- 
 broidery, or silking, whether 
 the same be continuous or 
 otherwise, forty cents per 
 dozen pairs ; 
 
 On all gloves having more 
 than a single line of stitching, 
 sewing, embroidery or silk- 
 ing, on the cuffs or wrists 
 thereof, twenty-five cents per 
 dozen pairs. 
 
 Paragraph 446. 
 
 Act of 1897. 
 
 Glove tranks, with or with- 
 out the usual accompanying 
 pieces, shall pay seventy-five 
 per centum of the duty pro- 
 vided for the gloves in the 
 fabrication of which they are 
 suitable. 
 
 Paragraph as amended or 
 reconstructed. 
 
 Glove tranks, with or with- 
 out the usual accompanying 
 pieces, shall pay seventy-five 
 per centum of the duty pro- 
 vided for the gloves in the 
 fabrication of which they are 
 suitable. 
 
APPENDIX III 
 ARGUMENT FOR PROPOSED SCHEDULE' 
 
 "The Glove Manufacturers' Association of the United 
 States desires to call your attention to the trade developments 
 in connection with the tariff schedule on gloves contained in 
 paragraphs 439 to 446, both inclusive, of the Dingley Act. 
 We are confident that your Committee will discern that no in- 
 dustry in the United States has made, or can make, a more 
 satisfactory showing under protection than the glove industry, 
 to demonstrate which we review the history of this industry. 
 
 " Before the McKinley Act of 1890 there was no glove in- 
 dustry in the United States competing in our markets with the 
 foreign-made gloves. There has been, during 1 the previous 
 fifty years, developed the manufacture of gloves for working- 
 men, but such gloves were made in this country only, as we 
 are the only people in the world paying a sufficiently high 
 rate of wages to enable the working man to indulge in the 
 luxury of protecting 1 his hands while at work. The working- 
 men's gloves we manufacture are considered curiosities in 
 other parts of the world, where no such articles are made or 
 used, and to-day the manufacture of such workingmen's gloves 
 still remains the largest part of the glove industry, the census 
 of 1905 showing that 65.3 per cent, of American production 
 was of the workingmen's gloves. 
 
 " Prior to 1890 the tariff on gloves was 50 per cent, ad val- 
 orem. It was clearly demonstrated that under an ad valorem 
 tariff no legitimate trade could be developed or continued here 
 because of undervaluations, the business going into the hands 
 of agents of foreign manufacturers, against whom the Ameri- 
 can importer could not successfully compete. The American 
 dealer confined his purchases practically to the agents of im- 
 porters, and the American manufacturers found no opportunity 
 to compete with the enormous importation of men's and 
 women's gloves. The ad valorem rate of 50 per cent, gave no 
 
 'Tariff Hearings before Ways and Means Committee, November 28, 
 1008. 
 
 85 
 
86 APPENDIX HI 
 
 consideration to the theory of protection, but simply repre- 
 sented a tariff for revenue, and there was no glove industry in 
 the United States making: fine gloves under that rate. 
 
 " In the consideration of the McKinley bill the question of 
 giving" protection, so as to build up an American industry, was 
 thoroughly investigated, with the conclusion that such oppor- 
 tunity was given on men's gloves, while leaving the women's 
 gloves on a purely revenue basis. It was believed that the 
 highly skilled labor necessary for the manufacture of women's 
 gloves could not be found in the United States. 
 
 In the fiscal year 1890 there were imported 127,000 dozen 
 pairs of men's gloves, paying a revenue of $229,222.50. The 
 McKinley bill imposed, in addition to the previous 50 per 
 cent, ad valorem rate, one dollar per dozen extra on men's 
 gloves. From the date of its enactment, the American fine- 
 glove industry had its start, until to-day it has developed into 
 an industry giving employment to twenty thousand working 
 mem scattered over the United States in twenty-seven states, 
 but mainly centered in Fulton County, in the State of New 
 York. 
 
 When, in the course of events, the consideration of a revised 
 tariff, with the avowed purpose of enacting a tariff for revenue 
 only, took place in 1893 under the chairmanship, in this com- 
 mittee, of Mr. Wilson, the business of manufacturing men's 
 gloves had already made its start. The importation of 
 men's gloves during the fiscal year 1893 amounted to 103,808 
 dozen pairs, paying in duties $448,943.64, which was a reduc- 
 tion of 24,000 dozens under the importations of 1890. The 
 Democratic revision of the tariff showed clearly that proper 
 appreciation had been given to the need and justice of a pro- 
 tective tariff on men's gloves, and further, that a schedule to 
 be just, and fairly complied with under the law, could not be 
 based on ad valorem rates. 
 
 The Wilson bill of 1893, for the first time, placed exclusively 
 specific duties on gloves, and moreover, after the fullest and 
 most careful study of the problem, gave increased rates of duty 
 on men's gloves, while lowering the duty on women's gloves, 
 in specific form to about one-half the rates which maintained 
 under the McKinley bill. At this point attention should be 
 directed to the fact that the Wilson bill duties on women's 
 gloves, which were only about one-half of the rates of duty im- 
 posed under the McKinley Act, did not increase the importa- 
 tion of women's gloves, nor augment the government's reve- 
 nues, but had quite the contrary effect. 
 
APPENDIX III 87 
 
 In 1893, under the McKinley Act, there were imported 
 1,314,862 dozen pairs, paying- a revenue of $3,252,653, while 
 in 1896, under the Wilson Act, with its reduction of duties on 
 women's and children's gloves, only 1,176,776 dozens of these 
 gloves were imported, paying duties of $2,075,548. These fig- 
 ures show that the lower Wilson bill rates did not increase the 
 importation of this article of semi-luxury, but on the contrary 
 fewer women's gloves were imported under these lower rates 
 and the government revenue decreased nearly a million and a 
 quarter of dollars. 
 
 When the Dingley Act of 1897 was under consideration, 
 these facts were clearly presented and a demand was made for 
 the continuance of the duties on men's gloves, which was agreed 
 to. So the rates of the Dingley bill, on men's gloves, were 
 exactly those of the Wilson bill, with the addition of the extra 
 cumulative provisions on the more elaborately and expen- 
 sively sewn and embroidered gloves. We were not able, at 
 that time, to persuade Congress to place a compensatory pro- 
 tective duty on women's gloves such as had been given on 
 men's gloves ; and, although the duties on women's gloves 
 were increased to some extent under the Dingley bill, they still 
 remained purely revenue duties, and inadequate to provide 
 protection to our manufacturers." 
 
APPENDIX IV 
 
 State. 
 
 tn 
 
 V 
 
 O 
 
 M oo oo Number of 
 2? $ establishments. 
 
 i 
 
 '2. 
 
 C3 
 
 
 
 $10,705,599 
 9,004,427 
 6,348,407 
 6,219.647 
 
 Salaried offi- 
 cials, clerks, Total, 
 etc. 
 
 1 
 8 
 
 640 
 637 
 
 296 
 
 328 
 
 1 
 
 rt 
 "rt 
 
 ft 
 
 $584,573 
 544,17 
 262,873 
 
 294*574 
 
 || 
 
 ^ 
 
 1 
 
 United States -j 
 New York .... -I 
 
 1905 
 1900 
 
 1905 
 1900 
 
 10,645 
 14,180 
 
 #3,840,253 
 4,151,126 
 
 2,131.053 
 2,723,702 
 
 
 Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin 72. 
 
 APPENDIX V 
 VALUE OF GLOVES, OF KID OR OTHER LEATHER, IMPORTED : 1900 TO 1905 l 
 
 Year. 
 
 Value. 
 
 1 
 
 Year. 
 
 l 
 
 Value. 
 
 f QOC 
 
 &d 727 dSo 
 
 
 Sc,^66,'?8i 
 
 
 
 i 90 i ......... 
 
 . . c t;^d 2^0 
 
 IOO3 
 
 5 W V3OJ/ 
 C O2O 278 
 
 IOOO 
 
 6 IO7.76C 
 
 
 
 
 
 Census of Manufactures, 1905, Bulletin 72. 
 
 1 Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor, Commerce and 
 Navigation of the United States. 
 
APPENDIX VI 
 
 89 
 
 5-S.S 
 
 -^lo- 
 
 85: 
 
 in 
 
 to oo 
 
 ?, s 
 
 N N 
 
 2 J 
 
 & 
 
 I- 
 
 \o vo H 9 v o *T- * "P^ *J o o< 
 t^.d rf * w o o ^. rf ovo i-" vd 
 
 M in m t-x vn - moo oo t^ t^ moo 
 
 * *I o 
 
 I -s 
 111? 
 
 ; I S "I 
 
 I | 4 
 
 i J -a Si 
 
 I .2 = -o 
 
 1 < 1 
 
 ! S 
 
 I 
 
 * "o 
 
 I 5 !":-=: 8 I 
 
 ^ 1 1 
 
 __w- 
 
 M _?% 
 
 ro vO O 10 
 
 10 t^ 00 ON 
 
 **" ^*^-^^-^>-v^-*. "^ ^T 
 
 IO *" fO 
 
 *- "g 
 
 , to t; 
 
 ; - rt s 
 
 ! l I 1 
 
 * s 
 
 2 
 
 ^"rt.SJ g.JJ i_5fe^^5^"5* * 
 
 i.S g g S ofll < f <r*> > ' f ' { *J**' 3 S 
 _^5 r, ** 1/5 (/; -^ r: 
 
 llflJ 
 
 illli 
 
 Ti *^ * 
 
 
 Hnftllll 
 
 = S^S C -rt^,P 
 
 Zuc/5 w>H 
 
APPENDIX VII 
 PRODUCTS, BY KIND, QUANTITY AND VALUE: 1905 AND 1900 
 
 
 1905. 
 
 1900. 
 
 
 It. I 7 fAQ 78 C 
 
 t T A 72I 27A 
 
 Gloves, mittens, and gauntlets: 
 Total dozen pairs* 
 
 f* 1 />/4 w ij;) 
 
 7 770 1.4.6 
 
 2 89 ^ 66 1 
 
 
 Si 7 I 22 772 
 
 & 1 6 o "?o 1 68 
 
 Men's 
 Lined 
 
 1 317 083 
 
 OC2 82O 
 
 Value 
 
 56. 3 3 3.081 
 
 *4.,QCQ.QO2 
 
 Unlined 
 
 i CQ8 112 
 
 I ^14 5O7 
 
 
 58 182.680 
 
 7 /i c8 7c6 
 
 Women's 
 Lined 
 Dozen pairs ............ 
 
 70688 
 
 78 781 
 
 Value 
 
 &1Q&32C 
 
 C78 762 
 
 Unlined 
 
 I 74, IO2 
 
 221 O?Q 
 
 Value 
 
 Si, 420, 807 
 
 5l. 772, 74.6 
 
 Gauntlets 
 Dozen pairs ..... ...... 
 
 (1) 
 
 24 OO4. 
 
 Value 
 
 (' 
 
 Si ?o.6ij2 
 
 Children's 
 Lined 
 
 161 673 
 
 1 88 366 
 
 Value 
 
 1U1,U/ J 
 
 te-12 Cl8 
 
 $7OQ CCA 
 
 Unlined 
 
 fjj*t5 ltj 
 50.268 
 
 1 16,14.2 
 
 Value 
 
 *I CC.-JC2 
 
 J44Q.CQ6 
 
 All other products, including custom work and 
 
 C6t 7611 
 
 5682 066 
 
 
 
 
 ' Not reported separately. 
 
APPENDIX VIII 
 
 DRESS AND WORKING GLOVES, MITTENS AND GAUNTLETS, BY QUANTITY, WITH 
 PER CENT. EACH KIND is or TOTAL: 1905 
 
 
 Aggregate. 
 
 Men's. 
 
 Women's. 
 
 Children's. 
 
 C i- 
 
 It 
 
 Z^ 
 
 ii 
 
 r 
 
 g.S 
 
 &* 
 
 -"3 
 
 r 
 
 It 
 
 Q 
 
 il 
 
 u ** 
 
 r 
 
 S2 
 gl 
 
 Q 
 
 i ? 
 
 
 3.370,146 
 
 977, { 594 
 43 ',897 
 
 545 6 97 
 
 2,392,552 
 1,126,547 
 1,266,005 
 
 1 00.0 
 
 29.0 
 
 71.0 
 
 ,.. 
 
 2,915.415 
 
 7 > 5, 949 
 3M,i5 
 401,799 
 
 2,199,466 
 1,002,933 
 1,196,533 
 
 100.0 
 
 24.6 
 
 75-4 
 
 253,790 
 
 183,333 
 49,364 
 133,969 
 
 70,457 
 30,324 
 40,133 
 
 1 00.0 
 
 72.2 
 
 27.8 
 
 200,941 
 
 78,312 
 68,383 
 9,929 
 
 122,629 
 93,290 
 29,339 
 
 1 00.0 
 
 39.0 
 
 Dress : 
 Xotal 
 
 Lined .... 
 Unlined . 
 Working : 
 
 61.0 
 
 Lined .... 
 Unlined .. 
 
 Census of Mtnufactures, 1905, Bulletin 72. 
 
 Qi 
 
APPENDIX IX 
 
 RATES OF DUTY 
 Schedules 1890, 1894, 1897 and 1909 
 
 Men's. 
 
 1890. 
 McKinley. 
 
 1894. 
 Wilson. 
 
 1897. 
 
 Dingley. 
 
 1909. 
 
 Payne- 
 Aldrich. 
 
 
 co/fc and $i oo 
 
 &1 OO 
 
 *-? oo 
 
 *-? oo 
 
 
 50 % and i.oo 
 
 4. OO 
 
 4..OO 
 
 4.OO 
 
 Kid 
 
 50% and i.oo 
 
 d OO 
 
 4..OO 
 
 4..OO 
 
 
 co %> and I oo 
 
 4 OO 
 
 4 oo 
 
 A no 
 
 Suede kid 
 
 co % and i .00 
 
 **** 
 
 A OO 
 
 A OO 
 
 A OO 
 
 Women's. 
 Schmaschen : 
 
 SI.7C 
 
 I OO 
 
 I.7C 
 
 I.2C l 
 
 Under 17 
 
 v '& 
 
 CQ% 
 
 I CO 
 
 2 2C 
 
 2 2C 
 
 
 j v / c 
 
 CO% 
 
 l 'J^ 
 2 OO 
 
 *^*3 
 
 2.7C 
 
 **3 
 2.7 c 
 
 Lamb: 
 
 $2.2C 
 
 I 7C 
 
 **/D 
 2. CO 
 
 2.CO 
 
 
 **:> 
 
 CO% 
 
 2.7C 
 
 2. CO 
 
 0. en 
 
 Over 
 
 CO% 
 
 7.7C 
 
 A. CO 
 
 4. co 
 
 Kid: 
 
 13-25 
 
 2.2C 
 
 7.OO 
 
 ^.OO 
 
 Under 17... ........... 
 
 J 2 
 
 CO% 
 
 7 CO 
 
 5.7C 
 
 3.7C 
 
 
 * IS 
 
 CQ% 
 
 4 OO 
 
 4..7C 
 
 4..7C 
 
 Suede, etc., sheep : 
 
 J v / 
 
 s% 
 
 I.7C 
 
 2. CO 
 
 2.CO 
 
 Under 17 .. 
 
 CO tfn 
 
 2 7C 
 
 ? CQ 
 
 2 CO 
 
 Over 
 
 5 2? 
 
 co% 
 
 *"IJ 
 
 3-5 
 
 *o v 
 
 Suede, etc., kid : 
 
 ri* 
 
 CQ% 
 
 2.2C 
 
 I 
 roo 
 
 ^.oo 
 
 Under 17* 
 
 y* /o 
 co% 
 
 7.OO 
 
 J.7C, 
 
 1.7 c 
 
 
 * 2 
 
 CQ% 
 
 4..OO 
 
 4.7C 
 
 4.7 c 
 
 Extra Cumulative Men's 
 and Women's. 
 
 $1 OO 
 
 I.OO 
 
 I.OO 
 
 I.OO 
 
 Pique or prixseam 
 
 .50 
 
 CO 
 
 
 1 
 
 40 
 
 dO 
 
 .40 
 
 .40 
 
 
 !> w 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 1 Reduction. 
 
APPENDIX X 
 IMPORTATIONS OF GLOVES (MEN'S AND WOMEN'S AND CHILDREN'S) 
 
 Total Gloves. 
 
 Year ending June 30, 1907 , 
 Year ending June 30, 1908. 
 Year ending June 30, 1909 
 Year ending June 30, 1910, 
 Year ending June 30, 1911 . 
 
 Quantities, 
 dozen pairs. 
 
 Values. 
 
 Duties. 
 
 1,186,569.68 
 902,541.20 
 1,159,221,78 
 1,309.107.79 
 1,196,871.12 
 
 $10,261,945.65 
 7,760,645.26 
 7,210,554.81 
 7.755.239.26 
 7.775.436.61 
 
 ^4,243,363.57 
 3,184,937.83 
 3,617,425.67 
 3,840,492.94 
 3.554.754.83 
 
 Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Statistics. 
 
 93 
 
APPENDIX XI 
 LEATHER GLOVES' 
 
 The Chamber of Commerce of Altenburg reports as follows 
 regarding- pamphlet 20, page 2515 : 
 
 Mr. Littauer has made statements regarding the conditions 
 of production in Germany, which are to a great extent based 
 on erroneous suppositions. It would take too long to ex- 
 amine into all of the details of Littauer's statements, and only 
 a few specially important points will be taken up here. 
 
 Littauer alleges that the production of a dozen pairs of 
 leather gloves, exclusive of the leather, costs $2.14 (8.98 
 marks) in Germany. This, however, is not in accordance 
 with facts, for even though this price may be paid in certain 
 regions, it cannot be taken as the average rate. Moreover, 
 the prices for cutting out, as cited by him, are also incorrect. 
 The minimum wages for cutting out gloves were cited at 2.30 
 to 2.80 marks, whereas, for instance, at Munich the minimum 
 wages are 3.36 marks per dozen and at Altenburg 3.10 marks. 
 Littauer further states that the leather for a dozen pairs of 
 gloves costs $7 in America, including duty, a price which is 
 by no means correct, as the cost is considerably lower. 
 
 On page 2526 of the report, Littauer speaks of the wages 
 for sewing, mentioning 24 to 30 cents a dozen (i to 1.30 
 marks) as the wages for ordinary sewing in Germany, as 
 against 75 cents a dozen in America, and 50 to 60 cents a dozen 
 (2.30 to 2. 55 marks) for whipped seam in Germany, as against 
 $1.40 per dozen in America. The lowest wages for ordinary 
 sewing in Germany amount, however, to 1.55 to 2.70 marks, 
 and for whipped seem to 3. 30 to 4.20 marks. Littauer further 
 states that a large number of German manufacturers send 
 their gloves to Belgium to be sewed, because, as he supposes, 
 the sewing wages are cheaper there. This statement is also 
 wrong, for seam sewing is 25 pfennigs dearer in Belgium than 
 in Germany. The real reason why the German manufacturers 
 have their sewing done in Belgium is because a finer and 
 
 Senate Document 68, Pt. 2, 6ist Congress ist Session. 
 94 
 
APPENDIX XI 95 
 
 better seam is made in that country than in Germany. Lit- 
 tauer's statement regarding: the dyers' wages in Germany are 
 as incorrect as those regarding- the wages paid for cutting out 
 and sewing seams. 
 
 The hearings before the Committee on Ways and Means, 
 which also related to the duties on leather gloves, show that 
 erroneous ideas are entertained by American manufacturers 
 regarding the cost of manufacture of gloves. Thus the expert, 
 Mr. Littauer, who was examined on this matter, stated that 
 the production of a dozen leather gloves in Germany cost 
 $2.14, or 9 marks. However, even if ihis price (as we doubt) 
 should be paid in individual districts, it cannot be taken as 
 the average rate, but must be regarded as an exception, for 
 in reality the cost of production of fine gloves in Germany 
 comes to 13 or 16 marks. In view of this price, the present 
 tariff seems amply sufficient to offset the difference in the cost 
 of production in America and Germany. The prices for cut- 
 ting are likewise quite wrongly given by the incorrectly 
 informed importers. Thus, 2.30 to 2.80 marks are given as 
 as the minimum wages for cutting, whereas, for instance, in 
 Munich, the minimum wages per dozen are 3.36 marks. 
 Equally incorrect are the statements with regard to dyeing. 
 The assertion of Mr. Littauer that the leather for a dozen 
 gloves costs $7 is also erroneous, the price being much less on 
 an average. Furthermore, the statements concerning the 
 wages paid for sewing seams (p. 2526 of the report) are also 
 incorrect. Mr. Littauer mentions 24 to 30 cents (i to 1.30 
 marks) as the wages for ordinary seams, and 54 to 60 cents 
 (2.30 to 2.55 marks) as the rate paid for whipped seams. It 
 is unlikely that such wages are paid anywhere in Germany, as 
 the lowest wages in Germany for ordinary seams are 1.55 to 
 2.70 marks, and the rate paid for whipped seams 3.30 to 4.20 
 marks. The reason why the German manufacturers send 
 their gloves to Belgium to be sewed is by no means because 
 the prices for sewing seams are cheaper there than in Germany, 
 for as a matter of fact Belgium seams cost 20 to 25 pfennigs 
 per dozen more than in Germany. Mr. Littauer therefore 
 errs in this regard also. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 In the preparation of this monograph the following works have been 
 read or consulted. Quotations from each are credited in the proper 
 place. 
 
 Hull, William. The History of the Glove Trade with the Customs 
 Connected with the Gloves. London, 1834. 
 
 Beck, S. W. Gloves , their Annals and Associations. London, 
 1883. 
 
 Cote, Leon. L'industrie gantiere et Vouvrier gantier a Grenoble. 
 Preface de Jean Jaures. Paris, 1903. 
 
 Pfliiger, Rudolph. Die lederhandschuhindustrie Deutschlands , ihre 
 Entwicklung und ihre Lage. Heidelberg, 1908. 
 
 Belgium Section de la Statistique. Les salaire dans V Industrie gan- 
 toise. Brussels, 1901. 
 
 U. S. Department of Commerce and Labor. Census of 1905, Bulle- 
 tin 72. 
 
 Census of 1900, Part IIT, Manufactures. 
 
 Glover 1 s Review. A Monthly Trade Journal published at Glovers- 
 ville. 
 
 New York State Department of Labor. Report of Bureau of Labor 
 Statistics, 1900, Part I, Industrial Training. 
 96 
 
VITA 
 
 THE writer of this monograph, Daniel Walter Red- 
 mond, was born at Oxford, N. Y., in 1876. He received 
 his elementary training in the public schools of New 
 York state and at the High School at Greene, N. Y. 
 His college work was done at Hamilton College from 
 which he received the degree of Ph. B. in 1901. 
 
 In 1901-1904 he taught in the High School at Clinton, 
 N. Y. In 1904-5 he taught in Jenner's Preparatory 
 School at Syracuse, N. Y. From 1905-12 he has been 
 a Special Instructor in the department of Public Speak- 
 ing at the College of the City of New York. 
 
 In economics and allied subjects the author has studied 
 under Professor Delos DeWolf Smyth at Hamilton 
 College and under Professors E. R. A. Seligman, H. R. 
 Seager, J. B. Clark, H. L. Moore, F. H. Giddings, A. 
 A. Tenney, Frank J. Goodnow and T. R. Powell at 
 Columbia University. 
 
 97 
 
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