Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/409

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L E A L E A 391

Imports. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. 1880. I. Quantities. Bark for tanners use..cwts. Tanning stuffs Cutch and gainbier ..tons Sumach 672,319 26,564 12,797 34,923 25,884 1,055,575 44,708,891 109,896 1,497,437 233,204 13,165,348 8,051,112 607,276 244,396

.315,278 610.645 215,253 628,852 64,704 3,302,288 2,977,923 328,479 1,840,956 1,343,042 864.879 219,540 645,662 32,018 13.409 29,989 26,425 1,146,364 46,917,689 99,396 1,242,159 379,005 12,977,531 8,151,599 763,757 261,073

282,926 703,905 224,862 668,497 76,834 3,545,891 2,953,722 348,786 1,518,557 1,260,135 892,272 246,533 587,525 28,613 13,923 28,677 31,478 1,161,994 50,571,132 102,690 1,060,438 613,492 11,321,843 7,906,964 762,772 221,147

263,110 564,080 231,358 532,855 78,963 3,409,065 2,871,052 370,147 1,300,633 1,103,928 890,003 443,784 417,554 25,634 12,131 34,217 16,512 1,011,991 35,185,855 127,504 1,062,747 261,611 9.402,911 10,124,169 964,208 200,122

161,573 476,383 170,692 542,949 45,865 2,916,577 2,209,680 479,498 1,286,030 934,103 1,145,422 555,270 449,501 32,107 11,620 33,773 51,083 1,241,788 47,653,442 95,487 1,455,765 278,753 12,331,413 11,467,235 653,276 98,344

180,586 656,861 145,665 520,054 138,358 3,879,582 3,055,023 381,579 1,742,591 1,414,837 1,277,742 623,278 Hides Haw Tanned, tawed, cur ried, or dressed ... ib Leather manufactures Boots and shoes, doz. pairs Gloves ,, Uncnumerated ...value Skins Sheep and lamb.. .number Goat Seal Other sorts value II. Value. Bark for tanners use Cutch and gambler Sumach Valonia Galls Hides- Raw Tanned, tawed, curried, or dressed Leather manufactures Boots and shoes Gloves Skins Sheep and lamb Goat Seal Exports. 1876. 1877. 1878. 1879. 1880. I. Quantities. Leather Tanned, unwrought .cwts. Boots and shoes doz.pairs 149,911 443,293 144,431 436,166 160,985 430,273 219,890 433,374 146,998 420,189 Other articles Jb 1,509,874 1,481,225 1,562,948 1,663,961 1,916,867 Saddlery and harness value Skins and furs, all sorts ,, 397,561 851,847 352,202 839,275 401,443 1,032,007 424,050 1,380,133 436,373 1,643,847 II. Values. Leather



Tanned, unwrought 1,211,146 1,165,134 1,177,282 1,507,427 1.152,660 Boots and shoes 1,404,075 1 336 478 1 315 731 1 311 293 Other articles 329,773 305,175 285,757 323,284 374,634

The imports of hides to the United States through the two principal ports, New York and Boston, and the receipts of home hides in these cities for 1878-80, are shown in the following tables: –

New York. 1878. 1879. 1880. Brazil 180,382 297,323 465,202 32,386 59,531 112,811 267,028 121,371 15,601 21,2t4 119,533 93,079 280,744 620,938 34,209 127,086 111,357 242,366 98,901 51,965 706 305,915 65,242 126,770 89,158 449,898 931,054 31,443 141,168 31,687 496,909 119,476 63,903 27,517 328,416 171,332 165,091 Buenos Ayres Montevideo Orinoco Ilio Grande South America (other states) Central America Mexico West Indies East Indies (loose) Europe China Africa 39,670 1,862 Sundry Total foreign domestic 1,733,944 788,470 2,159,278 860,193 3,047,052 578,098 ,, foreign and domestic... Calcutta bales buffalo 2,522,414 3,019,471 3,625,150 7,952 1,453 5,593 1,534 9,634 4,540 ,, ,, cow Boston. 1878. 1879. 1880. Buenos Ayres 448 360 365 644 Montevideo 6500 15 609 14 277 Rio Grande 182 063 221 458 European ports 151 177 Other foreign ports 247 081 437 562 348 909 Total foreign 884,004 1,040,273 1 287 547 ,, domestic 888 508 673 209 794 293 Grand total 1 772 512 1 713 482 2 081 840

Value in Dollars of Leather Exported from the Port of New York during the three Years 1878-80.

1878. 1879. 1880. Liverpool 2,172,489 1,522,099 388,673 152,319 153,229 118,542 91,062 85,981 157,199 3,317 31,492 1,943,310 971,147 443,884 90,474 157,962 39,024 104,598 62,340 170,429 2,350 13,500 2,922,931 896,393 786,106 138,256 86,475 129,752 60,538 67,169 20,133 300 10,831 Hamburg Hull Bristol Antwerp London Rotterdam Glasgow Bremen Havre Trieste Total 4,876,402 3,999,018 5,118,884


The principal leather markets of the United Kingdom are London, where there are quarterly fairs; Leeds, with eight fairs yearly; and Bristol, which has two leather fairs per year. In the United States the commerce centres principally in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. On the European continent Paris, Marseilles, Vienna, and Berlin are the most important centres of the leather trade, with Antwerp and Havre as great marts for the sale of hides and skins. (J. PA.)


LEATHER, Artificial. Under the name of artificial leather, or of American leather cloth, large quantities of a material having, more or less, a leather-like surface are used, principally for upholstery purposes, such as the covering of chairs, lining the tops of writing desks and tables, &c. There is considerable diversity in the preparation of the material, but most commonly it consists of a web of calico first prepared with a thick paste to fill up the interstices, and thereafter coated with a mixture of boiled linseed oil mixed with dryers and lamp-black or other pigment, uniformly spread, smoothed, and compressed on the cotton surface by passing it between metal rollers. When the surface is to possess a glossy enamel-like appearance, it receives a finishing coat of copal varnish. A grained morocco surface is given to the material by passing it between suitably embossed rollers. Another material now largely used for preparing artificial leather consists of gelatin mixed with appropriate colouring material, and such chemical agents as, by their reaction on that body, render it insoluble, – calico being coated with the mixture in the manner indicated above. Such insoluble compounds are obtained by the action of acetate of alumina on gelatin, with exposure to a temperature of about 160° Fahr., or by the addition of about one per cent, of bichromate of potash to gelatin solution and exposure to light. The addition of a proportion of glycerin to the gelatinous mass renders the resulting "leather" softer and more plastic than it would otherwise be. These preparations have a close affinity to cloth water-proofed with india-rubber, and to such manufactures as ordinary waxcloth. An artificial leather has been patented and proposed for use as soles for boots, &c., composed of powdered scraps and cuttings of leather mixed with solution of gutta-percha dried and compressed. In place of the gutta-percha solution, oxidized linseed oil or dissolved resin may be used as the binding medium for the leather powder.

LEAVENWORTH, the largest city in the State of Kansas, and chief town of Leavenworth county, is situated in an amphitheatre formed by the bluffs of the right bank of the Missouri, in the midst of a rich agricultural country. The distance from St Louis by river is 496 miles, and by rail 309 miles. In 1853 the site of the city was covered with thick hazel brush, without a trace of human habitation. The following year saw the laying out of the first streets, and by 1864 the value of the taxable property, real and personal, amounted to $4,103,562. Among the principal buildings are a large Roman Catholic cathedral, a State penitentiary, and a State normal school. Its position on the river, and an extensive railway system, have given Leavenworth a flourishing trade. It possesses two practically inexhaustible mines of bituminous coal,degree