Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1886 — 1,000 HORSES’ HIDES A YEAR. [ARTICLE]

1,000 HORSES’ HIDES A YEAR.

What It Take* to Satisfy the Base-Holi ; Fiend. The hides of ftboat one thousand horses and the skins of at least ten times as many sheep are cut up into coverings for base balls in this city every season. By one manufacturer alone three tons of yarn are used a year for the insides of base-balls. The hide and skin used is perfectly being alum-tanned, and comes from Philadelphia. Out of one horse’s hide the coverings for twelve dozen balls are cut, and out of one Blieepskin three dozen. Two strips of the leather are required for each ball, cut wide and rounding at each end so that they tit into each other when put around the yarn ball. Each piece, for a League ball, is seven inches long by tWQ inches wide at the rounded ends. The pieces are cut with a die. Old-fashioned, blue Shaker yarn is used for the inside of the League ball, which is wound tightly around a small rubber ball weighing one ounce. The improved League ball bas now double coverings of which is regarded us a great improvement. It is also stitched with gut. The balls ore made entirely by hand, and it requires no little skill to shape them perfectly round. This is done by placing them in an iron cup about the size of the ball and striking it with a mallet at different stages of the winding. Men do this work. They easily make ten dozen League balls in a day, and from forty to fifty dozen ordinary base-balls in the same length of time. Their wages are $2.50 a day. Women sew the coverings together on the ball. This requires considerable skill and strong finger muscles. They can sew from two and one-half to three dozen League balls in a day, and from fourteen to sixteen dozen of the cheaper grades. They are pa'd by the piece, ninety cents a dozen for the League work and ten cents a dozen for the others. Thoy earn about twelve dollars a week. The balls are sewed with what is known as Barker’s flax, which comes in red, blue, orange, and pink colors. The finest balls are sewed with pink. Horsehide covered balls are made in fourteen different varieties. ' Mr. S. W. Brock, a veteran authority on the subject, from Jy horn the above facts were said: “People have the idea that the base-ball business does not amount to anything. Why, I remember; that those who started to go into fit a few years ago were hooted at as throwing their time and money away. They were told that there were not enough base-balls Used in the country tci make it pay. B you may be surprised to know, yet is a fact, that one house alone in this city does a business of $50,000 a year at it, making nothing else. There is a large demand for them, especially from the West and South, and they are sent from here to Canada, Omaha, New Orleans, and Cuba in large quantities. It is an interesting fact that in Cuba the base-ball fever is on the rapid increase, though as yet they buy only the cheaper grades. In the height of the season the largest house here employs seventy-five persons, and turns out three hundred dozen balls a day. This year the manufacturers have more orders than they can fill, and the demand is far ahead of any previous year. An interesting fact about base-balls is that in the past fifteen years the only important change in the professional dead-ball is that of a double cover. Of course fifteen years ago they did not have everything quite so fine about a ball, for there were no professional clubs then, and players were not so particular. No patent was ever obtained on the shape of the covering to a base-ball, though there have been a number of claimants to its invention.” —New York Mail and Express.

Amazing Change in Ocean Vessels. During the last fifteen years an amazing change has been wrought iii the character of the ocean commerce of the world, says the New York Sun. From the latest statistics available we have prepared two tables, which show how the business is distributed among the eleven countries which are foremost in maritime enterprise. We have also " calculated in each case the percentage of increase or decrease during the period in which the cheap freight steamer known as the ocean tramp has wrought a revolution in the business. First as to sailing vessels: - ' • : " ■ .

TONNAGE OP MERCHANT SAILING VESSELS. Per--1870. 1885. ~ oentago. United States 2,400,607 2,138,880 10.0 dec. Great Britain...... 6,993,153 4,714,740 32.6 dec. Norw’y and Sweden 1,386,232 1,851,262 33.5 ine. Germany ........ .. 1.046,044 863,611 17.4 dec. France 891,828 308,561 55.3 dec. Italy. n 907,570 848,823 6.4 dec. Russia 346,176 472,479 36.4 inc. Spain 545,607 272,083 50.1 dec. Holland 444,111 277,945 ' 36.9 dtc. Greece 375,680 251,760 E 2.1 dec. Austria 317,780 2U9.345 34.0 dec. Total of these 'dOUiltrißß ... .15,654,-788-12,302,595 -21.4 All countries 10,042,408 12,867,375 19.8 dec. A strikingly different exhib t is made by the subjoined table of steam merchant tonnage: TONNAGE OP MERCHANT STEAM VESSELS. Tercert--3 age at in--1870. 1885. crease. United States 513,792 545,187 6.1 Great Britain 1,651,707 6,464,362 291:3 Norway and Sweden. 25,954 271,6.32 946.5 Germany 105,131 566,697 439.0 France 212,076 750,061 252.1 1ta1y.... 26,358 201,070 453.0 Eussia 28,422 161,110 494.9 Spain,.., 72,845 363,908 , 399.1 Holland 39,405 214,538 444.4 Greece 3,307 51,878 1,487.9 Austria 44,312 139,447 191.3 Total ct these countries 2,734,229 9,720,890 255.5 All countries. 2,793,432.10,269,504 267.6