Coker. — Fresh-water Mussels 41 



tended argument to show that the shoe button cannot 

 take the place of the pearl button. The only class of but- 

 ton which anywhere nearly approached the fresh-water 

 pearl button in value of output was the vegetable ivory 

 button, which is quite too expensive for the most com- 

 mon uses. Now the imports of buttons are nearly neg- 

 ligible. It follows that the staple button of domestic 

 commerce is the fresh-water pearl, and the principal 

 source of material for buttons is the mussel of our rivers. 



To quote from an official statement of the Bureau of 

 Foreign and Domestic Commerce* — "the manufacture of 

 pearl buttons, chiefly fresh-water pearl, was the most 

 important branch of the [domestic] button industry, 

 representing 43.2 per cent, of the total quantity and 45.4 

 per cent, of the total value of the output. Next in im- 

 portance was the manufacture of buttons from vegetable 

 ivory, the output of these amounting to 8.5 per cent, of 

 the quantity and 17.8 per cent, of the value of the total 

 button product." That the fresh-water mussel is the 

 paramount material for button manufacture is, I am 

 sure, not generally recognized. In the face of a knowl- 

 edge of such facts, it is impossible to imagine that the 

 fresh-water pearl button industry, peculiarly American 

 as it is, can be anything but stable and enduring. 



Furthermore, let us ask what material we would sub- 

 stitute for the fresh-water pearl. Notwithstanding that 

 the pearl button is the best in quality for its purposes, 

 it is one of the very cheapest of all. Only bone buttons, 

 shoe buttons and the lower grades of metal buttons, can 

 be purchased for less money. Now we have tried bone 

 buttons and cheap half-metal buttons, and we know the 

 tribulation thereof, and we do not wish to try the shoe 

 button, except in its proper place. 



The answer to our question as to the permanent nature 

 of the fresh-water mussel industry is now obvious. It may 

 be assumed that as long as we continue to wear clothing 



*Special Consular Reports No. 75. Foreign Trade in Buttons. Chap- 

 ter I. American Button Trade. Department of Commerce, Wash- 

 ington, 1916. 



