LEATHER GOODS. 99 



it became a regular inaiuifacturing enterprise. Tlie landowners rendered some assist- 

 ance towards developing the industry, as it was their custom to apprentice some of 

 their peasants to some form of trade, these young men, on tlieir return home, practicing 

 their trade on their master's estate. In this way the village handicrafts greatly im- 

 proved and spread among the peasants. 



The village industry, like all others, depends completely upon the economical 

 conditions of life and property of the inhabitants. In those governments where agri- 

 culture cannot be carried on to any great extent the village trades are more impor- 

 tant and in the agricultural districts they rarely exist except when the peasants art- 

 short of laud. The village leather industry is under those same conditions which 

 separate every village trade from the manufacturing industries, and is characterized 

 by the small production of each individual producer, the primitive processes still in 

 use and the old fashioned style of wrought leather. These drawbacks are due 

 to the unfavourable circumstances in which the cottagers pursuing this calling are 

 situated, namely, want of capital, insufficient knowledge, and difficulties in procuring 

 raw material and in disposing of their goods. They purchase their raw material in 

 the villages and bazars or from special middlemen. It is also a matter of difficulty 

 for them to acquire the necessary materials for dressing the hides as they are gene- 

 rally unable to procure bark directly from those who collect it and are obliged to 

 buy it from the middlemen, who sell powdered oak and willow bark at 55 to 70 ko- 

 pecks per poud. 



The methods practiced by the cottagers are very simple even crude and primi- 

 tive. They have rarely a workshop but content themselves with the cottage which 

 they dwell in with their families ; the vat used for steeping and tanning the hides 

 is placed in the street and the hides are kneaded and greased at home. Their instru- 

 ments are likewise very imperfect. The work is generally carried on by the mem- 

 bers of the family, and only the more well to do peasants hire workmen, and these 

 generally live with the family, receiving wages which vary greatly according to the 

 locality, 15 to 25 kopecks in the Viatka district, and as much as 55 to 60 kopecks 

 per day in the Vasilsk district of the government of Nizhni-Novgorod, their food 

 being provided. In some places, as for instance in the Chernigov district, the peas- 

 ants club together to buy materials, and work in common. 



The absence of capital and the practice of obtaining raw material on credit has 

 an evil influence upon the quality of the goods, as some of the processes of manu- 

 facture are omitted altogether, whilst others are shortened to such an extent as to 

 spoil the quality of the leather; for instance, the tanning process, without taking 

 any special measures to hurry the operation, is not prolonged sufficiently to tan the 

 hides thoroughly, and lasts but three months in the government of Tver, and two or 

 even one and a half months, in the district of Chernigov. The principal consumers are 

 the peasants themselves who are not particularly exacting in their choice. The profits 

 accruing from this trade cannot be regarded as being very large ; in the Viatka 

 district they amount to about 5.5 to 6.5 per cent clear profit of their gross receipts. 

 The highest profits are realized by those who do piece work for the large manufac- 

 tories, hides and materials all being found. In the government of Moscow a cottager 

 assisted by a family of three persons will dress hides to the value of 1,800 roubles 

 a year, and make 13 per cent clear profit. 



7* 



