AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 533 



a. single tannery In the State of New York used any other motor than 

 animal power. Our latest returns show 418 tanneries driven by water, and 

 125 by steam power. In 1810 the number of sides tanned in this State 

 was 151,000; at the present time not less than 4,250,000. In 1845 the 

 value of the product of New York tanneries was $6,500,000, in 1855 it 

 Was $15,500,000, showing more than a hundred per cent increase in ten 

 years. It is difficult to form a correct estimate of the number of hides 

 and skins tanned within our whole country, but knowing the facts with 

 ■regard to our great consumption of meat, we may safely assert that the 

 number of domestic hides manufactured in this country is double that of 

 any other portion of the world containing the same number of inhabitants. 



We not only use all the hides produced in this country, but we import 

 largely from abroad. In 1858 the number of hides, and prices, imported 

 was 2,757.,000, valued at about $10,000,000. The rate of increase from 

 1838 to 1858 was about 400 per cent. The value of hides imported 

 exceeds that of any other raw material by several millions. More than 

 one-half of this trade belongs to New York. I am unable to state the 

 amount received at the ports of Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New 

 Orleans, but from partial reports I think I am safe in estimating the 

 increase of importations at each of these cities at 100 per cent for the last 

 ten years. A comparison of the hide trade of the city of New York with 

 that of the largest ports of Europe, pn'jves that the average annual impor- 

 tation at this port exceeds that of any other in the world. The importa- 

 tions of sole leather hides for the last five years at Liverpool averaged 

 650/iOO per annum, at London 475,000, at New York 1,630,000. The 

 latter being 600,000 more than the combined importations of the other 

 two ports. 



The number of sides of sole leather alone inspected in this city in 1857 

 was 3,248,000, for 1858 it has been estimated at three and a-half millions. 

 It must be borne in mind that vast quantities of leather are required for 

 saddle and harness makers, for machine shops and many other branches of 

 art, besides that which demands the greatest portion, the manufacture of 

 l)Oots and shoes. 



The statistics of the trade of the single town of Lynn, Mass., for 1857, 

 show that 15,566 persons were employed in the manufacture of boots and 

 shoes, of this number 11,021 were females. 



During that year 3,274,873 pairs of boots and 6,000,700 pairs of shoes 

 were made, valued at $4,165,529. The total value of articles in that 

 branch of trade, manufactured in the State of Massachusetts, in 1857, was 

 ^37,489,923. The sales of boots and shoes in New York by jobbers 

 exceeds $15,000,000 annually, besides those of some 800 small dealers. 

 From these figures we may infer that in the census of 1860, leather and 

 manufactures connected therewith, will rank second, if not first, in import- 

 ance among the great branches of the industrial arts of our country. 



The value and extent of this trade, the talent and energy it develops, 

 and the wealth it produces, is now so great as to dignify all the common 



