Reports of Judges. 97 



» 

 as an inducement for tanners to compare the respective merits of their 



productions, than it was at the fairs of the American Institute 

 twenty years ago. This may be, and doubtless is, in a great measure 

 owing to the fact that of late years, or from a period commencing 

 shortly after the breaking out of the war until 1S68 and 1869, there 

 was a very active demand for all qualities of sole leather, and many 

 of our tanners have not as yet recovered from the influence which 

 the call for a lower grade of goods then exerted upon the general 

 character of their productions. For the period to which we have 

 referredj the principal object of tanners seemed to be to produce the 

 greatest amount of leather in the shortest possible space of time, in 

 order to obtain the advantages of the high prices generally ruling in 

 the market, and the standard of quality was, consequently, materially 

 lowered. While, therefore, such of the members of the trade as are 

 open to criticism on these grounds have our earnest sympathies for 

 their present disappointments as to the average quality of their 

 leather, we feel that the evil is not altogether without its compensa- 

 tion, inasmuch as it will probably compel the trade in general to work 

 more earnestly hereafter to produce a better grade of goods. 



Possibly, also, another reason for the limited number of sides exhi- 

 bited in competition this year may be found in the assumption that a 

 few of our tanners, making leather which commands a good price, and 

 for which there is a steady demand, are a little timid about risking 

 their reputation in a competition the basis of which is " the encour- 

 agement of skill and merit," wherein there might be a possibility, on 

 a critical examination, of their losing something of the prestige, 

 apparent or real, they may have supposed themselves to hold in the 

 market. It is unfortunate for the trade if, as we suppose, such con- 

 siderations have been allowed to interfere so as to prevent a more free 

 and full competition ; for we cannot but think, looking at the past his- 

 tory of the trade, considering the present state of the sole leather 

 business, and making a reasonable allowance for its probable advance- 

 ment and the closer competition wdiich the future will almost of 

 necessity bring, that a full, careful and thorough comparison of the 

 merits of the different tannages of the country, at least once in each 

 year, must necessarily be of great advantage to the whole trade. The 

 annual fairs of the American Institute, at New York, seem to us to 

 present the most ready means for the accomplishment of such a pur- 

 pose, and the offer of Mr. Schultz, by which the competition is made 

 to rest upon the skill and merit of each tanner entering the lists, not 

 in the tanning of one, or two, or a dozen sides, but in his whole pro- 

 [Inst.] 1 



