FRESH-WATER MUSSELS AND MUSSEL INDUSTRIES. 67 
no classification from which data can be obtained regarding pearl materials; but from 
a statistical survey which the Bureau of Fisheries conducted for the year 1912 it is 
ascertained that the value of the button product from fresh-water shells alone amounted 
to $6,173,486, with blanks for sale amounting to $2,511,217, and by-products with a 
value of $187,607. As reported by the Census Bureau’s summary concerning the 
button industry for 1914, fresh-water pearl buttons, exclusive of blanks and by-products, 
were valued at $4,879,844. 
DEVELOPMENT RELATIVE TO OTHER BRANCHES OF THE BUTTON INDUSTRY. 
Fresh-water pearl has gradually come to assume first place among materials for 
button manufacture, as shown by a table herewith. The principal materials are fresh- 
water pearl, ocean pearl, metal, vegetable ivory, celluloid, cloth, bone, and miscellaneous 
materials elsewhere listed. 
RELATIVE RANK OF FRESH-WATER PEARL AMONG THE DIFFERENT MATERIALS EMPLOYED FOR BUTTON 
MANUFACTURE AT VARIOUS DATEs. 
Material 1889 1899 1904 1909 10912 1914 
OGG i ne eae Ae $6, 467,373 | > $9,040,029 c) «+.-| $16, 233, 198 
Fresh-water pearl. . . rt 1,176, 285 37359, 167 € 6} 4,879,844 
Ocean pearl......... T, 951, 558 Z) 511, 107 E 2, 489, 364 
Metal. .. 0.2.50... 887, 521 1,312, 741 c 763, 287 
Vegetable ivory. .... 1,144,677 1,305, 766 ce 2, 885, 503 
— igadadochehohs 468, 121 766, oor by sj been tS asec pocasonoseee 
0 a ae See 137) 401 124) 454 c ‘ aero 2 
MWothers ©. 29.0 i2ec. cade 701, 810 660, 703 ) alae |e aoe aes, 266 
Button blanks made for sale 656,036 I 916, 003 c By SEXP ANTS. abeh eek - 
All other products. Hoa ocee ceale as sees sae 9 1,177,737 c 1077 OOF {ch cacivtee a edie 
DO OR oe ROC) J Ce aE ee ore 7,695,910 | © x1, 133,769 | $22, 708, 065 |............ 420, 791, 985 
@ Fresh water only. 
> Exclusive of buttons to the value of more than $1,000,000, made in each year 1904 and 1909 by establishments engaged pri- 
marily in the manufacture of other products. 
¢ Not classified, 
4 The product of Iowa and Illinois in 1897 was $243,655 and in 1898 $252,570 (Smith). 
¢Some of the materials from which buttons are made, in addition to those indicated in the table, are brass, composition 
(clay, etc.), wood, glass, gold, hoof, iron, ivory, leather, paperboard, porcelain, silver, steel, and also, in some cases, skim 
milk (casein), animal] blood, and probably bakelite. 
f Probably fresh-water pearl chiefly. 
9 Partly fresh-water pearl products. 
h Includes blanks, or molds, snap fasteners, and all other products in amount, $4,558,787. 
The census report of rgoo states: ‘“‘In 1890 there was not a single fresh-water pearl 
button made in the United States. In 1900 the making of these buttons constituted 
the second most important branch of the button industry.”” Yet, at the next census, 
only five years later, the fresh-water pearl buttons are found not only in the first rank, 
but actually exceeding in value the combined product of the two next highest—ocean 
pearl and vegetable ivory.” 
It would be of value to compare the production in gross of buttons and the price 
per gross during the years from 1899 to 1909. Unfortunately, the census report gives 
no classification except for the years 1899, 1904, and 1914; but the table following sup- 
plies the blanks by computation, the basis for each computation being explained in 
footnotes . 
@ It is well known that for several reasons there wasa temporary decline of button manufacture between rg09 and r9r2. 
> The figures for 1914 are not quite representative for the fresh-water industry, since the blanks and by-products aggregated 
at the bottom of the table are probably principally fresh-water products, as may be inferred from the total for that industry given 
by the census report in another place as $4,370,000. 
