X, A, 6 Gana: Leather Industry of the Philippines 371 



but that the use of old tan liquor, suitably diluted, is to be 

 preferred for fresh hides, so that the entire excess of tannin is 

 eventually utilized. The only actual increase in cost lies in the 

 added labor in finishing the leather. For this expenditure the 

 tanner will be amply repaid. Finally, the practice of chopping 

 bark by hand cannot be too severely condemned as wasteful of 

 tanning material and labor alike. A mill for grinding the bark 

 would repay its entire cost in a few weeks of operation. 



An experiment with ten hides was carried out substantially 

 as above outlined, except that mangrove bark was used ex- 

 clusively in the layer pits after lying in suspender liquor of 

 camanchile. The resulting leather was orange brown, which 

 is not objectionable. The texture was firmer than that of 

 camanchile leather. The partial substitution of mangrove for 

 camanchile is to be recommended as rapidly as the local leather 

 buyers can be induced to accept slightly darker colored goods. 



SUMMARY 



1. The tanning industry in the Philippine Islands amounts 

 to about 1,800,000 pesos per annum and can be greatly extended. 



2. It has been shown that improvements can be put into effect 

 in a Filipino tannery without modification of the equipment and 

 with little increase in expense, which will yield about 32 per cent 

 more leather of a higher grade than that now produced. Leather 

 produced by the improved process is firm, of a satisfactory color 

 and grain, and free from the disagreeable odor or evidence of 

 putrefaction and other principal defects of native leather. 



3. A great economy in both labor and material can be effected 

 in the Filipino process by grinding the tan bark in a mill instead 

 of chopping it by hand. The tanning materials never become 

 satisfactorily extracted from chopped bark, and the resulting 

 waste is very great. 



4. Good, moderately colored leathers can be produced by com- 

 bining camanchile and mangrove at a considerably decreased cost. 



