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 OI'' 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. 



Relativ:^ Rank of Frejsh- water Pearl among the Different Materials Employed for Button 



Manufacture at Various Dates. 



Material. 



1899 



1904 



1909 



01912 



1914 



Buttons, total 



Fresh-water pearl 



Ocean pearl 



Metal 



Vegetable ivory 



Cloth 



Bone 



All others « 



Button blanks made for sale. 



All other products 



Aggregate 



(d) 



S6, 467? 373 



1,176,385 



i>95i.S58 



887,521 



1,144,677 



468, 121 



I37>40i 



701,810 



656, 036 



$4, 216, 795 



7> 695, 910 



$9, 040, 029 



3)359, 167 

 1,511,107 

 1,312,741 

 I> 30s, 766 

 766, 091 



124)454 



660, 703 



/ 916,003 



^ 1)177)737 



^ 11)133)769 



(0 

 (0 



(0 



^$23, 708, 065 



$6,173,486 



$16, 333, 198 



4, 879, 844 



a, 489, 364 



763,287 



2, 885, 503 



329)934 

 4,885,266 



511)217 

 107,607 



A 20, 791,985 



o Fresh water only. 



& Exclusive of buttons to the value of more than $1,000,000, made in each year 1904 and 1909 by establishm^ents engaged pri- 

 marily in the manufactiue of other products. 



c Not classified. 



d The product of Iowa and Illinois in 1897 was $243,655 and in 1898 $252,570 (Smith). 



e 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. 



/ Probably fresh-water pearl chiefly. 



Partly fresh-water pearl products. 



A Includes blanks, or molds, snap fasteners, and all other products in amount, $4,558,787. 



The census report of 1900 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 was a temporary decline of button manufacture between 1909 and 1912. 



6 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. 



