Country Hides and Skins. 
43 
nized standard of classification uniform for hides and skins originat- 
ing in all sections of the country. This is due partly to former hap- 
hazard methods of marketing and partly to the alleged differences 
in the quality and condition of these products in different sections 
of the country. It is assorted that the conditions which produce 
these differences on which the resulting price differentials are based 
are noticeable especially in the grain, texture, thickness, spread, and 
quality of the leather, and that they are caused largely by climatic 
conditions, methods of handling cattle, kinds of cattle, kinds of 
feed, methods of feeding, ticks, grubs, brands, environment, and the 
methods employed in skinning, curing, and marketing the hides. 
Fig. 43. — Sections numbered according to the relative values of the country hides and 
skins originating in them. 
Because of these conditions the hide trade has divided the United 
States into nine sections, and discriminated accordingly in the prices 
paid for similar classes and weights of hides and skins originating 
in the various sections. 
This situation has been a severe handicap for country hides and 
skins in competition with the packers' products, which may have come 
directly from the same sections as the country hide, but which are sold 
according to comparatively simple and uniform grades, regardless of 
the sections of origin. 
In classifying country hides and skins and establishing maximum 
prices for them, the War Industries Board recognized these sectional 
groups and fixed a maximum price for each tentative grade in each 
section. The sections appear below about in the order of their rela- 
tive importance as indicated by the official price list of the War 
Industries Board. (See fig. 43.) 
