308 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Ill all branches of the button industry a gross is considered as consisting of li 
dozen, in urder to make allowance for the imjierfect or defective buttons that are liable 
to be ])roduced at every stage of the business from the cutting of the rough blaidis to 
the sewing of the tinished buttons on cards. 
By far the largest number of lactories produce only rough blanks, which are sold 
to a local linishing plant or sent to hu ge concerns in the East, some of which have 
established their own “saw works” on the Mississippi. 
The next step in the making of the comiilete button is the dressing or grinding 
of the back of the blank, to remove the skin and make an even surface. To accom- 
plish this each blank has to be held with the linger against a revolving emery wheel. 
Turning or facing is the next step. This, which is similar to the preceding, gives 
to the front of the button its form, including the central depression. This is followed 
by the drilling of 2 or 4 holes for the thread. 
The button is now complete with the exception of the i)olishing process; this 
brings out the natural luster which has been lost in grinding, and which gives to these 
buttons their chief value. The buttons are placed in mass in large wooden kegs, 
known as tumblers, in which they are subjected to the action of a chemical fluid at 
the same time that the tumblers are revolving on a liorizoutal shaft. By mutual contact, 
combined with the effect of the fluid, the buttons become highly lustrous, while the 
fluid is churned into a milky froth. After being washed and dried the buttons go to 
rooms where they are sorted into sizes and grades of quality, and then sewed on cards 
and packed in pasteboard boxes. 
The daily capacity of the largest factories is 700 to 1,000 gross of finished buttons. 
At Muscatine there is a small business in treating buttons to make them resemble 
“smoked pearl.” This is a secret chemical process. The buttons so treated are 
usually those which exhibit defective coloration, such as yellow^ blotches, which would 
[)r,eveut their sale as first-class goods, but are otherwise perfect. 
The unit of mea-ure of the size of buttons is the line, which is one-fortieth of an 
inch. The buttons manufactured on the Mississippi are from 12 to 41 lines in diameter. 
The largest buttons (40 to 45 lines) are made from “niggerheads.” 
Following are the quantities of various-sized blanks that may be cut from 100 
]touuds of average-sized “niggerheads”: 16-line, 28 to 34 gross; 18-line, 30 to 32 gross; 
20-line, 24 to 20 gross; 22-line, 15 to 20 gross; 24-line, 12 to 15 gross. 
iSand shells of medium size and thickness yield the following, per 100 pounds: 
20-line, 64 gross; 26 line, 31 gross. 
A medium-sized “niggerhead” produces 4 or 5 18-line or 201ine blanks. From 
the large shells 8 or 10 blanks may be cut. Sand shells average 12 20-line buttons. 
Larger sand shells yield 16 to 20 buttons. The largest deerhorns may sometimes be 
cut into 25 or 30 blanks; one shell is figured from which 28 20 line blanks were sawed. 
THE FACTORY HANDS AND THEIR WAGES. ' 
At the button factories on the Mississippi Eiver in Iowa and Illinois a large 
number of persons are employed at wages generally regarded as good. Besides men, 
who have the more arduous and important duties, many boys and girls, Avho would 
otherwise be idle, are given employment. 
In 1897 the employees in the button factories of Muscatine numbered 532; in the 
first half of 1898 the number had increased to 829; at the other places embraced in 
this report, 282 persons were employed in 1897 and 605 in the first six months of 1898, 
