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Show Early Un ol the Button. Thittons have been In use by tho hu-man hu-man race for many centuries although their enrller form wa somewlnt differ-ent differ-ent from that now In use. The button of the ancients wns wholly n product of needlework, but vvns soon Improved by the use of a wooden mold, over which n cloth covering was sowed From this It was only n short step to the brass but-ton, but-ton, which vvns introduced by n hard-wnro hard-wnro manufacturer In Illimlnghnm In 1610 It took 200 ytnra to improve on the method of sewing the cloth on the covered cov-ered button Then nn Ingenious Dnnc Invented the device of making the button but-ton In two ptrts nnd clomping them to-gether. to-gether. with the cloth between. ln 1750 ono C'nspar lUstar set up tho manufacture of hrnssjJTuttons In Philadelphia Phila-delphia nnd soon afterward Henry Wltcman began making them In New York. The buttons of Ot orgc Washington Washing-ton and most of the Continental army were made In France. Connecticut presently came to the front and began making buttons of pewter and tin at Waterburj', the present center of the button industry. Buttons nre now mule of nlmost everj thing fiom seaweed nnd cattle hoofs to mother-of-pearl nnd vegetable Ivory. Kxeellcnt buttons nre mode from potntoes, which, trealcd chemically, chemi-cally, become ns haul ns Ivory. Iarg9 button factories make their entire product pro-duct from various mlxtuies of gutta percha, skim milk and blood, others from celluloid nnd horn. The pntent oHlce has Issued 1335 patents for making buttons. The most Important branch of the button Industry In tho I'nlted Mates Is the miking of peirl buttons, tho ma-terlnl ma-terlnl being obtained from shells gathered gath-ered nlonr the Mississippi river. The Industry has practically grown up within tho last ten jenrs, and its in. trndiirtlan Is due entirely to J r. Ttoepplo of Muscatine, In, a mtlvc nf Dennnny, who had learned tho trade ubrond Ho saw that millions of dollars were going to wnsto In the shells known as "nlggtrhends " of which tons wero pllel up nn the river banks Thousands of people nie now employed In turning these shtlls Into buttons, the llttlo plants being found nil the way from Minnesota to Missouri. Muscatine is still the grent hendquirters of the In-dustry In-dustry It has forty factories. Tho vnluo of the shells lias risen from 00 cents to $30 a hundredweight And yet American button making Is In Its In-fancj, In-fancj, 'tis said. Wushlngton Times. |