Glove making is almost a century old in this country, having been
begun in the neighborhood of Gloversville and Johnstown, N.Y., about
1803. Until 1862 the manufacture of gloves in Fulton County, although
even then the chief manufacturing industry, was of comparatively small
importance. Gloversville and Johnstown were then quiet villages of
from three to four thousand people. The flourishing establishments of
to-day, or such of them as then existed, were small and comparatively
unimportant. In 1862 the stimulating influence of a high protective
tariff showed itself in the increased business at Gloversville,
Johnstown, and the adjoining hamlet, Kingsboro. These became at once
the leading sources of supply for the home market gloves of a medium
grade. The quality of the product has steadily improved, and the
variety has been increased, until now American-made gloves are
steadily driving out the foreign gloves. The skill of American glovers
is equal to that of foreign glove makers, and in some respects--notably
in the quality of the stitching, and, in some grades, the shape--the
American gloves are the best. Foreign expert workmen have been drawn
over here from the great glove centers of Europe, so that the greatest
skill has been secured here. The annual value of the glove industry in
Fulton County has reached about $7,000,000.

One hundred and seventy-five glove makers and 20,000 people in Fulton
County draw their subsistence directly from glove making. Some of the
firms have a business reaching from $100,000 to $500,000 yearly. The
majority, however, have small shops, and do a small but profitable
business. Most of the work in Fulton County, as abroad, is done at the
homes of the workers. The streets of Gloversville and Johnstown are
lined with pretty and tasteful homes, in which the hum of the sewing