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 i.leekcer Co. send representatives to ITe-.; York City and vicinity
 frequently during the ye-r to buy materials and contact for I
 new styles, observe style changes -.nd ascertain style trends,
 the h}ndb'.fr busines-, being a r.,pidly changing style proposition."

 Their claim that one hundred per cent of the materials
 used for fabricating ladies' handbags are purchased in
 New York City and the lNev7 England States is not absolutely
 accurate. A great deal of thie leather they use is pur-
 chased from factories locate in Mil.aukcee, lisconsin and
 Girard, Ohio. This a-olies -corticularly to calf leather
 cnd steer hides. TihL fact that they have to pay freight
 and express charges on ra" materials snipped from eastern
 points cnd tnj-.t their traveling expenses to the Ne'w7 York
 market amount in tot, 1 to 2.2; does not prove that this
 -. rcentage represents a disadvantage. Eastern manufac-
 turers also have to pa-yr transportation ch. rges on many
 of their raw' materials. V.e have not sufficient data to
 sho'. the porcentu.fte that this item bears to their total
 cost. whatever r disdv;..ntagce tniere may be in payment of
 transportation cniorges to Joolin, ;iissouri, on ra';w ma-
 terials, it is fully offset by the cdvznt.ge the Lieeker Co.
 has in beinc able to deliver their finished product at
 lower transportation cha'res to concerns located in adja-
 cent territories. The Lieeker Co. includes in this amount,
 the exoense of coming to ITeew York to contact new styles,
 observe style cniin.es and eastern style trends. The New
 York manufacturers -o to Paris for the same purposes and
 coo.r styles for the I.eeker Co. to copy.

 "The eastern ,nanufact-urers loc ted in New York City and vicinity,
 '..here there are many factories, have an abundance of skilled labor
 to draw from. Hicre in Joplin, Missouri, there are no other handbag
 mnanufc--cturers, making our labor situation very difficult, as there
 are pcak seasons of manufacturing at ,which time, in the absence of
 trained help, we are compelled to employ learners who kno7 nothing
 w.-hatever of our line of w-ork a id who in most cases have had no
 factor:: experience of any kind ..-hat ever."

 The skilled labor is confined almost entirely to New York
 City "-uere only 25K of tne industry is nou located. All
 fi-ctories outside of i.cv York hcd no skilled labor to
 st. rt with, -nd were compnoelled to break in new help -who
 never --.or1:e. in tne industry, in cities much smaller than 'II
 Jo,)lin, Mo. The only advantaE-g that they had over tne
 factories located in 1e:ew York City w.as the fact that they ,
 could employ their workers at the minimum wage of $14 a
 we'.k, '.,hereas the manufacturers in New York City have a
 highly organized Union 'with classification of workers, and
 minimLLw v-,oge scales, for most branches, of $37.50 for 37-\
 hours of ,:ork; .:hereas factories outside of New York City,
 including the MLeeker Co. w-ork 40 hours a week.

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