Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-09-28
SHOES.

The shOeless soldier who stood guard last
night on the Potomac, or in the mountains OF
Northwestern Virginia, or anywhere else,
would hardly think the shoe question an IN
important one. Neither, we imagine, would
the fashionable gentleman who failed to get
a pair of boots in this city yesterday, for the
absurd reason that he did not have sic in
clear cash, applicable to that purpose, about
him at the moment he called for them 1t Is
a common impression that the people of the
South are in the habit of wearing shoes, and
according to our understanding, it would be
announcement to break up that habit sudden
". and so q soldier writes Us from South
eastern Kentucky. He has tried it, and he is
clearly of opinion that it is perfect hum
hing Where then are we to get shoes We
hate observed a statement in several of our
Southern exchanges that the South has near
Iy one-haIf the tanneries in the late United
States. This is an error. The census OF
1850. which we have consulted, gives the
whole lumber at 6,263, of which only l. 5O
belonged to the States now composing the
Southern COnfederscy. Since then We have
mt made q tHe1A AhC %'OA tAs
and it Is safe to assume that the proportion is
about the same. But tanneries are not the
only thing requisite TO the necessary supply
of shoes. They must have hides and skins
before they go on. The South must, there
fore look out for hides. The large proper
ton of these have hitherto come from South
and Central America, Mexico and the West
Indies. In 1859, there were 2,215,OOO hides
;mnorted into New York alone, of which all
hut about $50 600 came from the countries
above named. The blockade, so long as it is
maintained, will cut of all that immense
source of supply, with the exception of that
which may be derived from Mexico, across
the Rio Grande and through Texas. The
whole amount received at New York, from
that source. was 239, 900. The States now
composing the Southern COnfederacy furn-
ishsd 10000 of the aggregate numbeG. Our
leather resources consist, therefore, of our
own production and such addition as we may
derive from Mexico by land. Fortunately
the region tributary to the Rio Grande af-
forGis much the larger proportion OF export
able hides from that country, and we may be
able to divert the larger part of that export
into our own borders. The necessities OF the
war will add somewhat to our home produc-
ton. We also had, at the outset, q consid-
cradle stock of Northern made shoes, which
is not vet exhausted, though the prices have
advanced gradually as the prospects. from
time to time, to replenish grew less certain.
1t is an accepted fact that the soles of boots
and shoes are made more durable by keeping
them sometime after they are made up. Our
stocks Tn hand are not, therefore, in danger
of deterioration before their consumption.
ITnon the whole, the South can get along
comfortably on the score of shoes, provided
industry and economy are used in the proper
care of hides, in the proper preparation Of
them. and in the proper making OF them up
Our enemies threatened TO starve Us out =
failing in that, they next undertake to freeze
us ont Let US take time by the foreiock,
and baIk them at that game. We have 9
sunny cline, and though we have been ex-
trayagant in shoes as in everything else, We
can set an example of economy In this re-
spect, and wiH,.if not willingly at least ne
cessarily The public authorities, at all
events, should take steps to provide the sol
diers in the field with this indispensable ar
ticle, aud in order to DO so, should avail
itself of all available resources. II it fail TO
do so, it may look out for voice from the
camps by January that will arouse it from
the deepest s!umber into which it may have
fallen.