, 1877-01-27
SQfID SOLE LEATHER.
HOW A SHOE FACTORY WILL
~ HELP SEATTLE.
FORTUNES UNDER OUR VERY FEET.

FORTUNES UNDER OUR VERY FEET.
No community ever grew up to
permanent wealth that ignored the
J power and greatness of the mechan'
ical arts. The South owed hel
commercial downfall to an attempt
to create a mere landed aristocracy
of primary producers in raw staples.
In their desire to protect the ''pe-
culiar institution" they crowded
out free labor and left themselves at
the mercy of Northern manufactur-
ers. As soon as their ports were
closed by the war they were left al
most entirely naked and saw that
their neglect of manufactures had
reduced them to beggary in spite of
the greatest of natural wealth. So
it is with us. We have fine clim-
ate, the greatest harbor in the world
aud an abundance Of splendid tim
Der; but we must not content our
selves with the mere export of crude
staples. Labor is what makes new
countries grow, and we need
HOME EMANUFACTUREs
That we may reap the profit upon
the labor of domestic artisans. We
are already making great inroads
upon the furniture trade and fast
driving imported articles of that
line out OF the market, by the splen-
did ash and maple sets that our
home shops are turning out. Our
local tailOrs turn out such nice suits
to order, that no man Of taste thinks
OF buying ready made suit. The
cordOnniers turn out boots worthy
Of Kelly of San Francisco, or Brooks,
of New York. But still there are
thousands of men who will never
take the time to get measured for a
pair of boots or suit of clothes.
They never think of anything till
the very moment they go away and
then they make rush for a store
a ID buy whatever salesman sees
fit to give them. For this reason, q
BOOT AND SHOE FACTORY
Is to-day prime want of our grow
ing city. Hardly day passes over
but good and competent workmen
come in search of work and pass on
to another town, while the Ioggers
and miners pay their thousands OF
dollars per annum to San Francisco
for boots, which might as we'll be
made here and the money kept In
the country. If we are compelled
to sell our coal and lumber for sill
yer, and then pay ten per cent. pre-
MUM on gold to pay San Francisco
for her boots and shoes, we have
nothing to expect but bankruptcy
and uestitution. If on the contrary,
we go to work as men should and
keep in circulation here the neat lit
tie sum of
THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS
Per annum, we may eventually be-
come rich. Certainly not less than
that much money leaves here every
year for boots and shoes, while we
keep on slaughtering tn fattest of
/ beef and exporting the best hides
that can be found on the coast. to
Santa Cruz or Stockton, only to pay
| freight back on the leather, for
which we have to pay gold bought
at premium of ten per cent. Every
practical tanner will tell you that he
wants no hides from lean animals;
the fatter the OK, the thicker the
hide. Now it is we'll known that
the butchers of Seattle get all their
cattle t.om Yakima valley, where
they are fattened on bunch grass;
hence their hides are thick and will
make dense leather. From what
little we could CLEAN from one or
two retail butchers here, We ars safe
in saying Mat. not less than
EIGHT HUNDRED HIDES ::
Per month are shipped he6ce TO San
Francisco. which might as (well be
tanned here. An If a tannery were
established here bn a large scale.
there would<be a. least twice that
number of hides worked up in Seat
tie. Look at the beeves slaughtered
in Olympia and Port Townsend, and
then say if the making of leather
could not be made profitable. This
heavy sole leather is what our large
saw-mills use for machine betting
on all their pulleys and drums, and
why should it not be made here as
we'll as elsewhere? Again. the log
gers need boots made especially for
their rough and dangerous calling ;
and it is supposable case that
workmen living here should be bet
ter conversant with their needs than
those abroad. It is o defiance of
every
RULE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
That we should export raw staples.
paying freight OIL them to San Fran