Connecticut western news., 1882-08-23
Making Shoes at Lynn.
THE LABOR SAVING MACHINES AND THE
 WORK THEY TURN OUT.

Manufacturers of shoes at Lynn.
 Mass, do not buy more machines than
 they need, because few have stood the
 test of many years and it is expensive
 to keep replacing unprotected machines
 with those valuably improved. Most
 machines are labor. saving, and economy
 prompts manufacturer to give ma.
 chine workers the benefit in the dull
 season. In the heeling of shoes great
 deal is done by machinery, great deal
 by hand, according to the grade of the
 heel, and the wages are from twelve to
 eighteen dollars. Those who finish the
 soles earn about the same as the heel.
 CTS. Boys wages in all departments
 are from three to eight dollars, and
 they can often be employed quite
 proatably to do the work of a man.
 The lasters, who fit the shoes to the
 last, have always made excellent pay.
 earning from twelve to twenty dollars
 per week, according to the rapidity with
 which they handle the work. No machine
 has yet been invented which can do
 more work and better work than a
 capable faster. although there is one
 which will do very good day's work on the cheaper grades. When it is considered that one man can sew. another beat out, another set the edges, and so on, for the work of ten lasters. there is no disputing the advisability of lasting machine. It is as likely to be invented as the machine which sews pair of shoes in a minute, although the difficulty to overcome is to find some machine which will readily adapt itself to the inaccuracies of the filters and the different degrees of pliability of all kinds of stock. The feasibility of last ing shoes by machinery will no doubt have to come from the accuracies of other departments, such as extra care n the making of patterns, in selection Of stock, and gauges on stitching machines, which will make each shoe of size the same in every particular. Most of the seams in fitting a shoe. taken by the guidance of an operator, necessarily vary, and shoes cannot be made exact in large quantities until there is some arbitrary guide which will not allow of any variation.
 The use of the needle is very essen. tlal in the manufacture of shoes. and no small proportion of those employed are the "girls, who are always called " girls" irrespective of age, as long as they work on shoes. In departments where they are employed reductions have been made so often that thev do not earn one-half what they did ten years ago. Very few earn more than ten or twelve dollars 8 week on work which once paid them eighteen or twenty dollars, and the average earnings are not more than seven or eight dol lars. The reductions have not been, in more severe than in other departments. but stitching machines were always capable of as much work as they are now, and there is no chance to do enough extra work to mako the aggregate wages as much as formerly, Just at this season of the year good help in the stitching-room is quite scarce, and If this continued, it would have tendency to make prices better, or obi1ge manufacturers to demand longer time to fill their orders. An unusual scarcity this year is caused largely because the demand has changed from lace to button boots, in which there is more work, and, latterly, be. 'ause worked buttonholes have gained such popularity that the girls who work them have been drawn largely from the regular force of stitchers. Large num- oers of the stitchers who spend the summer months with friends, or in ser- rice at summer hotels, will no doubt 'eturn in time to supply the deficiency or the next trade. Their absence has 'een especially noticeable this season. 'ecause these additional features have equired larger force of operatives.- Boston Tra'asort1ot.