News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-09-07
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, becaus 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 a manufacturer to give ma
chine workers the benefit in tine dull
season. In the heeling of shoes a 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
ers. Boys wages in all departments
are from three to eight dollars, and
they can often be employed quite
profitably 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
capable laster, although there is one
which will do very good days work
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 ACCESSIBILITY OF
lasting machine. It is as likely to be
invented as the machine which sews
pair of shoes in 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
In 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 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
tial 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
fhoU ruOrH on cboac Tn 4a
where they are employed reductions
have been made so often that they do
not earn one-half what they did ten
years ago. Very few earn more than
ten or twelve dollars 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
proportion, 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 st1tchlng-room Is quite
scarce, and If this continued, it would |
have tendency to make prices better,
or oblige manufacturers to demand a
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-
cause worked buttonh oles have gained
such popularity that the girls who work
them have been drawn largely from the
regular force of stitchers. Large num-
bers of the stitchers who spend the
SUNNI er months with friends, or in SER
vice at summer hotels, will no doubt
return in time to supply the deficiency
for the next trade. Their absence has
been especially noticeable this season,
because these additional features have
required larger force of operatives
Boston Transcript.