Wichita eagle., 1888-04-18
THE SHOEMAKER.
HOW MACHINERY HAS SUPPLANTEO
THE MAN OF THE LAPSTONE.

Miseries Which the Knights OF St.
Crispin Infiict on Their Fellow Crea-
tures-Facts Concerning Revolution
lied Trade-sIanufacturing Plant.
aAh, but have no trouble with new shoes.
explains the self complacent egotist. WHO al
ways has patent for everything. Il only
wear them a few hours each day, and some
times take whole month TO break in new
pair"
But why does he only wear them few
hours each day? And why does be need
month to make his feet comfortable Simply
because If a man is in any respect tenderfoot,
be must always keep his new shoes ffom one
week to thirty days on probation before he
will be quite certain that he will not have to
throw them away or give them to the poor.
Sometimes they revive latent corn which
the old shoes in their turn had brought to life,
aud then permitted to lie inactive for few
months. Sometimes the leather proves to be
too hard and infexible, and binds the foot
like wise until the bones ache and the
muscles become benumbed. There are men
who can hardly pass a shoe store withoutsa
pang, and whose keenest sense Of human
misery is derived from their experience with
new shoes
Il may be held that the shoemakers are not
altogether " blame for the miseries which
they infict On their fellow creatures. Not
many years since women prided themselves
on having small waists, and sought by ara
fetal means to make their figures look like
hour glasses But the corset makers were
not the parties to be held responsible. The
fault was to be charged TO perverted artistic
sense to a conviction that an unnaturally
small waist added to the feminine power of
fascination. 1t Gid nothing of the sort It
only made the female figure look ridiculous,
and such also is the effect of many of the
fashions which obtain in shoes on the shape
of the feet. But no matter II the shoe it
self, without any reference to the purpose for
which 1t was fashioned, be only an agreeable
object TO the eye, there will be a man found
to put his foot In l.
And what is the result! Hard and soft
corns, bunions much suffering eud some
times profanity. What, too, is the artistic
results Were any artist to paint picture
with bare feet, and follow accurately the
most perfect model that could be found among
the adult shoe clad population of Europe or
America, he would fail to get place for his
work In any respectable exhibition. To this
complexion has it come at last. We must go
to the nursery, the savage tribes, or to the
antique, if we wish to know what nature in
tended to create when she fashioned human
foot. Babies, North American Indians, and
statues have toes, but civilized men and
women have them no more. They have only
a compressed mass Of bones, muscles and
corns where toes ought to be permitted to
grow and expand. But were the fashionable
shoemaker to defy the prevailing taste and
offer q covering for the foot that would per-
NIT natural growth, be would find no Gus
toners. According to the modern conception
of what is shapely, nature made mistake
when she fashioned foot broader at the toes
than at the instep. But the modern idea of a
pretty foot is about as nearly correct as the
recently modern idea of pretty waist; and
were shoes modelled after the exact natural
form Of the foot, we should soon learn to won
der how we ever tolerated any other model.
No industrial revolution was ever more
complete than the revolution which has taken
place in shoemaking during the last twenty
five years. The cobbler we shall have always
with US; but the shoemaker has almost COM
pletely changed bis form. II is to be feared,
too, that he is no longer entitled to claim the
protection of his tutelar st. Crispin, for hs
has become the servant of witch. And such
a witchl Driven to its highest capacity
single Mckay machine has been known to
clap the soles upon 200 pairs of new shoes
within ten hours, and it takes 800 hands,
working in great part with yet other ingeni-
Gus labor saving machines, to feed one of
these Unsuitable stitchers, and clear away the
tables after it has finished. It will be seen,
therefore, that the Mckay machine is not
only witch itself, but that it is boss witch.
In the best provided shops the side stitching,
heeling and even the lasting are done by sub
sidiary machines, and 80 also would be the
cutting, Eere it not for the frnperfections of
the leather, which demand the services of
practiced eye in selecting the parts that are
fit for use. Yet the work is done with so lit
tie effort that a motor of single horse power
would drive half dozen or more of the Nc
Kay machines at one and the same time
After this statement Of It's capacity it will
be seen that it is only fair metaphor and not
hyperbole to call the machine a witch. II is
proper, too, that the chief seats of
its activity should be found at Lynn and
Haverhill cities in the same state with witch
killing Salem, and not 30 distant as to be I'M
in their origin. But the city Of
Lynn, notwithstanding its reputation, is not
so much a monopolist at shoemaking as
some persons suppose. New York claims
everything, and within her wilderness of
brick and mortar she is continually evolv
ing phenomena that are a surprise to even
her own citizens. Who would believe that
within a mile and a half of the city hall,
mainly, indeed, within quarter of a mile of
that place, there are almost as many firms Of
shoe manufacturers as are TO be found in
either of the cities Of Lynn or Eaverhiili Tb F,
would not be believed were 1t II
possible 10 furnish the figures But it Is quite
possible There are lS6 firms in Lynn, rs in
Haverhill, and l72 in New York.
But Lynn will boast of the size Of her fac
tories, and point TO the annual value OF her
new shoes as evidence of her general superb
1rity. 1t Is certain that she has some pretty
arge factories, and can point to one firm that
turns out TO- pairs of shoes each day But
here is a firm in New Yorh that produces
shoes to the value Of about 81 COG, coo annual
Y and there are others that run we'll up among
me hundreds of thousands Estimates differ
IN the comparative value OF the products Of
he two cities, but in this respect we must
,oncede to Lynn long lead over the me-
ropolis- Judging from the report of goods
shipped through Boston between the first Of
asst January and the last Of August. and Civ |
ng 70 Lynn her probable proportion OF the |
otal, her annual product cannot amount to |
much less than SIS, 800, GO, while the annual |
product Of New York is not estimated az more /
han SO, Co0,o00
Il has been said tia. the capacity OF The !
hoe manufacturing plant in the United !
states is equal in three months 70 the market .
demands Of enc entire year. This may be 4
rue 50 far 81 the shoemakiug machines are I
but it is evidently not true when /
he question OF skillei workuen for feeding |