Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-01-05
PATEKT-L LEATHER SHOES.
VERY ATTRACTIVE, BUT NOT TO BE
DEPENDED UPON.
How One May Make His Shoes Last
Twice as Long as Usual
Russets.

for the shoes, and they should have worn
better. He wanted them exchanged, but
the dealer wasn't agreeable to this PROPOSE
ton. After the customer went out, the
dealer said
"The woods are full of unreasonable
people like that fellow. You would be
surprised to know how much abuse get
from customers who wear patent-leather
shoes, though l am no more responsible
for their poor wearing than you are.
81 tell this to every one that orders
them, but they come in and kick just
the same, if anything goes wrong.
Now, the fact is no patent leather can
be guaranteed. The manufacturers make
no promises for it to us, and no honest
dealer will even predict its durability to a
customer. If patent leather gives out
when the shoes show but slight signs of
usage, we refund the money paid for them
or make another pair, and rely on the
leather manufacturer to reimburse us.
Otherwise, we can do nothing about it.
We don't guarantee the shoes for any
time. They may crack in day, and
they may hold together for month. No
one can tell anything about what they
may do. Why this is so, is easily ex-
planned.
"Ordinary leather is made to stand
wear and tear without breaking by the
oils it is soaked with in the process OF
tanning. The skin used to put the patent
enamel on must be perfectly dry and
wholly free from oil. If it is not, the
composition put upon it will not stick. 1t
makes no difference how soft or piiable the
leather that is used may be, it must GO
through process that parches it if it is to
be prepared with the patent gloss.
"In the first place, the skin is dried grad.
ually, and after the tanning process it is
put into room where an exceedingly high
temperature prevails. There it is left un-
til it is actually baked.
"Next it is taken out and vanished with
the secret preparation, and left in the sun
for the coating to dry and harden.
off cloud as big as your hand appears
in the sky while that leather is outdoors
it is at once hauled in. A few drops Of
rain upon it while in that condition would
| be likely to crack the leather and spot the
enamel.
"When the varnish has become partially
hardened, men work with rollers and pol
ishing implements upon it. These fasten
i the composition well upon the leather, and
give it its peculiar brightness.
"If one piece of leather has an advantage
in air or sunlight over another while this
process is going on, it will be more durable
If the hides are not all cared for alike,
they will differ in their susceptibility to
heat or cold. In fact, there are a thousand
and one things that may happen in pre-
pairing patent leather that have the effect
of making one piece good and another
wholly unserviceable, though both may
look the same.
'1s it any wonder that the stuff cannot
be depended upon? What is patent
upper at its best? A piece of baked
leather with all its natural elasticity re-
moved, and layer of sticky substances
that lose their pliability when hardened
into a compound.
"Yet, some people wonder why it doesn't
wear, or why it cannot be preserved. No
one should wear patent leather shoes every
day and grumble if they prove unservice-
able. The leather is always susceptible to
changes of temperature. 1t expands from
heat and contracts from cold, and the ten
sion naturally causes it to give away in
places.
"If patent leather shoe were not worn
outside of the house and not worn long
enough to become overheated by the foot
it would last an indefinite time. If il
were worn only in fine warm weather il
might last pretty well.
'The patent leather we manufacture over
here is only an imitation of the genuine
article. The original compound used for
enameling is known only to two or three
houses, and they are across the water.
"Still the domestic article wears just as
well if it is used on the best French calf
skin. A man who buys patent leather
shoes made of anything but calfskin is
swindling himself, no matter how cheap
he gets them.
Nothing but water should ever be used
to clean patent leather shoes. Prepara'
! tions that are said to preserve them are
, humbugs. Oil has only the effect of rot.
| ting them. l have experimental with
! this leather, and [ know something
! about it.
"There is practice which, if followed
WOulu pun d SlIOtlldhCl pdlIOiiS COHSlutI'
ably in pocket every year. 1t is the own
ing and wearing of six pairs of shoes "turr
about instead of only one or two pairs.
'The man who keeps six pairs of shoes
in stock for his own use will wear them az
long as twelve pairs will last the fellow
! who buys one pair at a time.
"Shoes should not be worn more than one
| day without being given a rest If they
are their shape is soon destroyed and the
leather becomes rotted from the heat O
the foot.
"When laid aside for few days after
wearing them the moisture in the leather
that comes from the feet becomes absorbed
by the atmosphere, and the shoe when pu
on again is as good as new.
"This custom of only owning one or, a
the most, two pairs of shoes, is purely
American.
at prevails here generally, and many
well-dressed men are followers of it. For
oigners who pretend to have any style
about them at all, own as many shoes a;
they do neckties.
! "But shoemakers are not finding fault
1t is good custom for them, as it increase,
consumption. Still, / would like to Sc,
Americans have little more style abou
their feet.
The extreme swells in England owl
whole boxes full of boots and shoes, in
Guiding every make and variety. Only ;
few of the Anglo-mauiacs over here follow
this example, and we don't get any benef
from those that do, as l understand mos
of them send abroad for their supplies.
''By-the-way, do you know that England
practically tells us what kind of Leather
we are to use? Such is the fact Th'
custom of making up russet leather wa
imported from there Russet shoes hav,
been worn in England these past foul
gears, not in the cities, but in the country
Sye were the first TO adopt them for genera
Ese, and Boston is the first American city
they were worn in. They were never in
tended for rough-and-ready wear, because
they are not able to stand it, owing to the
absence of oils essential to preservation
Curious Arctic Flower.
A French paper gives a fascinating ac-
count of a newly discovered flower, o.
which rumors have from time to time
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