St. Paul daily globe., 1891-12-14

Among the substantial retail business
men of st. Paul must be placed the boot
and shoe men. The annual business of
these men IS exceptionally large, and,
owing TO The energy displayed by them,
their trade is not confined to St. Paul.
but all fields are attacked. The North
west, of course, is their legitimate
stamping ground. but it is a fact that
one shoe man of St. Paul is dailyreceiv-
ing orders from every important city in
this country. 1t is surprising the
large number of people employed in
the shoe trade in ST. Paul
Five years ago there were hardly 800
people engaged in that industry; today
there are upwards Of about $500 people,
and what is more to the point and
speaks volumes for the city and coun-
Try. all these people are given employ
ment every working day in the year.
There are no dull seasons in the boot
and shoe industry of St Paul. Thirty
years ago the making of boots and
shoes in this city was commenced at the
very bottom Of the ladder, the founder
of one Of the great factories of today
himself working at the bench. His
goods gained a reputation that grew
and spread as the Northwest developed.
The trade was educated to goods Of St.
Paul manufacture. and year by year all
the goods the little factory could turn
out found a ready sale. St. PauI
ranks as the tenth city in the manu-
facture Of boots and shoes i'll the United
States. and is rapidly advancing to the
first place This nay seem surprising
to those unacquainted with the remark
able advances made by this i'll
duStry in the past five years, but
it Is a fact nevertheless. and if the same
rate OF growth is kept up during the
next nine years, st. Paul will lead the
van in the whole country in 1900
Lowell, Lynn, BrOckton and other New
England points that have heretofore
been looked to by the whole country for
boots and shoes are already distanced
so far as the trade of the Northwest is
concerned, and as this section of the
country grows the manufacture of boots
and shoes at st. Paul will grow. The
field IS ilers, and she has a class of men
IN the business who have the ability,
the capital. the enterprise and the rep
utation not only to keep what they have
Won, bat also to seize and retain busi-
ness at present out OF their hands.
Boots and shoes made in St. Paul
have gained great reputation as good,
solid, substantial and well-made goods,
and the Northwestern trade prefers
them to the same quality made in the
East. Long experience in catering TO
the wants Of the people of that large
section OF the United States tributary
to ST. Paul has furnished the manufact-
uTers Of this city with vast fund Of in
formation as to the articles of footwear
demanded by the climate, and this they
have not been slow TO seize and utilize.
The magnificent boot ana shoe man
Dfacturing Industry which has been
built up in st. Paul did not rise in a
day. 1t was built on solid foundations,
ana Tor that reason is capable of almost
any amount of expansion. 1t is the one
line Of manufacturing in which New
England cities were only few years
ago deemed to be sOlidly intrenched.
They could manufacture more cheaply
than even the cities Of the Middle
states. and no thought was given to the
infant shoe industries OF this far-away
Northwestern metropolis. The shoe
manufacturers of the East know that
St. Paul IS 4 shoe manufacturing center
without gldncing at the census. The
fact that the Northwest has grown
while the trade of the Eastern boot and
shoe men has not grown with it satisfies
them on this point.