St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-10-07

rate of growth is kept up during 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 hers, and
she has a class of men in the business
who have the ability, the capital, the
enterprise, and the reputation not only
to keep what they have won, but also
to seize and retain business at present
out of their hands.
"The st. Paul boot and shoe factories
are getting control of the Northwestern
trade very fast" said Theodore A.
Schulze, of Foot, Schulze & Co., yester-
day. 'The finest goods are now made
here in competition with Eastern fac
tories. Seven years ago it was consid-
cred Improbable to manufacture any
thing but coarse goods, but we now
find that we can make all lines of fine
shoes to fully as good advantage as the
cOarSer grades"
Boots and shoes made in st. Paul have
gained great reputation as good. solid,
substantial ana Well-made goods. and
the Northwestern trade prefers them to
the same quality made in the East. This
is the statement repeated to the writer
at every one of the factories visited,
and one of the causes given for it by II.
Ii. Stevens, of G. GotZian & Co., is that
every case of goodSsent out from st. Paul
factories carries a guarantee with it.
Long experience in catering to the
wants of the people of that large sec
ton of the United States tributary to
st. Paul has furnished the manufact-
urers 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 lumbermen of Minnesota, WiScon-
sin, Oregon and w estern Montana, the
miners of these states, as well as the
farmers here, have had their wants sup
piled by the st. Paul factories, as those
of no Eastern city could possibly have
done.
Mechanics Prefer st. Paul.
Can the boot and shoe manufactures
of st. Paul compete with those of the
East as to prices?
This is a question that will occur to
the local merchant and 10 the observer
about as quickly as he is told that boots
and shoes are made in St. Paul in large
quantities. 1t is an important question,
and one that was answered by every
manufacturer in the city in the af-
frmative. The living expenses of
man in st. Paul are less than they
are in Chicago, and the low cost of
comfortable life combined with other
condi tons. make it possible for the ST.
Paul factories to obtain the finest expert
mechanics and operatives for less money
than they will work for in New Eng
land. One of the reasons for this is
that the st. Paul factories run the year
around. They are in their own terri
tory and orders are coming in without
regard TO season, whereas the New
England manufacturers send their men
out twice year to secure orders,
running their factories only long
enough TO fill them. The New England
shop runs in two seasons; the St. Paul
factories know no difference and afford
their employees steady labor.
"Do you have any difficulty in secur-
ing operatives" was question asked
one of the proprietorS of one of the
largest factories.
1--WE do not" was the answer, land
we never get a good workman West
who wants TO go back. There is some
thing in the country that he likes, and
ne remains"
Growth of a Decade,
The magnificent boot and shoe-man
ufacturing industry which has been
built up in st. Paul did not rise in
day. 1t was built on solid foundations.
and fol 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 manufactured 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 a shoe manufacturing centre
without glancing 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.
The development of the boot and
shoe manufacture in this city during the
past ten years is the best evidence of its
success. In 1881 st. Paul had but one
factory, and this but small one, con-
fined almost entirely to the making of
coarser grades of goods demanded by
this section of the country. The follow
Ing table shows the number of men en-
ployed in 1881 and at present, the total
wages paid in each of those years and
the total output:
Value
No. Fac No Hands Amt Paid Total
Year. tories. Employed. in Wages. Output
1891. ......3 1000 $4,000 ), 100000
Tanneries in Demand.
There is an industry that stands verv
close to the boot and shoe factories of
this city, that could be carried on more
profitably in st. Paul than perhaps any
other city in the west. 1t is the tan
ming and finishing of leather. At the
present time there is not tannery i'm
the city, although strong company has
just been organized to construct and
operate one. That this will be finan-
cial success goes without saying, but
the good work should not stop when it
Is in operation. There Is room For q
dozen more larger than this one is de-
signed to be.
At the present time the boot and shoe
and all other industries, using large
amounts Of leather, are obliged to 90 to