St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-12-28
BOOTS AND SHOES.

BOOTS AND SHOES.
A correspondent writes to ask us how
the boot and shoe industry of the coun-
try has stood the financial depression,
and whether the free raw material they
enjoy has made any difference.
So far as our observation has gone, the
manufacturers of boots and shoes have
passed through the storm with less dis
aster than any other of our chief lines
of manufacture. So far as their capac-
ity to run their factories depended on
bank discounts. they have had to re-
strict operations because of the inability
of the banks to extend the usual lines
Of credit-partly because of the with
drawal of deposits, but more, we believe,
because of timorouSness which only
served to increase the dangers sought to
be avoided. Some factories suspended
entirely, while others cut down their
product to meet current demands. We
cannot recall any instance of failure
among them.
1t is fact which the experience of
the trade since it had free hides SUBJ
Stimulates, that it has been the most
steadily prosperous of all of our larger
industries. Failures have been less FREE
quent in it and labor difficulties have
been fewer. This is doubtless due to
the fact that the main item in their
material account came to them under
conditions of free trade. They have
not had the protection which has been
given TO other branches which have
suffered far more from the depressions
we have passed through under protect
i've tariffs, and partly because of them.
The act of 1888 gave them tariff of 80
per cent on imports, and this was re-
duced to % per cent by the Mckinley
act. In spite of this rate, which is
purely q revenue rate, the imports of
boots and shoes have been insignifi-
cant. falling under 100000 a year, while
the exports of domestic make have ex-
ceeded 100000 year.
If the makers of boots and shoes have
free raw material, it may be asked, why
have they not entered the markets of
the world and captured their share of
its trade? Free traders claim that that
is all our manufacturers need to enable
them to meet competition abroad; why
has it not done it with boots and shoes?
The question is a fair one, and should
be fairly answered. In 1885. at the
Chicago convention of free traders,
James Means, with whose face and
name all readers of the advertising
columns of newspapers are familiar, the
original ''S3 shoe man." presented a
paper which, in his absence, was read
by Josiah Quincy, late assistant secre-
tary of state, in which he answered this
very question.
He called attention to the fact that
leather was not all the material that
entered into the makeup of boots and
shoes. There were Innings and hastings
and pegs and thread and sdndry other
articles which formed quite an item IN
the product. These are all highly pro-
tected. In some of them the protection
was so high as to permit the bene-
ficiaries to form a snug little comDina-
ton and advance prices to the tax limit,
He mentioned the makers of shoe pegs
as one of these cormorants.
The competition in the shoe trade
when the foreign field is entered is so
close that difference in cost of three
or four cents a pair will determine the
loss or profit of the transaction. or the
ability TO compete, and it was the en-
HANGED cost to the makers of just these
subordinate articles that cut off the
slender margin and precluded competl-
ton abroad unless in some exceptional
circumstances.
The proprietors of the shoe factories
in this city united i'll ali appeal recently
to the shoe buyers of the city to patron
iZe home Industries in preference to the
shoes sent in here from the Eastern
shops. They asked buyers to ask for
and buy St. Paul makes, so that they
could give their Workmen employment.
Inquiries made at the shoe stores here
after the appeal showed that the bulk
of the shoes sold here are of Eastern
make. The home factories supply but
fraction of the local sales, and are
obliged to seek markets still farther
West and farther from the competing
Eastern shops.
This is situation that Is Inevitable
under present conditions. and which can
Ouly SIOW WOTSe II ll6 conditions are
unchanged. The productive capacity
of the shoe factories exceeds the capac-
ity of our people to consume. This is
the condition in every one OF our large
lines of manufacture. Capable men
estimate the productive capacity of our
mills and shops, if working full time, as
able to make in eight months all the
country can consume IN twelve. If the
sales of this product are restricted TO
this country, the result is inevitably
either congestion or trust or com-
bination formed to restrict output to the
demand.
The taxation of the minor articles of
material operates to shut the Eastern
shoemakers from foreign markets ex-
cept to an Insignificant amount. The
result is that they are obliged to enter
the Western field and compete with cur
makers. Possessing greater capital and
better facilities, and able to command
labor at lower Rates. they food our