Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1895-06-26
SHOES GO UP.


Has Something To DO With 1t.
"a general advance OF retail prices foi
mems and womcn's shoes IL inevitable II
the present enormously high prices foi
leather continue" This was the prompt
answer given to New York Tribune re
porter the other day by the manager OF ONE
of the several large retail stores of a man
ufacturcr OF shoes. "Some retail shoe deal
err, " he continued, "have already advanced
their prices about 10 per cent. Those deal
ers are among the smaller ones. None OF
the large retailers has advanced thcii
prices yet, but they will certainly be com
PEELED To do SO should the prices for leather
go any higher and probably even should
they remain at their present quotations.
Some dealers are now getting $3.50 foi
shoes that were sold for $3 only short
time ago. Others have made smaller nd
vances. Retailers have to pay considerably
higher prices to the manufacturers and
wholesalers for their Stock and OF course
the advance must fall upon the consumer
In the end" Several other retailers on
whom the reporter called made similar
statements.
A leading wholesale dealer in fine do
nestle and imported shoe leather said:
Cali kinds Of leather for making shoes
have been advancing for year or more,
and within the last three or four months
the advance has been very sharp The
price for glazed kid has advanced from 10
to 80 per cent, according to the quality OF
the stock. This is due partly to a scarcity
Of the skins and partly to an increased de-
mand brought about by improvement In
the times Formerly women's shoes were
made Of pebble goat, prunella and a vari
ETY. Of other materials Now almost the
entire demand is for black or fancy colored
glazed kid and much greater number of
small skins is necessary. Sheepskins have
undergone the same advance.
"Sole leather, cowhidc and calfskins have
advanced about 80 per cent. 1t is true
that the market for the three kinds Of
leather last named Is controlled by the
United States Leather company, which is
commonly compared to the Sugar trust,
the Chicago cattle combine and other
great business monopolies. 1t was declared
that the leather business was no longer
profitable when carried on separately by
individuals or firms, and SO lot of big
leather men got together ayear or two ago
and bought up some 80 or 60 tanneries,
which enabled them to control the produc-
ton of leather and thereby to regulate
formed the United States Leather company,
with capital stock Of $120, ,OcO, 600. ex-
pect to see another sharp advance in leath-
er very soon"
At the main % Ice of the United States
Leather company prominent officer de-
olined to tell anything about the number
of tanneries under its control or to give
any other details about it's immense busi-
ness, as they were, he said mot connected
with the question Of prices" In response
to various inquiries he replied, with evident
reluctance: 1.-The great cause of the ad-
vance in leather is the decline in the cattle
industry. Raw material has advanced ovei
100 per cent within a year, and manufac-
tured stock from 40 to 20 per cent, accord
ing to Its kind, In the last four months
The average advance In the latter is about
60 per cent. With the European markets
closely cleaned up and n universal scarcity
OF raw material we expect still further
advance In prices"