Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-06-28
SHOES GO UP,
Possibly the S12O,OOO,OOO Leather Trust
Has Something to Do With 1t.

Has Something to Do With 1t.
"a general advance of retail prices for
ucn's and womcns shoes is inevitable if
tho present enormously high prices for
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
ufncturer of shoes. "SOme retail shoe deal
ers, " he continued, "have already advanced
their prices about 10 per cent. Those deal
ers are among the smaller ones None of
the largo retailers has advanced their
prices yet, but they will certainly be COM
PEELED to do SO should tho prices for leather
go any higher and probably even should
they remain at their present quotations.
Some dealers are now getting $3.50 for
shoes that were sold for 50 only short
time ago Others have made smaller ad-
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:
have been advancing for u 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 womcn's shoes were
made of pebble goat, prunclla and vari-
ETY. of other materials. Now almost the
entire demand is for black or fancy colorod
glazed kid, and much greater number of
small skins is necessary. Shcepskins have
undergone the same advance.
"Solc leather, cowhidc and calfsllins 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 mOnOpOliCs. 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 year or two ago
and bought up sonG~'50 or go tannerics,
which enabled them to control the prOduC-
ton of leather and thereby to regulate
prices to suit themselves Then they
formed the United States Lcathcr.compnny,
with a capital stock of 1920, geo, 600. l cx-
pect to see another sharp advance in lcath-
er'vcry soon"
At the main Office of the United States
Leathcr company prominent officer de-
clined to tel anything about the number
of tanncrics under its control or to give
any other details about it's immense bust
ness as they We're, he said "nOt connected
with the question of prices" In response
to various inquiries he replied, with evident
reluctancc; "Thc great cause of the adj
vance in leather is the decline in the cattle
industry. Raw material has advanced over
100 per cent within 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 a universal scarcity
of raw material we expect a still further
advance in prices"