Morris tribune., 1895-05-01
BOOTS AND SHOES.
Our Workmanship Compar-
ing With England.

ing With England.
There has recently been one of the
most extensive STRIKES" ever known
in the boot and shoe industry ia Eng
land. The Shoe and Leather Report
er states on "unquestionable author.
ity" that there were fully 100000 op.
eratives out of work early in April
and it is said that large quantities oi
American shoes have been ordered fol
the English market, consisting main
ly of welted boots and shoes, a class
of work which English manufacturers
cannot compete with in consequence
of the high costs of production there.
Comparing the relative cost of pro
duction in America and in England, a
London paper says: I'VE have on
view in this office pair of gentle
mems high class Goodyear welted
boots made by tiptop New York
house. Nothing better in either work
manship or material could be pro-
duced in Northampton, though the
style is hardly right for the English
market. The labor cost of making
and finishing this boot in America is
about thirty eight and two-thirds
cents per pair, and it is important to
remember that at these rates the
American workmen make minimum
Of fa week, running up to f4 los.
in many cases, and higher in excep-
tional cases, each man working single
handed and in factory hours.
"The total labor cost of this boot
throughout in New York Ia more ex-
pensive city to live in than in Lon
dom is trife under 3s. 3D., and the
boot sells to the trade at It's. 3D., so
that the wages bill comes out at about
Is per cent all told-a vertible tri-
umph of manufacturing. There is
not manufactures in Northampton
who would not be delighted to pay
higher wages than are shown in the
above costing, and yet the costing as
it stands gives the men about double
the wages they earn in this country!
How is it? Just this, that English
men will not work the machines to
their proper capacity, The old-fash
ioned fallacy has been drilled into
them that the more boots can be made
to cost, the better it will be for trade,
and the less work done by each man,
the more there will be to go round. tt
seems incredible, but it is never,he-
less true, that the employers who use
machinery are prepared to double the
present earnings of their men, pro-
vided the latter will only work at the
same speed as their American breth-
ren of the craft. But they won't do
it, and when they are only asked to
work at half speed they are being
used as 'pacemakers.''
The English workmen have him
dered the introduction of many ma
chimes that are in common use in this
country, and for that reason better
shoes, more stylish, light and "dressy"I
are made here at considerably less
cost than in England. The Goodyear
sole sewing machine has been gener-
ally introduced. It is proved that the
welted shoes made by it are better
than those made by hand. They are,-
Of course, much cheaper, Then the
team work in the American factories
is an advantage, and there are many
little mechanical contrivances in use
which the workman strenuously o b.
jects to. 1t has been known to few
persons for some time, and now the
people of two continents have learned
on English authority that though the
prices paid in England to operatives
are in many cases double those in the
United States" yet shoes scan be
freighted across the Atlantic and sold
in Eng land for less than shoes of the
same quality can be made there
Scientific American.
S. A. Flaherty, the prominent at
torney of Morris, has decided to leave
that place and permanently locate in
Minneapolis. There was not more.
nop,,1ar and orpcajont;orc J,,,y,,o, -,