The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-01-22
A CIPHER ON SHOES
It Prevents Fair Customers From
Squeezing Their Feet.
THE NUMBER SYSTEM ABANDONED
Customers Are Simply Fitted With
What They Need Regardless
OF Size Numbers.

Chicago feet are fast losing their
''Prominent distinctiveness" owing to the
general introduction in the large cities Of
the French system of numbering shoes.
In years gone by. the women of the windy
city achieved ali unenviable reputation
sions, hence the term which has long
since ceased to be standing joke on
the vaudeville stage. AS matter Of fact
1t is quite probable that Chicago women,
as class, have no larger feet than their
sisters In other cities. 1t is possible, how
ever, that they have set the pace in the
size OF their foot apparel and insisted on
comfort taking precedence over the size
or shape OF the shoe.
There Is no longer any occasion any
where for women to pinch their feet In
order to sustain their reputation for wear
Ing certain number of shoe.
Minneapolis manufacturers and retail
ers of shoes say that the introduction Of
the French system of numbering has
solved the problem of uncomfortable
shoes, and people with iu-ftting shoes
are greatly the exception to the rule
nowadays. Dealers admit that the new
system has given great satisfaction to the
trade. The clerks fino it much easier to
suit customers and there are fewer COM
plants than formerly because of misfits.
1t is a fact that women who insist on
squeezing their feet into shoes of a GER
tain number in other days, in spite of
the clerks protestations that untold mis-
cry would surely follow, are not so par
ticular now They ask for the old famil-
lar size as Of yore, but if the intelligent
clerk hands them shoe that fits, even If
1t happens to be size larger, then enter
no demurrer. : .
Numbered in Cipher.
This IS due to the fact that the ''code
nio 1c'
is absolutely unint eligible to the unin-
itiated. The woman with a No. 6 foot
who has heretofore labored under the de-
fusion that shoe which might have
fitted Mrs Tom Thumb was just her size,
has been cured of this mania by the SEN
sible fitting system now in vogue.
The French system consists entirely Of
French combination of numbers, the use
Of letters having been entirely cut out
SO far as the shoe stamp is concerned.
While the same general system is in use,
each large factory has a cipher code of
its own. to distinguish its output from
shoes of OF her makes.
A pair OF shoes of particular brand
handled at certain Nicollet avenue shoe
store, for instance, might be numbered
l54. The clerk would at once take this
number to mean that the size of the
shoe was SD. He would arrive at this
conclusion by adding the first two num-
DerS together. which would give him six,
and then Interpreting the figure four to
mean d last. In determining the width
all he has to know is that stands for A;
for B; for C: for ID; for E and so
on. A dash would stand for half size.
In another store visited this morning
the figure 80 was taken for the unit, or
No. l. Thus, SO would be equivalent to
No. 4. Another number would indicate
the width.
Our aim," said one dealer, 'ls, first of
all, to see that our customers are prop
erly fitted Even the cranks who once
insisted on getting a certain number gen.
orally complained the loudest when their
shoes began to hurt them. When a per-
son OF that class pretends to know now
just what size she wears, we occasionally
enter into a little harmless deception and
give her foot the benefit of the doubt
She never, knows the difference, and she
gets the size she really wants -, =.
The rule applies to men as we'll as
women. $780,.