Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-28

had genuine feathers, a blood-red comb and
real hens eyes. The eggs were genuine,
and 1t took me twelve seconds before !
realized that the dominica was only stuffed
and hat IT was merely to advertise the
freshness of the eggs. Nearby were yellow
porcelain butter rolls and in an adjoining
window l saw the words "Weisse Oats"
and some bags of ''self-raislng -four" from
New York.
In the hardware stores l found American
tools and a lawn mower which was exhlb-
tied in a window and to which was nailed
the words, "Veritable Philadelphia"
Turning the corner, l was directly oppo-
site the finest OF the new buildings of Mons.
This is a great telephone structure, with
a wall of porcelain, in which are set the
names of Bell and other American in
%ventors. In a store not far away l saw
American notions and spinning tops
painted red, white and blue.
| did not expect to find American shoes
here. The Netherlands, which, broadly
speaking, include Holland and Belgium, are
the homes of the wooden shoe. The COM
mon people. wear clogs, but, nevertheless,
American shoes and Belgian limitations Of
them are sold. The shoes are labelled
"Veritable Americana" In, som of the
stores ! saw shoes marked "Veau Amer
i%caine,' which Jack promptly told me
meant American veal, but which l rather
think was intended to convey the idea
that they were of American calfskin. The
leather was undoubtedly a poor imitation
of ours, but the fact that it was adver-
tised as such shows what is thought Of
American leather. Indeed, l got one of
the merchants to give me a label. 1t reads:
"Recomande Veau Americana Solidite
Garantie Souple Impermeable."
Which evidently means that these shoes
are especially recommended as Of genuine
American calf, guaranteed for it's dura-
bility. ~softness and impermeability as to
water.
Another shoe store advertised Boston rub
bers, and In a barber shop next door saw
a razor strop for sale marked MADE in
America"
There is no doubt but that a good cheap
American shoe will sell here. The better
classes will buy IT, and II cheap enough it
might command some trade among the
miners. Still, no leather shoe can compare
In price with the wooden clog which the
most of the poorer people wear. During
my walk in the country | bought a pair OF
shoes for 10 cents. They were clogs large
enough to At a 1O-year-old boy, and l have
seen uuuuItus VI bhNH wearing sllllldl
shoes. l priced a pair of mans clogs which
had padded leather insteps, They were
offered for 80 cents, and l tried them on
They were not uncomfortable, and l bought
them. Indeed, clogs are not bad to wear
after all. They are much lighter than hob
nail boots or even than heavy leather
shoes They are impervious to water and
more durable than leather. Both men and
women wear them, and save for the clatteI
they make they do very well, The chill
dren have no trouble in getting about 1,
them | see them running and jumping
and climbing trees with clogs on, and a
far as | can see they succeed quite as wei
as our American children shod with leather
II must make a difference with the famil!
expenses OF the miner, who makes per
haps from 40 to so cents a day, and who
therefore, annot afford to pay from s
cents to 81 to have his " or his chill
dren's shoes half-soled every few weeks.
/ have been much interested in the Euro
pean invasion OF the American shoe. II /
an article that has walked into the heart
OF the people, Notwithstanding the ange
OF the shoemakers and shoe dealers o
France, Germany. Switzerland and Eng
land.
l found large American shoe stores in a.
the big English cities, There are scores G