Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-07-03
f. j. FINN.

HE dean of the shoe deal- ! .FN. CTS in the city of Water l 3dN bury is F. J. Finn, a title I WE he is rightfully entitled to because he is the senior dealer in that business in the city. Many are the changes he has seen take place in it, and many the story he can tell about it if he only would.
 A change we have found and many
 change,
 Faces and footsteps and all things strange.
 Gone are the heads of the silyery hair,
 And the youth that were have brows
 of care.
 This is his familiar quotation when he feels in a reminiscent mood, for of the eleven dealers in the business when he started ill it they have all gone out, some are dead, some are in other lines, but his is the only shingle of all the old ones that still hangs out.
 It was twentyfour years ago when MT Finn became q shoe dealer. The 1 firm of Geraghty and Finn became we'll known in the course of time. Eventually John J. Geraghty went in- to it on his own account leaving his ex-partner in the old stand on East Main street near the Atlantic < Pa cific tea store.
 One of the elements that is attribu- ted to have brought about the sue cess of Mir Finn is his foresight in the business, and when he saw the store he now occupies, vacant-it was for merly part of the Curran dry goods store-he knew it would be a good business move to take it. And he did Exchange place is the business thor oughfare in the city. Thousands pass and repass Finn's every day and are attracted by the exhibition of fine foot wear in both windows of the store
 The shoe business is an interesting one. There are more changes in it than in any other. and the styles vary more and more frequently than in any other article of wear When Mir Finn began, if the style in shoes changed | twice year it would cause a great deal of surprise in the business, and dealers with large stocks on hand would feel uneasy. for the style of shoe cannot be very easily changed. Nowadays if fashion does not change her mind half a dozen times year, about the kind of shoe she shall wear. dealers are as much surprised as they were in the old days when she changed 1 it only once or twice a year. But the | acumen of the modern shoe dealer is competent to meet this nckleness on the part of Dame Fashion.
 The grade of trade that Mir Finn caters to is the medium and the fine, and his speciality is children's wear, for children are the hardest of all kinds of customers on shoe leather. Gully shoe dealer making speciality of footwear of this kind can appreciate the usage children subject shoe leath- CT to.
 As the beef trust manipulates the leather market to suit it's own pur- poses. shoe dealers must be constant ly on the alert for prices. This is feature that brings considerable business to Mir Finn's store, for his long and thorough ac- Guaintance with all the maneuvers of the market enables him to see things far ahead.
 His line of ladies' goods. both in leather and rubber. is said to be un- excelled. and his knowledge of what Is known in the business as the French style or system of marking the sizes in ladies' shoes makes him a top-notcher. Mir Finn has pair of boys shoes that is eloquent on the changes that have taken place in the shoe business during the twenty four years he has been in it. The shoes were made in 1882. That the leather in them was good is still apparent, but there is hardly boy in Waterbury to-day that would wear them. The vamp is com posed of half q dozen pieces: the mod ern vamp is made of two. Only one half the soles were sewed on. around the toe was nailed. because of the in ability of the machinery of that time to sew the entire sole. With the va riety of style, the rapidity of manu facture and the development of labor saving machines in the shoe making business. prices have still gone up.
 But Finn. the shoe dealer. Is always in the market for the benefit of his customers and the indications are that he will be at least twenty-four years I