The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-03
DUTCHNEN WEARING
 THE AMERICAN SHOE Would Use More if Needs of Hollanders Were
 Heeded. TOO HIGH PRICES ASKED English Producers Using
 American Shoe Tools.
TOO HIGH PRICES ASKEI

Washington, May S1.-Referring to the small trade in footwear which American manufacturers have estab- lished in Holland. amounting to about $11,50O per year for 1904 and 1905 and $1S,14O in 1906, Consul Frank D. HiIl, of Amsterdam, furnishes the following report, giving q closer insight into the markets of the Netherlands:
 It is advisable to duplicate the Ger man lasts, for the American are not as q rule suited to Dutch feet. The Dutch manufacturers apply themselves to the turning out of q cheap and in- ferior grade of goods; it would there- fore seem advisable to advocate the introduction of special shoe. One great drawback has been the long de- lay in filling, or not filling at all, small orders which have been sent to com pete numbers which. have been sold
 out. The only remedy for this would be the establishment here of q whole- sale distributing station, which would be of the greatest interest to the buy CTS here and would also greatly devel- op the sale of the American shoe This office could dispose of advertising mat ter, if sent and 1t would be advisable to have advertising circulars printed in the Dutch language, and it would al- | so be desirable to advertise in the Ja 1. JIn4 faIx Nt,o latter would not be of much use unless a showroom and distributing station
 were established.
 have been compelled, says MT. Hill, very much to my regret, to write as follows just now to an American firm located in Berlin in reply to an inquiry as to my judgment respecting the pos sibility of their establishing a store here to sell American boots and shoes
 at retail at $4 a pair, plus duty: 'I re-
 ceiYed your letter of January 26 duly and have given it's contents careful | consideration, as I consider the estab-
 llshment of an American shoe store at Amsterdam, If practicable, very desir- able. The duty on shoes is five per cent. ad valorem. The price at which you
 propose to sell your product retail
 would, therefore, be $420. There is no doubt whatever, in my mind, that you would find it impossible to sell shoes at such price at Amsterdam.
 | A firm which imports American shoes
 and rubbers writes to Mr. Hill:
 We can give you facts concerning only our own business, but we think
 that these might be given IS being de- i scrlptive of the business in American
 shoes of our country in general, This
 year we only sold two-thirds of the amount of American shoes we sold last year. while our total sales were prac- i tically the same. This decrease finds its cause in the enormous rise in the
 American leather market. In many in- 1 stances certain lines of American shoes were put out of the market by l, having the price raised in some cases, 1 S5 American cents. These lines were
 always replaced by English shoes. A great many English manufacturers { have bought American lasts and Amer i ican machinery, and some of them are practically making American shoes. 1 Some of these English manufacturers
 maintained their old prices when oth
 CTS raised those prices six or eight
 cents pair on medium-prieed mems
 shoes. How this is possible we do not
 know, but the fact is there. For spring
 and summer 1907 we will only import 1 low-priced American shoes and the 1 fashionable high-class article.
 "The prospects Of trade in American
 rubbers are very much brighter The
 heavy weather and the snow during last winter caused big trade in rub
 Der footwear, and we found that the American shapes are the best sellers. l Many importers and ourselves sold all
 their stock and will have to replenish 1 before next winter, and this will cause
 lively trade for those American firms
 that can, in q satisfactory way, place l their goods on our market. In regard
 to the American shoes, we would like l to say that it is our opinion that as
 soon as American manufacturers are able to lower the price or the English manufacturers are obliged to raise
 theirs we will sell as many American
 shoes as we did before, During 1906 the representa- lives of three American
 firms visited our country, but without 1 doinp much business"