The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1907-12-07
SHOE SHINING MAGNATEA
Much Money Made from LOwly
Occupation.

OccupatlOhs
Chicagoans of middle age easily re
member the time when the bootblac&
with his box was conspicuous on near
ly every city street. The course of in
dustry has changed all that. The
ragged urchn is gone, with the old
time newsboy, the horse car, and other
institutions of that day. Chicago has
its shoes polished more than ever, Jut
tie work is done in the "shoe shining
parlor."
There are captains of industry In
the shoe-shiniug business, as apparent
ly in every other business. There are
at least three, and they are Joseph
Pacell and Angelo Geocaris of Chica-
go and p. Smyreis of Grand Rapids,
Mich. Their rise aud that of the "shoe-
shining parlor" is described by Arthur
Sears Henning in the American Bust
ness Man for September. With Pacell
and Geocaeis we are most concerned. !
Pacell, an Italian from near Brin-
disi arrived in Chicago twenty-eight
years ago and began selling papers and
backing boots at Adams and State !
streets. He saw the possibilities of
boot backing among a well-to-do peo-
pie, careless of Its small change, and
opened the first ''parlor" at the board
of trade. He began with two chairs
and kept adding chairs until he had
| fifteen. Soon he opened a second place
in the alley that used to open off Mon
roe street opposite the. Inter Ocean.
He still has two establishments, one
of which is the largest in the city.
His income Is said to be $4,000 year,
and he is reported to be worth $780,
900.
Pacells success almost Immediately
revolutionized the shoe shining" bust
ness, and the passing of the ftinerant
bootblack began. Imitators establish
ed "?arlors" by the score. But prices
were kept up. Ten cents was the price
for vi ordinary "shine," and special
polish cost 10 cents, down to seven
years ago.
Athens, Greece, is possibly the dusti-
est city in the world, and it is said to
have more bootblacks for its size than
village about 200 miles from Athens,
and began life as a bootblack at the
capital. The price of "shine" in
Athens Is one third of cent-a fact
that Is of considerable Importance to
Chicago.
Geocaris arrived in Chicago fourteen
years ago and began backing boots at
: Halsted and Madison streets. Within
J year he had opened ''parlor' in an
alley. The next year he opened two
more. In two years more he was
> known as the Boss of the West Side
Bootb]acks." His price was always .
ccnts-a sun which looked large to
5 him ass compared with onc-third Of Il
t cent Therefore, for years the price
4 Of shine was 10 cents down town and
I 8 cents on the West Side.
s In 1897 Geocaris invaded the down
town district by opening two been
y 'parlors"-one. at 70 Van Buren, stree
= and the other at Monroe and Clarl
q streets. He secured SO much trade
n that he had to open other places
+ Gradually he forced his competitors u
l. come t. 5 cents. Pacell held OUT fol
e three years and then came down.
3 Meanwhile Geocaris was becoming
!, , ''shoe-shining" magnet. He opened
large establishments in Milwaukee, De
"a troit st. Louis, Omaha, and Kansa
- City. Ten years after lie funded a
lie the Polk street depot with 8 cents Il
1t his pocket he was the proprietor C
twenty-five parlors and the employer o
$50 men and boys. HIS net lncom
was said to be $4,000.
Now he is rich man with man
20 business interests. You may see hir
Is drive up to his Offices in Chicago
TO fiatiron building at Haisted street an
e Blue Island avenue In an AUTOMOBILE
:" any afternoon. There he dictates lei
IL ters for an hour or so and then drive
It away again. He has steamshi
Id agency, and handles insurance, real ei
al tate and brokerage. He is probabl
ey worth $4,000, and retains only til
In general supervision of his various II
IL terests.
IS. The "shoe- shining' business of bi
nd city is quite an affair. In Chicag
ng there are more than sixty 'parlors
1T within the loop, and outside of it mol
at than AGO. to say nothing Of the bus
a ness of the barber shops. 1t is est
ey mated that Chicagoans spend moi
&c than than 100000 a year in havir
nt their shoes "shined." Or this $1OO,O(
represents the profits of the bushes
which includes many sides lines, sue
as the sale of insoles, laces and 70
IL powder, and the cleaning of ha
ist while you walt"
or Geocaris had never been at school
as hour in his life until he became a D
a pill in a Chicago night school. But
I'D organized his business, systematic
as 1t. introduced many small economic
mt and expanded it in way that wou
he do credit to the most modern of o
Try native born captains of industry.
Ill Athens has taught the world maj
lie things To these must he added +