Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-07-03
SHOE SHINING MAeNATEs.
Mueh Money Made from LOwly
Occupation.

AuG0 @OnCY MAAuC 0CNAS
Occupation.
Chicagoans Of middle age easily re- |
member the time when the bootback
with his box was conspicuous on near
" every city street. The course of in
dustry has changed all that. The
ragged urchin is gone, with the old
time newsboy, the horse sar, and other
institutions of that day. Chicago has
Its shoes polished more than ever, but
the work Is done in the ''shoe-shining
parlor."
There are captains of industry in
the shoe shining 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 BIZ /
ness Man for September. With Pac Ill
and Geocaeis we are most concerned
~Pacell, an Italian from near Brin-
dist, 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 second place
i'll 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
revolutionlzed the "shoe-shining" bust
ness, and the passing Of the itlnerant
bOotblack began. Imitators establish
"a ".arlors" by the score. But prices
we're kept up. Ten cents was the price
for II 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 1t Is said to
have more bootblacks for Its size than
any other. Geocaris was born III Il
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 a cent-a fact
that is Of considerable Importance to
Chicago.
Geocarls arrived In Chicago fourteen
years ago and began blarSing boots at
Halsted and Madison streets. Within
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
BootbIacks." His price was always .
cGnts-a sun which looked large to
him us compared with one third of 4
cent. Therefore, for years the price
of shine was 10 cents down town and
cents on the West Side.
In 1897 Geocaris invaded the down.
town district by opening two 5-cent
''parlors"-one at IS Van Buren, street
and the other at Monroe and Clark
streets. He secured SO much trade
that he had to open other places.
Gradually he forced his competitors 10
come to cents. Pacell held out for
three years and then came down.
Meanwhile Geocaris was becoming q
''shoe-shining' magnet He opened
large establishments in Milwaukee, Dc
troit, st. Louis, Omaha, and Kansas
City. Ten years after lie landed at
the Polk Fcreet depot with 8 cents IN
his pocket he was the proprietor CT
twenty-five parlors and the employer OF
250 men and boys. His net Income
Sas said to be $25,OO0
Now he Is a rich man with many
business interests. You may see him
drive up to his offices In Jhlcago's
satiron building at HaistGd street and
Rlue Island avenue in an automobile
any afternoon. There he dictates let
ters for an hour or so lnd then drives
uway again. He has I steamship
agency, and handles insurance, real es-
| totO anu OlOhCl age. AAc 10 pIODdDiy
worth $150,OOO, and retains only the
general supervision of his various In
terests.
The "shoe-shining" business of a big
city is quite an affair. In Chicago
there are more than sixty "parlors"
within the loop, and outside of it moro
than 400, to say nothing Of the bust
ness of the barber shops. 1t is esti-
mated that Chlcagoars spend more
than than 100000 a year in having
their shoes "shined." OF this 100000
represents the profits of the business,
which includes many sides lines, such
as the sale Of insoleg, laces and foot
powder, and the cleaning of hats
while you wait"
Geocaris had never been at school an
hour In his life until he became a pu.
pill in a Chicago night school. But he
organized his business, systematized
1t. introduced many small economies,
and expanded it in way that would
do credit to the mast modern of our
native born captains of industry.
Athens has taught the world many
things. To these must be added the
science Of Shining shoes.-Chicago
Inter Ocean.
Uncle Sans OIIy Jade Mine.
The only Jade Mine in the Unified
i L..