Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-07-10
NERVE CENTERS OF LEATHER
New England Towns Making shoes
by the Billion for the
World.

There are more than a hundred cities and
towns in New England where shoes and
slippers are made. Since the close of the
civil war these have manufactured and
shipped no fewer than than 1000 600, 600 pairs
Of Shoes of which three-fourths have gone
through what Advance New England calls
that wonderful nerve-center of our leather
and footwear industry, Boston,"
Boston may well pride itself on being
the worlds leading shoe and leather mart,
for it is today the headquarters of $50
shoe manufacturing concerns, 900 leather
companies and firms. 107 dealers in shoe
manufactured goods, sixty-five shoe manu-
facturers' agents. fifty-two glazed kid con-
Germs, sixty hide and skin dealers and brok-
ers sixteen shoe machinery makers and
dealers and nearly 800 miscellaneous con-
Germs.
| While comparatively small quantities of
either leather or shoes are manufactured in
Boston itself, it is the great buying, SELL
ing, distributing and financial center Of the
country and has been such for many years.
The statistics for tine industry Of Massa-
chusetts alone are stupendous. In 1908, ac-
cordlng to the report of the director Of
the MASSACHUSETTS Bureau Of Statistics, the
total capital invested in the manufacture
|
was about $42,OOO,OOO and the total value
the product for that year was approx
mately S17O,OOO,OOO
Lynn, the great center for the manufac-
ture of women's footwear, claims an annual
product of $5O,0OOOOO, counting the collat-
eral industries, whose name is legion.
! Brockton leads the world III the manufac-
ture Of mems shoes and has 1856 factories
! In which footwear and accessories are
produced. Last year II shipped 10000 cases
or 4o,OOO,OoO pairs, valued at $5S,0O0,OO0 an in
crease Of $120OO,OO0 for the year. It's 1900
workers receive 100000 in wages an
nually. Brockton also possesses the largest
heel factory in existence, doing a business
Of about s1,OOO,0OO annually.
Haverhill, the worlds leading slipper city
has been dabbling insleather and the prod.
ucts since 1643-this is no infant industry
in New England-and today it has 100 fac.
tories producing 20,OOO,OO0 pairs OF slippers
and low cut shoes year. of value OF
S3O,OOOOOO, Nothing decadent about this.
Haverhill, lynn, Peabody (the great lea
ther tanning town, Salem, Beverly, Dar
vers, Marblehead and Newburyport al
having some connection with this Industry
are located in a Massachusetts county
Essex--which produces one-seventh OF al
the shoes and leather made in the United
States.
There are a good many other thing
about the New England shoe business tina
, the New England public doesn't realize
. How many, for example, know that the
, are making shoes out of Panama hats 4
Lynn or that one Of the big concerns 4
that city on a cabled order from Englan
, had a large quantity Of mourning shoe
a made up from an instantly created styl
and in readiness for shipment to Englan
> IN connection with the obsequles OF Kin
. Edward VII, within a week?
: One OF the most marvellous development
= of the Shoe industry has been the perfeC
u ton OF the almost human machinery this
a now performs more than hundred
the operations required in fashioning II
modern shoe. This represents another Ne
. England triumph, for most of this wol
derful machinery is made right here
!, Massachusetts, and practically all OF
= has been invented by clever New Englan,
!, ers-New York World.