The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1910-11-04

land, who spent two or three days
getting we'll acquainted with the bust
ness men of the city
Mr.. Ragland is one of the eighty-six
travelling statesmen of the great shoe
manufacturing concern of st. Louis,
the Wertheimer-Swarts Shoe Com
pany. The exhibit of four hundred
samples of shoes which Mr.. Ragland
had on display at the Kennesaw
House attracted much attention from
Marietta business men, a number of
whom visited it.
Mr. Ragland is most affable gen
tleman and an entertaining talker. He
| knows the shoe business from the
rawhide to the man who wears the
| finished product.
The great factory which he repre-
sents manufactures seven and a half
million dollars worth of shoes year
and carries in its warehouses from a
| million and half to two million dol
lars worth of shoes all the time Mr.
Ragland says that in spite of all the
boasts of how fast shoes can be
turned out with modern machinery,
the fact remains that it takes time to
make good shoe. One reason for
this is that the leather has to be
worked damp, and if a shoe does not
dry on the original last it does not
hold its shape. Lasts cost a dollar
and half, and when it is borne in
mind that the Wortheimer-Swarts
Shoe factory has a capacity of eigh-
teen thousand pairs of shoes a day,
makes six hundred styles, and that it
takes seventy-eight lasts for every
style, the matter of lasts for all the
shoes, to remain in the shoes during
the process Of manufacture and until
the leather is thoroughly dried and the
shape made permanent, is an enor-
nous item, increasing in Importance
when it is remembered that the lasts
are changed from season to season as
new shapes are introduced. To meet
this expense, many manufacturers use
dummy lasts after the shoe is given its
first shape, but this does not serve the
purpose, and the dummy last is use
less except for receiving the impact
when, under powerful pressure, the
heel is nailed to the shoe In the
Wertheimer-Swarts Shoe factory the
original last remains in the shoe until
it is finished and dried.
Talking about leather and shoes, Mr..
Ragland made the statement that no
man can really tell about the quality
of a shoe until it is worn. Of course,
there are glazing differences that are
easily recognized, but he meant that
ten, fifteen or even greater per cent.
could be taken from the value of a
shoe without even an expert being
able to detect it. He spoke of one
trick, for instance, in the manufacture
of sole leather When the hide is be-
ing washed of all the substances that
should be removed so as to leave only
the fibre, the tanners sometimes run
into the watts and force into the pores
Of the hides finely powdered stone,
which gives weight and enables them
to sell the hide at lower price than
they could afford if they did not re-
sort to that trick. The effect of the
stone is to cut the leather all to pieces
when it is worn. The manufacturer
has to protect the customer against
that fraud.
The wonderful elasticity of the
famous "Solastic' shoe, made by the
Wertheimer-Swarts Shoe Company, is
due to the manner in which the leath-
er is manufactured. Up in Wisconsin
is an old tanner named Mooney, who
years ago patented a process for
making an elastic sole leather, and
Wertheimer-Swarts obtain their leath
er from him, paying the highest price,
but producing a shoe that wears
longer.
as there leather trust?" Mr. Rag
land was asked
at is this way" he said. "The beef
packers have their trust, and they get
the hides when they slaughter the cat
tie A subsidiary company owned by
the same people is the United States
Leather Company, which handles
these hides. Another company, owned
by the same people, is the American
Tool and Supply Company, which con-
trolls the manufacture Of all machinery
used in the making of shoes. The
price of leather is controlled by these
combined trusts, but there is a fluctu-
alton from time to time due to va
rious conditions, and the only thing
the manufacturer Of shoes can do is
to take advantage of these fiuctua
tons and buy when leather is cheap
est. The Wertheimer-Swarts Shoe
Company can command practically UNI
limited capital, and buys its leather
accordingly"
How about the consumer? You
say even an expert can not be sure OF
the exact value Of shoe. How can
a man who is to wear the shoe pro-
tect himself against the fraudulent
tricks of the trade"
Mr.. Ragland said:
There is really only one sure way
for him, and that is to rely on his
op6 tho b1i cHpd rpD11ta