The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-10-22
Shoes HISTORY
LECTURE Theme.
Charles 7. Cahill. Of United
Shoe Machinery Company,
Traces Evolution.
VERY ROMANTIC STORY
Says War Aids Foreign Trade. Life of
Soldiers Footwear Being
Six Weeks.
VERY ROMANTIC STORY

SsA "SSAos
The interesting story of the develop.
rnent down through the ages Of the mod.
ern shoe. q story full Of romance and
human interest, was told last night By
Charles T. Cahlll, advertising manager OF
the United shoe Machinery Company OF
Beverly, Mass. in an illustrated lecture
In the assembly hall of the Y. NJ. c. A.
Building before an audience of immense
size.
The evolution Of the modern shoe from,
prehistoric times down through the cen.
turtles to the present, explanation Of the
manifold processes required In the max
ing of the shoe OF today, a sketch of the
rapid Advancement In machinery for the
manufacturing Of shoes, a study of the
ideal shoe constructed for the United
States army and a discussion OF the vari-
Gus types of boots and shoes worn by
the soldiers now lighting on European
battlefields formed the subject matter OF
the lecture.
THE making Of a single pair OF shoes
today requires the use OF 163 machines
and involves no operations" explained
Mr.. CahiIi And machinery in the
United States Is turning out more than
300. o0o. 900 pairs of shoes q year. Due to
the improvements in machinery. the for
cent during the last fifteen years
Romance in Machinery.
The history of the development OF
shoe manufacturing machinery is full OF
romance and human interest The won
derful lasting machine. which performs
what was thought for a time could never
be accomplished by mechanism. was In
vented by a poor Portuguese youth who
died before the success Of the product
OF his brain and genius had been recog-
nized So poor was he that he was COM
PEELED to make the model for his ma
chine out OF bits OF cigar boxes and
pieces of barrel hoops that he found
in the street The name OF this young
man was Jan Matzgeliger.
Feeling confident that his machine
would revolutionize the shoe business,
the young man organized a stock COM
pany to finance the invention. Just be-
fore his death he left virtually all his
stock to Massachusetts, churches. The
stock was looked upon as worthless But
the success OF the invention has made II
possible for three churches in Lynn to
pay on their mortgages by means OF
the stock presented TO them by the
Portuguese youth. And the stock COM
pany formed by the young man developed
SAcp W SlcP lHAO Onllcu SnOc MA
chinery Company of today. :
Another great figure In the de-
velopment of shoe-manufacturing ma
chinery was Gordon Mckay. who
bought the Blake machine and sue
ceeded in perfecting it. Being unable
to place the machine on the market,
Mckay offered II to manufacturers
free OF charge on condition that they
pay him small royalties on every
pair of shoes turned out by it. This
was the beginning Of the royalty syc-
tenn still maintained by the United
Shoe Machinery Company. This COM
pany has aided in setting up in the
shoe business many young men with
small Capital. or no capital at all.
supplying machinery on the
royalty basis.
War Boosts shoe Trade.
THE war is boosting the foreign
trade in shoes wonderfully. Since the
outbreak of the war more than 7,O0o.-
700 pairs Of shoes have been exported
erent nations. There now are orders
IN hand for the furnishing of 1000, 900
pairs. II the war continues another
rear more than 10000. 900 additional
pairs will be required. The average
life of shoe in the war zone in
Xix weeks"
Mr.. Cahill explained that the shoe ante
iated all other articles OF clothing. He
showed pictures OF early forms of SAN
1sls, of the long. pointed shoes of the
fifteenth century: Of the short shoes OF
he Elizabethan age, OF the high boots in
reduced into the Roman Empire during
he invasion of the barbaric Huns under
Attlla. Of the cavalier boot of the seven
NJ he 1adiaas hfCh-haA1a
hoes of the sixteenth century when Louis
XVI thrived, and of various other types
If footwear He showed by this evolu-
ion that styles travel in cycles, disap-
bearing only TO return in a new genera
ion. For instance. he explained that the
;ide-laced shoe. which is something of a
-ad today. was extensively worn by wom-
N from 1880 to 1850.
Mr. Cahill spoke in some detail OF the
deal shoe evolved by the army. He said
hat the length OF a foot should be meas
Ired in a straight line passing through
he center Of the big toe and the center OF
he back Of the heel. and that this line, |
,nown as Meyers line, should not be dis
orted by the shoe. He said the army
provides that shoes must be two sizes
anger than the measurement Of the foot
If the soldier with the weight upon II.
Arthur Burt Presides.
The lecture was given under the aus
ices of the Washington Shoe Retail |
RS Association, which embraces virtual |
Y every retail shoe dealer in the city. |
Arthur Burt. president of the association, |
presided. Other officers Of the organiza-
ion are Isaac Nordlinger, vice president; !!
oseph Strasburger. treasurer, and Ed
win Hahn. secretary.
Among those present were:
Fred Schultz and Mrs. Schultz.
Fred Osterman.
c. T. Brainard.
Mr.. Powell.
Mr.. Sisco and Mrs Sisco.
Mr.. and Mrs. George 1fihm.
Mr.. and Mrs. Blacher.
Mr.. and Mrs. Waggaman. |
Mr.. and Mrs. Adler.
Mr.. Brock.
Mr.. Boyer.
Mr.. and Mrs. A. 3. Riley.
Mr.. Hobbs.
Mr.. Sinsheimer.
Sam Splitter.
Maurice Hirsh.
B. Trewolla- |
Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Burt.
Mr.. and Mrs. Joseph strasburger.
Fred Hahn. |
Edward Hahn. |
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Estes. |
Frank Perry.
Mr.. and Mrs. Joseph Berberich. |
]. Nordlinger
Clarence Grosner.
Sol Lewis.
Mr. Hirsh