The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1917-10-25
WHAT'S ina SHOE?
Leather, of Course, but There
Are Lots of Other Things.
FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD.

Reading the Story Of the Materials
That Are Used In Turning Out Mod.
ern Footgear is Like Taking q Les
son In Commercial Geography.
What's In shoe?
Take q factory tag that tells how a
shoe is made. Count on it sixty differ
ent items of material; also different
items Of labor. That shows many Of
the things in case. And there may
be others.
Whence come the materials? When
you look at shoe you see the four cor
ners Of the globe pulled together in 1t.
Begin with the bottom, or sole, made
from the hide Of Texas steer, tanned
in oak from Pennsylvania forests. And
the heel is of South American dry hide.
tanned in hemlOck bark.
It's a kidskin shoe you have? 1t
looks it, although one never can tell
for sure these days. The vamp is made
of goat of Brazil. 1t is tanned with
chrome from New Caledonia, is black
ed with logwood from Jamaica and Is
glazed with glass from Austria.
The top is of kid skin tanned in Nj
geria. brought to Massachusetts, and
there retained and finished. The tongue
is of sheep leather. The sheep grew In
Argentine. The leather Innings are OF
skins OF sheep that grew in Australia.
The skins We're tanned In sumac from
Sicily.
Some of the leather is treated with
fiat liquor" an emulsion made Of cod
oil from Labrador and acids from one
of the new American chemical labora-
tories.
Yet only few Of the things that the
tanner used in making the shoe have
been mentioned. He also uses In his
mystery of tanning "divf-divf from
the East Indies, valonia from Turkey,
myrobolans from India and algarobilla
from the land knows where, salt from
Michigan, sawdust from Maine mills,
egg yolk from Russia, blood from Chi
cago and degras from France-and a
few other things from few other coun-
tries besides.
If there's any fellow under the sun,
from an Eskimo to Patagonian or
from a Hottentot to a Korean, who has
q hide or skin to sell, he can get his
price for it If he will show 1t to a YAM
kee tanner, for the Yankee tanner Is
buying pelts everywhere.
The leather Of which the shoe is made
is fastened together with thread Of Irish
linen or Georgia cotton. The lacings are
of Egyptian or long fiber Sea island
cotton, tough and strong. The buttons
are of bone, pearl or paper, American
or European. The eyelets are Of brass.
coated with celluloid.
The tacks are made by the million In
Massachusetts, of steel. The same is
true of the heel nails and Of the shanks
in the arches Of the shoe. If person
prefers wood pegs that won't scratch
hardwood floors in the heels OF his
shoes he may get them at a New
Hampshire shop.
The welt may be of pigskin. The pig
was killed in Packingtown, and his pelt
was tanned in Massachusetts. His
bristles were saved and made into
brushes for cleaning the shoe.
Between the outsole and the insole
of the shoe Is the ''filler," a compost
ton Of rubber from Ceylon cut with
naphtha and mixed with ground cork
from Portugal
The insole perhaps is of good bark
tanned leather. But 1t may be Of fiber.
coated with sheet Of leather. The
box toe may also be of leather. But
more likely 1t is of felt. filed with
shellac to make it stiff. Likewise the
counter may be of leather. But more
likely it is OF leather board or celluloid
or of scraps of leather pasted together
with -four paste and compressed.
The felt is made from waste wooden,
perhaps old coats. The shellac Is from
the lac tree OF India, and the leather
board is made down In Maine of shred
ded leather, hemp and jute from India
and other things.
Yet few more things are used In
the making of shoe. The last, over
which the shoe is fashioned, is OF ma
pie from Michigan. The patterns, by
which the uppers are cut, are OF paper
board, made from old newspapers.
They are bound with brass. The
brass is stripped from them after they
become obsolete. and it is used for
brazing the steel dies with which leath-
er Is cut for several parts of the shoe.
The brazing is done In an electric fame
or in fire of Pennsylvania coal.
The snowy white lining is made from
cotton Of Dixie land. The top facing
is of silk made in New Jersey mills.
and the gold leaf on 1t may be truly a
product of Ell Dorado.
The edges of the heels and soles are
FURNISHED with wax, which comes from
Brazil, and the shoes are BACKED with
backing of which wax is a chief part.
There are forty-seven other things In
shoe. But enough already has been
told. What does fellow expect these
days Of high prices? Enough already
has been said to make lesson In
commercial geography Incorporating
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