Evening star., 1918-07-28
Copyright. 1918. BY Frank @. carpenter.)


Pershing, and they are larger and better
than any shoe formerly supplied to the
Army. The shoes worn by civilians range
IN size from fives to elevens or
twelves. Ex-President Taft wears
Number 15. but he has his shoes made
to order. They are made by q COM
pany here in Massachusetts,.
The new sizes made for the soldier
range from 8h to Is. The shoes on
my desk are Number Is. They are SO
large that 1 could put the Number
I have on inside one and 1t would rat
tie around like a pea in pod. They
are heavy. The old Army shoe weighs
about three pounds per pair. The
new ones weigh two pounds more.
They have a steel horseshoe round
the heel and a steel tip at the toe.
well suited for booting the kaiser or
any boche that may come over the
top. The sole is plated with hob nails.
and a row of hobs extends in and
around the inner edge OF the heel.
4
The leather of the new Army shoes
is the finest that can be procured
The uppers are as smooth and soft as
a glove, but thick and heavy. with
the grain side out and the smooth side
next the foot. I put my hand inside
one Of the shoes and felt about Tor
tacks or rough places. There are
none. The tongues are sewed to the
uppers. which come nigh up over the
instep. The shoes have cotton lace
strings and the eyelets are brass
Tho leather 10 bark tanned ana
waterproof The sole is heavy. and
especially fitted. for work in the
trenches. The large sizes are Que 70
for marching, and also to the fact
that the men In the trenches often
wear two or three pairs OF stockings.
one over the other, to Keep out the
cold. They. sometimes soak their
The soldiers must have the right
kind Of shoe In order to do their work
we'll In the Franco-PrHsstRn war not
less than $4,000 German soldiers were
ut one time incapacitateda for Hetd sefv-
this war began z per cent Of the Ger
man army was found unit for military
service through sore feet. due to bad
shoes In our cfyilwa whole brigades
were temporarily disabled by bad
shoes. and after several days march
have. bore feet 1t was the quick stop
Of StonewaIl Jackson's foot-cavalry
that gave the south its victory at the
second battle of Bull Run; and Water
loo was lost because the French rein
forcements failed to arrive. Both
Napoleon and Wellington. the leaders
of that battle. reaIiked the value Of
good footgear. Napoleon said he made
war not SO much with the arms 8 with :
The legs Of his troops. and Wellington
designed boot which was worn by
The British army for years.
Prior to the present war our Army
shoe board spent several years study
ing the feet of the soldiers and de-
signing the service shoe which was
used up to the time we sent men to
Edward Lyman Munson. lieutenant
colonel Of the Medical Corps. who has
-sritten a book on the soldiers foot
; nd the military shoe. In this he gives
he results of experiments made upon
he feet of our Army. In 1908 a bat
!; nd then camped for twenty-four hours.
The next Cav 1t returned. The Army
shoe board found that 80 per cent Of
the men had severe foot injuries after
their eight-mile tramp. and that many
of them required hospital treatment.
In later marches in shoes designed and
fitted by the board the most of the
MEN got through without injury.
In ordinary marching Col. Munson
estimates that the soldier takes an
average step of thirty inches and that
in travelling one mile each foot. strikes
the ground 1000 times. This means
that in an eighteen-mile march the
soldiers foot strikes the ground 1900
times, and IL he has a rough place in
his shoe that place gives his foot
$4,000 individual rubs or throws him
out of action during the march
: The Army shoe board found that the
men were not At to pick their own
shoes. They found that the average
man wears shoes two sizes too small,
and that his foot swells and enlarges
while marching. Two-thirds of the
soldiers were wearing short shoes, and
1t was only two out of 200 who would
naturally select shoes too large for
them.
: At present the feet of the soldiers
is to load the soldier with his full
equipment of about forty pounds
weight and have him stand on a plat
form in his bare feet. His feet are
then measured and ample room is
given for expansion. The average
shoe is about a size larger than the
measurements and the soldiers are
shown how to break I'M their footgear
= The government gives them direc-
.tions as to the care of the feet, and
the officers have to examine the feet
of the men and see that they are all