Omaha daily bee., 1919-08-10
By ROBERT WELLES RICHIE
Universal Service Staff Correspondent.

London, Aug. 9.-The fact that an
ordinary, serviceable pair of shoes
nothing fancy or fossy-costs in
London today from SIS upward has
a reflected interest to many Ameri-
cans. lie Bon Dieu knows it has
very poignant interest to Americans
in London who have to dig" for
this price or risk starting a bare
foot cult Of Kneipp grass-walkers.
One cannot believe shoes back
home cost SIS, though one may
have been away from the states for
year. Therefore even the states
reader who casts his eye over this
and rejoices that he's not a CEN
tipede in London may care to read
further and discover just why foot
leather has touched this mark. The
correspondent does not profess to
know all the reasons; but he does
not have to be a wizard to recognize
the chief one-embargo.
Dislike Nursing Job.
Perhaps the unregenerate Ameri-
can in England can raise a grim
chuckle at the thought that here's
one instance, at least, where the
governments policy of protecting
Britain's truggling industries just
emerging from war sickness by the
imposition of a stiff embargo against
foreign imports, crashes back upon
the unprotected head of the British
consumer. In other words, the
stolid, beef fed taxpayer of these
isles is nursing his shoe manufac-
turer out of his own pocket. And
he doesn't relish the assignment as
wet-nurse. He's begun to roar
nightly. Only trouble is, roars are
so common nowadays that the pow
ers that be live in a boiler factory
atmosphere and it takes long time
for this or that individual or collec-
tive protest to register on the Off
cial tympanum.
Partial Leather Control
Consider in connection with this
embargo on American shoes-the
French product is negligible and
only in women's wear-the added
circumstance that the government
has not yet fully relaxed its control
On leather supplies, though the arm
istlce is now many months behind
us. This has big influence on the
market, the control being inextric-
ably tangled with such matters as
the question of exchange, guaran-
tees to British tanners made during
the war, the existence of government
leather stocks and government con-
tracts for spring delivery made in
America during hostilities.
Also harken to typical plant of
the British leather trade, as voiced
in recent issue of the Northamp-
tonshire Journal of Commerce:
Ask Protection.
Give US protection and we should
establish in this country the finest
leather markets in the world. The
British chrome leather industry does
not want bolstering up. 1t needs only
little nursing and fair play"
Here, then, are the forces which
make for SIS shoes in England today
Figure for yourself if they are not
formidable and not likely to be over
turned all at once.
The British boot and shoe trade
use to be largely an export one
In 1918. 1,7l9,865 pairs were sent out
of the country, the total value of
which was we'll over $20,000000.
Against this export the foreign-made
footwear imported in the same year
totaled 226, 1874, of value of $4,195,-
0O0 Now there is not single pair
of shoes for export out of the British
Isles.
Ration Importation.
The Board of Trade has rationed
the importation of foreign made
boots and shoes to rs per cent of the
volume imported in 1918, which
means that when an American-built
shoe does manage to squeeze into
England and duty is paid thereon
that shoe is going to look like dia-