The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-05-20
FOOTWEAR TRADE
RUNNING Wild;
MATERIALS SOAR
Trend Of Everything Entering
Shoes IS Upward Prices
Exceed Expectations.

BOS1ON, MASS, May ZU-Ine trena
OF the local shoe market Is still up
ward, and although prices are now
beyond all expectations. buyers are
placing orders to cover what sales
they have booked, also limited num-
Der which conservative estimate Of
future business seems to require.
It is freely admitted that whole
salers, now selling from stock bought
one to four months ago, win find 1t q
difficult matter to recorder on a re-
placement basis, and the better the
grade the more drastic is the situation
they win face, with conditions SO Sc
we're as to force the biggest operators
to pause before they commit them
selves to purchases manufacturers
are willing to accept.
It Is considered inadvisable today
to sell shoes which are not in stock,
in transit or now going through the
works Of reliable manufacturers be-
cause the prices of fine, or semi fine,
footwear have increased to point
that would wipe out jobber's profit
or seriously reduce 1t, were the for
mer methods Of selling in vogue.
Moreover, the limit to which values
may go is no. longer predicted. They
have already passed the figures ex-
pected by the most pronounced opti-
mists. and although the United States
shoe markets are being drawn upon
to furnish shoes for the needy in Eu-
rope, there is nothing to prevent
prices here from keeping in step with
such abnormal demands. The week
just saw deal consumated between
[ a local merchant and foreign agents
/, S.sf,4 o&r1 h
still more orders under contemplation.
There Is a drain upon the leather
market which is little known of cut
; side the contracting parties One In
stance is of a shipment recently which
required one train Of 80 cars, followed
closely by another of II cars, all load
ed with leather for foreign markets,
With such existing conditions liable
to endure the remainder of this year.
at least, 1t is presumed that no seri-
GUS drop in footwear prices will be
experienced until world conditions re-
sumo their natural standards of self
reliance, and draw from the United
States only what is actually required.
Packer Hide Market.
Sales of packer hides are small
compared to the demand, but large
GuOuSA " oAoW IlldI Tic oIt-
uation has a strong underlying tone.
This deduction is verified by the prices
shown in the principal sales recorded
last week, a few of which are:
January heavy native cows 90 cents
(year ago "a cents); April native
steers 33 cents (year ago % cents) !;
February-March native steers 80
cents (year ago 81 cents); February
March-April branded bulls % cents
(year ago Is cents); April-May native
bulls "a cents (year ago Il cents)
These sales aggregated about $4,000
not enough to meet the wants of the
tanners.
Boston may be one of the largest
markets dealing in commodities abso-
lutely essential to the peoples needs,
but it is apparently in the hands of
the smallest group OF merchants to be
found in any of the United States
great centers. However, the demand
is worldwide, and its proportion is
too heavy to handle without some diff
fculty, because the South American
market for hides has been tied up
with strikes.
Leather Markets.
1t Is conceded by the trade in gen
era that unless there is a radical
change for the better in the supply.
leather prices will go to unheard of
figures. The domestic demand, al
though large, is no more than is fig