The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-11-16

granted that he knew what he was talk
ing about. Being news" (Which may
be roughly defined as anything out of the
ordinary, this statement was given a
prominent position in the papers. The de
NAL, which was not news. was condensed
to few lines. where it was printed
at all.
What Mr.. McElwain said was that
hices had dropped, not leather. and GER
tainiy not shoes. as the uniformed
render might suppose.
As matter of fact the recession in
tho price of hides could not logically he
reflected in the retail shoe market for
" least a year, even under normal con-
iitions.
Where the Year Goes
Hides and leather are by no means
anonymous. There is little matter of
rom four to six months which separate
hem
Hides are the skins of animals with
he hair on. These skins must be so
reated, chemically. that the hair is re-
moved and the skin itself transformed
20 the tough, plabIe substance COM
nercially known a leather In the pro-
auction of some grades of leather it is
possible to complete these processes IN.
our months. but the better grades OF
oak-tanned leather take at least six
months before they are ready for use.
The leather is then sorted and put
on the market through the tanners
salesrooms.
After reaching the shoe manufacturer
t is again sorted and then shipped 70
the cutting room and thence to the fit
ting room. The fitted upper and the
cut and fitted bottom stock go to- what
is known as the assembly room.v where
both the upper and bottom materials
wait for the convenience of the 'last"
dc partment Then come the various
stages of lasting. heeling and finishing,
fell NV he flo mir
ing and shipping.
Right here enters the element of trans
portation, something over which neither
the wholesaler, the jobber nor the re-
to distant parts of the country are de-
layed. Consignments. even to compar-
a.ively nearby points. are held up-and
anywhere from two to eight weeks are
added to the time which must elapse
before the shoes reach the shelves of
the retailer.
Tabulated. therefore, the time con-
sumed in the various processes may be
divided in the following manner:
Tanning and treating ..........6 months
Manufacture ...................6 months
Transportation ..........s......-2
Time between hides and shoes
q. least one year.
Another point to be remembered IN
dealing with shoes is that hides means
'Ieather'' Eventually. not kid from
which the majority OF women ShocS aie
made.
Kid leaAhers come virtually entirely
from abroad--from South America, India
and various sections of Europe Russia
supplies much of the colt skin anu the
various other items which enter into the
ma nufacture of shoes come from widely
separated points-goat skin from China.
SAMPLER from Philadelphia, wood OH
from Michigan, lamp black and turpen-
tine from North Carolina. dammar from
New Zealand. asphalt and couchone from
South America, benzoin from Sumatra'
benzine from Pennsylvania. mastie from
soto and sandarac from Africa--to mem
ton only a few of the necessary ingre-
clients. all of which are headed upward
ir price. not down.
And it's hardly necessary to state what
is happening there.
1t viii, therefore. be seen that In ad-
aition to allowing at a,a .sas can reach the