The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-11-12

worth of $106, 743,114 or an average
of $4.10 a pair. Convict-made shoes
which were turned out by Jefferson
City penitentiary factory in 1919, ba-
by shoes, moccasins and slippers, are
not included in this average. Thou
sands of pairs of heavy working shoes,
brogans and other cheaper varieties,
however. played part in arriving at
this 1919 average wholesale worth
per pair and helped to bring down the
average to the figure given.
The average first st. Louis whole
sale worth of 26,052,678 pairs of 1919
Missouri-made shoes and similar foot
wear, $4.10 pair, was computed by
Supervisor of Statistics A. T. Edmon-
ston, from actual information furnish
ed the Missouri Bureau of Labor Sta
tistics by the most extensive and pros
porous shoe factories of the State. AS
reasonable as this amount seems to be
it can be asserted here that all shoe
manufacturers of Missouri did "a
thriving, prosperous business during
1919.
Wholesale jobbers and retailers pa,
the freight and express costs of all
consignments and shipments of foot
/ wear but this item and all other sub
sequent overhead expenses are finally
met by the consumers, plus very sub
stantial profit, when shoes are pur-
chased at sum ranging from So to
$18 pair. The high rents retailers
pay for their places of business and
their homes; reasonable living wages
to clerks, bookkeepers and other en-
| ployes; OUTLAWS for newspaper adver-
Using and other publicity; cost of
light, heat, insurance; donations to
charities and all other miscellaneous
necessary items; interest and dis
counts of banks on borrowed capital;
one or two fashionable limousines and,
| finally, liberal profit, above all bus
mess and personal disbursements, to
| accumulate and draw interest in bank
for old age and "other rainy seasons,
when added to the 04.10 the average
| first st. Louis wholesale selling value
of shoes raises the retail average to
$1O.25 pair.
The Share of the Wage Garner
While 500, 693,O1S was paid in 1919
by Missouri shoe factories to their
| 19, 500 salaried and wage earning en-
ployes as compared to $9,978,610 dis
tributed in 1914 to 1902 toilers, high
| and low in social rank, the average
earning per individual during the IL
months of 1919 was only $1,056. In
1914 the earnings per capita were
$685.. The average increase in yearly
earnings in five years was SAT- for
each worker or 80.5 per cent.
In rejecting over these increases in
earnings of shoe workers, 1919 over
1914, it must not be forgotten that
| the large real increases and annual
salaries of presidents and other high
paid corporation officials and of the
large army of travelling statesmen,
helped materially to swell not alone
the annual earnings for both years OF
wage earners, but also the visible per
capita increase in salaries and wages,
1919 over 1914 for all employees.
Earnings of Manufacturers, 1919
over 1914
! The 1919 disbursements by Missouri
boot and shoe manufacturer for rent,
taxes and insurance, reached the high
total of $5.022,319 on the selling valu-
alton of $142. 1892, 215, nearly 1853 per
cent, as compared to 1882, 1876 for the
year 1914 on boots, shoes and other
footwear which had total first whoIe>
sale selling value of $52, 1O6,003, or
little over half Of one per cent.
In 1919 there was paid out by Mis-
souri, boot and shoe factories a total
of $99, 549,147 for leather and all SIM
liar materials and supplies, this dis
bursement representing over SO per
cent of the total first wholesale SELL
ing value of $142, 1882. 215 of boots and
shoes made in Missouri that year.
In 1914 the leather and other ma
terials and supplies which went to
make boots and shoes with the whole
sale value of 52,522 COG cost the
manufacturers $37. 131 1878, or nearly
TOT per cent of the first wholesale
selling value.
| Missouri boots and shoes manufac-
turers in 1919 disbursed $9,447,222 for
miscellaneous purposes, including the
travelling expenses Of statesmen and
similar salaried employees, newspaper
advertising and other publicity cham
nels, discounts and interest, and for
| all other purposes, not already enum-
| eTdJeu. lHlo ulnouiocAicIlt lSpi Socht-
ed Sc per cent of the total selling val
ue of all boots and shoes made in Mis-
souri, that year.
| In 1914 the miscellaneous disbursc.
ments of Missouri boot and shoe man.
ufacturers totaled $2,105, 440, or per
cent of the wholesale selling value of
all footwear made in the state that
year.
Earnings, 1919, Excel Those of 1914.
The 1919 total disbursement of all
Missouri footwear manufacturers
reached S314,612,206 and when this
sum is subtracted from the total first
wholesale selling worth of the same,
$142,3S2, 215, it left $4,770,006 fol
earnings, dividends and other purpos-
es, or nearly 5.47 per cent of the to-
tai selling. value or TIA per cent
earnings on total capital of SAB,
| 792;985.
In 1914 the total disbursements of
all Missouri shoe factories for all pur-
poses reached I49, 49s, 624 and this sum
subtracted from the total first whols,
| sale selling value Of all footwear
made that year $52,522.006, left 49,
\ 123 $50 or nearly Gil per cent of the