The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1922-10-13
LOCAL LIONS WORKING TO
LAND BIG SHOE FACTORY
Brown Shoe Company Officials Spend
Two Days in Union City.

Two Days in Union City.
The local Lions Club is hot on the
trail of the Brown Shoe Co.'s branch
plant, and they are confident of win
ming. Several meetings here have
been held and various plans dis
cUssed.
Messrs. P. O'Brien, vice president,
H. l.. Tones, vice president, and Z.
M. Mccarthy, general manager, of
the Brown Shoe Company, st. Louis,
arrived in Union City Friday, and de-
voted the best part of two days
giving Union City and Obion County
a good, genteel 'looking-over." They
attended a meeting, talked business
and met large number of Union
City citizens, and were pleased with
the town, the country and delighted
with the reception and interest in
the proposed enterprise. The plant
proposed is duplicate of the one now
in Charleston, Ill. The Lions commit
tee, composed of Messrs. VIM Turner,
H. O. Vincent, H. M. Oliver, j. W.
Woosley, J. v. Verhine and Harris
Parks, spent the day Monday at
Charleston investigating matters and
going over the plant. They were
more than pleased with their visit
and surprised at the magnitude of
the business done at this place by
the company. Mr.. Vincent furnished
The Commercial with a few items
and observations gathered while see
ing the factory:
People actually employed, $3.50
per cent males, 40 per cent females.
Total pay roll last week, $11,233.
Lowest paid, beginners, 13 cents per
hour. Highest paid male, $50 per
week. Highest paid female. $43 per
week.
The plant in operation 3 years and
weeks. Total pay roll to date, $780,
All. When plant was located, the
company agreed to pay $1,00O,O00
during the first 10 years. At the
present rate, the amount will reach
$3,000,00O.
Ten years ago Charleston had s.
500 people; she has now 5000.
Mr.. J. " Verhine and DR.. H. M.
Oliver made a few observations as
they went along, reporting as fol-
lows:
TAKEN THROUGH FACTORY.
The Union City men were taken
through the factory from the cutting
room on the third floor to the finish
ing room on the first.
They watched the shoes grow from
scattered pieces of cut leather to the
finished product packed in the boxes
ready for shipment.
The work in the cutting and sew
ing departments is done by girls who
make an average of $19 to $22 per
week.
They all have clean jobs and are
we'll dressed.
1t was stated that one young lady
who stamps the numbers on the shoes
made $43 last week.
Many earn as high as $25 per.
week.
In the lasting department on the
second floor most of the work is done
by men who earn an average of $50
to $32 per week. One man in this
department made $53 last week.
The labor in the factory is all
American.
Many of the employees own their
cars and have as good homes as there
are in the city. Practically every
business in Charleston has profited by
the coming of the shoe factory. More
than $1,000 pairs of shoes were re-
Gently manufactured in one week and
the output averages 10000 pairs
week.
The Brown Shoe Company agreed
when locating their plant in Charles
ton to spend a million &oi1ars in the !
city in ten years.
The factory has been in Charleston
only three years and already the mil
lion has been spent. Fully three ,
times that amount will be spent in |
ten years at the present rate of in Y
crease. In
The company maintains a club G
house for the workers which is used q
mostly at noon and for occasional
parties. During the winter months t
he workers are served with free cof- /
ZEE at the lunch hour. e
Here are two testimonials of t
Charleston citizens as to what the A
plant has meant to the town: 2
j. M. White, plumber and heating t
alesman: 1.-THE Brown Shoe Com
lany has dealt splendidly with the n
business men and citizens of Charles f
on. They are always prompt to pay o
or work done and they have given lr