The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1922-03-16
Harry Orchard and His Model Shoe
Factory in the Idaho Penitentiary

!
capacity OF his plant until today he is
able II forced, to turn out about 40
pairs OF Well-made shoes. lie has
about S2500 worth OF machinery in his
shop today, all paid Tor and all ms own.
About two years ago he sold out has
Understanding machinery to Patrick
Murphy another inmate sentenced Tor
lie. and since then has entire time has
been devoted to making more and bet
ter shoes
But 1t takes a large stock of mater
ials to keep shoe factory. even
small one, going and Harry found him
self confronted with a bigger problem
than buying machinery-that OF buy
ing the integral parts of shoe. all OF
which are expensive. The 1921 legisla-
ture was not generous in making APP
preparations for state institutions and
the penitentiary fund Jared no better
than the others.
The Warden's Lift.
Warden William Cuddy was anxious
to see the shoe shop go over" and
what did he do but take $4,000 out of
his maintenance fund to buy leather
and other supplies for the workers
He knew he would have to compensate
for this and this is what he did All
winter long TRUSTEES" have been
tramping the banks of the Boise river
picking up drift wood for fuel in order
to save coal. AS a result the peniten-
tiary did not burn pound of coal until
February 1, when two cars were or
dered, and the warden intends making |
these two, along with the wood, last
out the winter.
The state insane asylums at Black
foot and Orofino. the sanitarium at |
Nampa, the industrial training school !
at ST Anthony and the soldiers home
all buy shoes from the little peniten-
tiary shop. BY careful purchasing and
good management the penitentary is
able to sell to these institutions at a
much lower cost per pair than they
can buy from dealers.
Being able now to supply the needs
of these institutions and still have
some shoes left over, the little shoe
oiAbB mas EOl0 llllO AlAN AGNeAAi oAloN JUS
mess and already one Boise store is
handling the product turned out by
Harry Orchards little group of shoe
makers.
Profits Not Large.
Profits from the shoe shop amount
to about Is per cent, everything in
Guided. Some months, however, it will
run as high as q per cent. All money
made by the shop is turned back into
the maintenance fund and Harry
thinks it will not be long until the
$4,000 is paid back.
After the $4,000 was set aside then
came the trouble of purchasing the sup
plies. and Harry says he owes a great
deal of the success of the shop to +.
A. Jeter. purchasing agent for the
state, who has made special effort to
get the shoemakers their supplies.
Harry is quite satisfied with the
shop, but is anxious to enlarge it and
keep it growing. He cannot say too
much for the men he has working
with him-he will not allow it to be
said that they are working for him
We never have any trouble here" he
says, "and outside of the times when
hey accompany visitors to the shop l
he guards do not find it necessary to \
,ome around. You know. there is al {
ways a right way to do everything and /
We here in the shoe shop have decided l.
hat is the way to do things" y
Stock Now Imposing. C
In addition to the shop there is a s
arge storeroom where all the supplies v
re kept. Large sides of sole leather,
oils of 'uppers" and cloth for finish a
ng the insides of the shoes. tiers of t
ubber heels and insoles fill all the n
pace in the room that is not already V
AIKEN up with finished shoes. a
1t is also in this room that Harry o
makes out his monthly reports. Oh p
es, a strict account is kept of every t
hing. Each month a report is made Il
ut showing the number and value of b
he pairs of shoes turned out, the A
mount of repair work done and all Il
Their items of expense and revenue of tt
ne shop. This report is cumulative d.
)r the year; that is, at the end of
ach month the amount of business 81
one for the year can be seen at r;
lance. IL
Harry does not do much of the ac p
lal work of making shoes any more b,
nd what he does is mostly hand il
ork. However, he has several steady a
lstomers on his list for special shoes Ia
nd he makes enough pairs of shoes lii
ach year to supply these. His custo- q
iers are scattered over the state and W
sveral of them are as far away as the 81
istern part of the United States. al
Work, Universal Panaeea. of
Work in the shoe shop is popular Of
nong the inmates of the penitentiary
ut Harry is unable to give work to
i those who want to come in. This
one of the reasons why he wants to
llarge his shot, He says it is not n