Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-12-17
More M0ccasins
How Answer Demand
Asks Maine Concern

Maine long ago acquired the title
OF the playground of America. !"
Millions of persons have come to
know this. as year after year they
nave tramped the rugged mountains
and wilds. fished the lakes and
streams, and enjoyed the sports of
winter. Left to it's own people, with
out the hum of industry, Maine would
be an immense playground, for the
ratio of population to area is one to
twenty five-that is, each person
could have a play yard of twenty
five acres.
But Maine has other things to do
besides play; 1t has important in
dustries within it's borders. Wood,
OF course. is first, and there are many
others. The procuring of wood is re-
I sponsible for one of the best indus
tries OF the state-that of making
shoes. The men who went into the
| forests quickly found that they
needed something more than an or
binary boot: they must have foot.
wear that kept out the water and
the cold, and that gave them safe
footing in the rugged country where
they worked.
Maine woodsmen took their first
lesson from the Indian-they wore
,, the crudely fashioned deerskin moe
! casin, the only shoe the Indians
knew. That was sixty odd years
ago; and the Indians couldn't make
| moccasins fast enough. Then came
to the forests two men-Andrew c.
Sawyer and j. NJ. Arnold; they saw
the demand for moccasins and soon
started making them. So grew a
business which some Years later be-
HN
with modern plant at Bangor. Be-
| cause the moccasin is essentially a
Maine product, the Sawyer Company,
| after thirtyfour years of successful
business, finds itself in the position
of the Indians yet with all their
! mechanical facilities, Gawyer cannot
produce moccasins fast enough.
There are several ways of account
| ing for the success of any business
IT. the case of the Sawyer company.
the principal reason has been the
production of honestt goods and
square dealing. The company is
rated as the largest, oldest, and best
known manufacturer of moccasins in
the world. The men vino have guild
ed this business through years Of ups
and downs to the position it now
holds are Andrew c. Sawyer, the
president. Roland J. Sawyer. vice
president, and Howard F. Sawyer,
treasurer. Which means that since
the inception of the business the
making of Sawyer moccasins has
been in the hands Of one family. At
first there were three workmen: to-
day there are upward of three hun
dred and need for more.
At present the executives OF the
Sawyer company are 5usily engaged
extending their business. Plans are
being completed which call for fac
tory expansion and additional MIA
chinery, the enlargement of the sales
force and the pushing of the goods
into every market in the country.
Details of the enlargement are being
worked out in connection with the
new issue of 100000 preferred stock.
proceeds from the sale of which are
being put into the business
Speaking of the increase in capital,
Howard +. Sawyer, the treasurer
says: For the past two years we
have been constantly obliged to de-
cline substantial orders from many
United States. owing to the fact that
our production has been nowhere
sufficient to meet the demand. The
success we have attained in past
years can be greatly augmented by
an increase in capital.
"T1e present business of the COM
pany is firmly established. 1t has
passed through the various panics
and adjustment periods of the past
thirty years with sales gradually in
creasing. With every department of
our business we'll organized and
systema tiled. with modern manufac-
turing facilities. and with the man
agement in the same hands which
have directed the company from its
beginning we believe that we are in an
ideal position to obtain all the BUSH
ness possible for us to handle under
the enlarged facilities, which this
issue of preferred stock is providing"
Capable of distributing more than
1t now can make; already selling
through the principal stores in about
twenty states and also selling direct
to wearer, wishing to enlarge its
factory at Bangor and its tannery at
Newport, it's stock being chiefly held
in Maine, it's advertisements through
out the country Indirectly advertising
Maine. these and other features con-
tribute to making 1t an industry IN
which the people Of the state should
he interested. 1t is no inconsiderabIe
feature that for 90 years holders OF
this concerns stock have received
their regular dividends Surely an
institution like that isn't long to need
capital with which to keep up with
its, excellent reputation.