Evening star., 1923-04-02
THE WAYS OF
WASHINGTON
BY WILLIAM PICKETT HELM

| Did ii ever occur to you as you
walk, tramp, run, glide or dance
through life that one of the most
essential little things to your hap
piness is the sole OF your shoe?
II your sole Is good, alI Is well;
but a poor sole. like a poor soul, is
the cause Of almost endless vexation
and worry.
Uncle Sam is interested in your
sole as we'll as your soul He takes
feeting notice OF the one in the guar
antee that you may develop It as you
Will; the other however, he himself
tests in the mill of wear and tear.
Not sole touches earth, pavement
or floor whose twin has not been
thoroughly tested by the government
Of the United States.
The bureau OF standards, one of
the most wonderful workshops in
the world, knows more about your
sole than you know yourself. In the
| sylvan surroundings of Rock Creek
Park the practical leather experts Of
the bureau have set themselves to
| the work OF testing soles.
| They do this in the most common
place and practical method imagin-
able. They simply wear the soles on
their own shoes. Employees Of all
grades, from laborers to high bu-
reau onicials' wear samples OF sole
Each sole tester keeps a card show
ing the history Of the test For ex-
ample. card would show the date
Of the commencement of the test,
the weight Of the man wearing the
sole, whether he had peculiar or
! unusual way Of walking and what
| KIND OF ground he walked on.
The men who test. soles usually
! wear sample of one kind OF leather
on one foot and another kind on the
other. In that manner q comparison
| can be made. After a time, or when
the sample soles are badly worn,
they are measured and weighed and
their wearing qualities established.
During the war the scientists call
ed on the boys at Camp Meade to
help the sole-testing experiments.
Doughboys. whose speciality Is walk
J able
| Policemen and fremen have assist
ed since then. The police, however,
are on their feet too much and the
tremen hardly enough to afford the
proper sort of tests. 80 the bureau
/ rather oiscourages the use of these
work
! AS the ultimate test, the scientists
| II is contraption that would make
/ Weston and other long distance
| strollers green with envy. Forty
miles before breakfast is as nothing
A revolving wheel and an abrasive
disk form the main theme Of the
stepping study. The current is
| turned on: the wheel revolves; the
about 10000 steps or 90 miles--is
! under way. When the sole comes
| OFF the patented stopper II has been
! tried and tested.
| There are other ways of testing
/ soles. Also there are kinds OF soles
! 20 test than those OF ordinary
leather. One of the methods in use
/ is via the route of chemical analysis.
! The leather-testing laboratory has
a complete tanning outfit. including
! the smell. Included in the work is
! the tanning Of rabbit skins. showing
/ beyond question that the work is ad-
vancing by leaps and bounds.
! as. shoe soles and uppers. 1t sounds
! ashy, doesn't it2 But shark skin has
good qualities. For instance, II re-
| tains a finish, after a long period Of
wear, that an ordinary leather shoe
Pigsk,n is being investigated in
which now go to waste. How is II
! wasted. we eat IT, Of oU,UUV,uVV
or so hogs slaughtered yearly but a
! small proportion are skinned. Conse-
! Quently when we buy bacon we buy
| rind.
| A pig is not only traditionally Slip
/ perry. but once caught Its hide Is hard
! TO remove. II is also full OF grease,
| which makes tanning difficult.
| The experts are working on a
method Of Decreasing pigskin and OF
/ tanning 1t economically. They are
also perfecting a process Of tanning
| sheepskins, so that a sheepsktn may
| be useful to some one else besides
the graduates OF our colleges and
universities. Treat a sheepskin right
and II will make good shoe leather.
| In addition. the bureau tests shoe
! soles made OF various compounds.
! One of these, the Army hob-nail
shoe, can be worn ninety days before
the actual leather becomes noticeably
| affected.
| one Of the obsolete things the bu-
reau used TO test is hanging on the
wall as an exhibit. It is a pair of
massive shoes with soles at least
an inch thick.
what are those things" I asked
! You don't have to worry about
| them" my informant replied. "They
| aren't used any more"
NO? Well, what are they, any
| ,,rx-L. 49, ara hra-ar- zboasn