THE GROWTH OF OUR SHOE INDUSTRY by Robert Grieve

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 8, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 14.

THE GROWTH OF OUR SHOE INDUSTRY.

By Robert Grieve

[Robert Grieve, in the February Success.]

The boots, shoes, and slippers made by machinery in the United States, every year, would provide a pair of some kind for more than one-seventh of the inhabitants of the earth. If they were arranged by pairs, heels and toes touching, they would make a belt that would encircle the globe, with enough to spare to stretch across the North American Continent from New York to San Francisco. Placed singly, heel and toe, they would go around the world two and one-half times. If placed on the tracks of our great trunk railroads, the rights on one rail and the lefts on the other, they would cover the irons, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, of all the continental lines that now cross our country. The hides and skins used to form this immense quantity of shoes come from all over the world, but chiefly from the East Indies, South America, and Europe; and, if they were sewed together in one sheet, they would make a tent large enough to cover Manhattan Island.

The following statistics, showing the condition of the industry, were furnished, in advance of their general publication, by S. N. D. North, chief statistician of the United States census for manufactures:—

Pairs of boots and shoes made, in 1900:—


For men, youths, and boys	89,123,318
For women, misses, and children	107,415,855
Slippers for men, etc.	4,456,965
Slippers, Oxfords, and low-cuts for women	12,655,876
All other kinds	5,583,405
Total pairs	219,235,419
Total value, wholesale	$261,028,580.00
Cost of materials used	$160,604,054.00
Capital invested	$101,795,333.00
Wages paid	$59,175,883.00
Average number of wage-earners employed	142,922

The industry is largely concentrated in New England, chiefly in Massachusetts, where, in 1900, forty-five per cent of the production was turned out, principally in Brockton, Lynn, and Haverhill, and the smaller places in the immediate neighborhood. The figures for Massachusetts are as follows:—


Value of product	$117,115,243.00
Cost of materials used	$75,751,964.00
Capital invested	$37,577,630.00
Wages paid	$27,745,820.00
Average number wage-earners employed	58,645

Since 1890, the production in the whole country has increased a little over eighteen per cent; the cost of materials used, forty-two and eight-tenths per cent; while the capitalization has only increased six and eight-tenths per cent, and the number of wage-earners, six and nine-tenths per cent. Ten years ago Massachusetts produced over fifty-two per cent of the total; but, while she has made an absolute gain in the value of goods turned out, in 1900 she had less capital invested and fewer establishments engaged in the manufacture of shoes than in 1890. During the last decade the effectiveness of the machinery used in the manufacture has been greatly increased.