A lady, after examining the slippers of the tradesman, said, “Mr. ——, why do you not import your slippers from Paris?” “Madam,” was the reply, “I have already sent out an order, and I expect every day the arrival of an extensive assortment; if you will call in in about a week, I think I can furnish you with just the article you desire.” The lady left, promising to return, and Mr. —— visited his printer and had a number of “tickets,” bearing the name of an imaginary French shoemaker, struck off, and by her next visit he was prepared with a “very extensive assortment.” She was fitted with a pair, and after extolling the style, elegance, and comfort of her slippers, insulted the tradesman by enquiring “why he did not make such shoes.”
The Americans are rapidly securing to themselves a superiority over all other nations in this important manufacturing interest, and in a few years boots and shoes of American manufacture will be regarded as the ne plus ultra of the art.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
IMPORTANCE OF THE BOOT AND SHOE TRADE.
The great importance of the Boot and Shoe Trade in the New England and Middle States, and the vast amount of capital devoted to its development, the energy, brains, and perseverance of its leading men, place this branch of the mechanic arts high on the list of the great industrial interests of the age. It is, therefore, a matter of surprise, that some work has not appeared which should contain important scientific, statistical, and practical information concerning the rise and progress of the Shoe and Leather interests. Works upon Tanning have been published, covering many of the collateral branches of that science, and fugitive articles occasionally appear, giving accounts of new discoveries, or new applications of old methods, concerning the preparation of leather, &c.; but in the manufacture of boots and shoes, no work has ever appeared which would enable the shoemaker to make any advancement in his calling, other than that which his own observation or genius might suggest. The Boston Board of Trade publish annual Reports in which appear able articles upon the Shoe and Leather interests, but these, of course, are mainly statistical and financial in their character. There is published, also, in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, simultaneously, the Shoe and Leather Reporter, by J. D. Field & Co., a valuable journal, devoted exclusively to the trade in boots and shoes, leather, hides and its collateral branches, also market reports and correspondence from various portions of the world. This paper is the only organ, we believe, devoted exclusively to the shoe and leather interests. Systems of measurement, the cutting of patterns, preparation of stock, all of which can be gained by study and application, have been, as it were, sealed from the direct investigation of the inquiring mind. In other branches of the mechanic arts, volumes have been published, and the ambitious student pursues his investigations from primary principles to ultimate results in regular gradations.
In the science of shoe manufacture, we must refer for information principally to English works; and even these are collateral, rather than direct, in their application. Dodd’s British Manufactories, Brande’s Encyclopedia, Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, Penny Cyclopedia, Results of the Late Exhibition, (London,)—all these are the repositories of much that has been written upon the leather interests; sources of information which none but the man of leisure, or the enterprising compiler, would be likely to trace out.
It may be said that the simplicity of this branch of the mechanic arts does not require that degree of study and investigation which the more abstruse and complicated sciences demand, and hence there is no necessity for works upon the subject. This objection is only true in part. It requires the nicest adaptation of skill to make a perfectly fitting shoe or boot, and no man, unless he who is fully conversant with the rules and principles which enter into the preparation of the stock, the correct measurement of the foot, the “cutting out” of the several parts of the stock, the lasting and fitting of the shoe or boot, can be successful in his profession. The making of an easy, elegantly fitting boot, requires a knowledge of the anatomy of the foot, a familiar acquaintance with the angles, lines and curves, which are involved in the perfect adjustment of part to part, and their relative positions. Most shoe manufacturers, and ordinary village shoemakers, learn their trades from their fathers, and the knowledge has been handed down from generation to generation, without change or improvement, and shoes are made to fit lasts, rather than the feet which are to wear them. Hence intelligent instinct has taken the place of intelligent knowledge, and progressive investigation. The workman knows nothing of the anatomy of the foot, the science of pattern cutting, and therefore works on as though all feet were cast in one mould, with the simple difference which the “sizes” indicate. These “sizes,” as is clearly shown in another portion of this work, are regularly incorrect. Hence, in the absence of a correct standard, the system of boot and shoe making is simply the following of established mechanical rules, upon a false foundation.
We refer in these remarks to the manufacture of what is known as “sale work.” There are many, very many, “custom workers,” who proceed by correct rules, and upon scientific principles; men who understand how to adapt the shoe or boot to the foot, so that when the customer first draws the boot or shoe on, it fits naturally and easily, adapting itself to any, and every deformity or slight irregularity which the foot may present. We make general statements, which every intelligent shoemaker, or large manufacturer, will at once acknowledge. The whole trouble arises from the want of some correct standard by which to be guided in the preparation of the stock for the workman. All this cannot be gained but by study, patient investigation, and the practical application of scientific rules.
The French are generally acknowledged to understand the art of boot and shoe making better than those of any other nation, and they have carried the science to a degree of perfection not yet attained by ourselves, except in a few comparatively isolated cases. The whole secret of their success is their patient perseverance, and artistic skill in understanding the rules which are vitally essential to success.
In another chapter we have devoted considerable space to the elucidation of the principles of measurement, pattern cutting, and such instructions as will enable the manufacturer—and in this term we comprise all who are engaged in this important branch of our industrial interests—to become a scientific proficient in his vocation.