CHAPTER SIX

DEPARTMENTS OF A SHOE FACTORY--GOODYEAR WELT SHOES

The principal methods of manufacturing shoes are the following:--

Goodyear welt; McKay; turned; standard screw; pegged; nailed.

The simplest and the clearest way of showing how the various kinds of shoes are made is to explain the manufacture of a Goodyear welt and afterwards bring out the points in which this method of shoemaking differs from the others.

Shoes are manufactured in up-to-date factories, employing hundreds of operatives. The modern shoe factory of to-day is divided into six general departments: the sole leather department, upper leather department, stitching department, making department, finishing department, and the treeing, packing, and shipping departments.

In some sections of the country, several of these departments are often designated by other names. The stitching department is often called the fitting department; the making department, the bottoming department; and the sole leather department, the stock-fitting department. The departments are popularly termed rooms for brevity.

A shoe factory is designed so as to have a width of about fifty feet for each room, while the length is according to the number of shoes to be produced. A width of about fifty feet gives plenty of daylight and ample room in the center of each department, which is very essential in shoemaking.

Shoe factories are usually about two hundred feet long, while many are nearly four hundred feet. A few exceed four hundred feet, running as long as eight hundred feet. Some are built in the shape of hollow squares, while others have wings added, which give almost as much floor space as the original building.

The average factory has usually four floors. The first floor, or basement, is occupied by the sole leather department. The next floor above includes the treeing, finishing, packing, and shipping departments, and also the office. The third floor is devoted entirely to the making or bottoming department. The top floor is divided so that the cutting and stitching departments have each half a floor.

There are several exceedingly large factories in this country that find it advantageous to divide the factory into more departments, as, for example, the cutting room is divided so that the linings and trimmings are cut in a separate department. The skiving may also be done in a separate room. The making room will be divided so that the lasting is set off as a separate department on account of the many workmen and machines employed. In the same way there will be a division of work so that the packing and shipping will be set apart from the treeing. Then, again, in the sole leather room, the making of heels as well as the fitting of the bottom stock may become independent departments.

The system of making women’s shoes is practically the same as that of men’s except that in a great many factories the method of preparing the bottom stock is somewhat different. Most manufacturers of women’s shoes do not cut sole leather, but buy outsoles, insoles, counters, and heels, all cut or prepared. These soles are in blocked form and large enough so that they can be cut or rounded by the manufacturers to fit their lasts. The counters, when bought, are all ready to put in the uppers, while the heels are ready to put on the shoes. Whenever a manufacturer of women’s shoes cuts his sole leather, he has the same system as that in the men’s factories.

In women’s factories where sole leather is not cut, they do not have a complete sole leather department. Instead, they have what is called a stock-fitting department. There are independent cut sole houses, etc., in the trade, which supply the soles to manufacturers. The same system of buying supplies also applies to many other parts of the shoe, as in the top lift, half sole, welt, rand, etc. In the upper leather department, manufacturers of both men’s and women’s shoes often buy trimmings and other parts of the upper all prepared.

A large proportion of the men’s shoe manufacturers are now buying heels all built, while fully nine tenths buy counters all molded. The soles and other parts that are needed for a shoe are put up in different qualities and grades, and a manufacturer can buy any grade of sole he wants, so that it is considered an advantage to buy some parts, instead of cutting them. In a side of sole leather there are twenty-five or more different qualities and grades of soles, and very few manufacturers, especially in the women’s trade, can use all of these. The greater variety of shoes a manufacturer turns out, the more advantageous it is for him to cut his own sole leather, and prepare all parts in his own factory.

In this country the number of factories in the shoe trade appears to be growing less and the average factory larger each year. It is estimated that there are at present something like fifteen hundred factories in all. These range from the smallest product up to the largest. The average factory may be said to produce about twelve hundred pairs of shoes per day. Many turn out five thousand pairs daily, while a few manufacturers turn out ten thousand or more pairs. Several manufacturers and firms have half a dozen or more factories and have a total output of between twenty thousand and thirty thousand pairs of shoes a day. There is no such thing as a trust or monopoly of any kind in this trade, and there never has been up to the present time.

In all factories and all classes of work, the “case” has always been of such a number of pairs that it can be divided by twelve in every instance. A case can be twelve, twenty-four, thirty-six, forty-eight, sixty, or seventy-two pairs, and in children’s work it is often sixty and seventy-two pairs. All cases of these numbers are regular cases, whereas any other number would be out of the ordinary. Of course, a case of shoes may contain any number of pairs, but the numbers given above have always been used in regular work.

Cases of shoes may differ, but every pair of shoes in any one case must be made exactly alike. All shoes are made in cases, except in the matter of custom work or single-pair orders or samples. In making men’s heavy shoes, or working shoes, the regular case was formerly sixty pairs or thirty-six pairs, but the tendency has been of late to have a standard case of twenty-four pairs. In the men’s fine trade the regular case is twenty-four pairs, while in the women’s it is thirty-six pairs. Long boots for men have always been made in twelve-pair cases.

Goods are sold by the samples, sent out with the traveling salesman. As fast as he receives an order, he sends it to the main office. Here the orders are subdivided and sent to the factories making the goods. For example, an order for seventy-five dozen men’s shoes of a certain style received by the main office from the traveling salesman would be sent to the factory in the form of a typewritten order, covering the general description and sizes written out in the proper form, for each case is made according to the specifications on the tags that are made out in the office. These tags specify the sole, heel, upper, kind and quality, how stitched, the last to be used, how bottomed finished, treed, and packed. Everything is marked plainly on the tags so that a buyer can have any shoe made just as he wants it.

This order would be sent from the factory office to the cutting room, where a clerk would make out twenty-five long tickets.

Twenty-five are made because the shoes go through the factory in lots of twenty-four pairs, each lot being called a job and when finished making a case of shoes. The long ticket is made in duplicate form, and is perforated so it may be tied to a lot of shoes. Both parts of the tickets are made out to contain the various operations with the specifications as to detail. The lower part is sent to the stock or sole leather room, while the top part remains with the uppers which are cut in the cutting room. While each part of the ticket is sent by a different route through the factory, they finally meet in the form of finished shoes.

In addition to the long ticket already described, two other tickets are made out, the top ticket and the trimming ticket. The top ticket is sent to the leather bins of the factory, where the sorter knows by experience exactly the amount of leather required to cut the order, being careful to see that it is all of uniform quality and free from blemishes. He rolls the leather in a bundle, attaches the ticket and sends it to the cutter.

In the cutting room there are three classes of cutters; cutter of trimmings, who cuts lace stays, top facings, back stays, tongues, etc.; outside cutter, who cuts quarters, vamps, tops, tips, etc.; and the lining cutter, who cuts cloth linings.

Skins of leather are received in the shoe factory in different shapes. Some are perfect, others have blemishes or imperfect spots. The skins that are to be used for upper stock are carefully graded by two or three men, as to quality of leather and weight. This is necessary in order to be sure that a lot of shoes made for a certain dealer will be uniform. On account of the leather coming in different shapes, some skins perfect, others having imperfect spots, the cutter must place his patterns in such a way that certain parts of the shoe will use up all the perfect parts, and others, less important, will be composed of the weaker parts of the skin. This explains why you sometimes find the inside top part of a shoe made of flanky leather, while the vamp is made of a better grade.

There is a pattern for each and every size shoe, and each piece of leather is cut out separately on a block of wood. Nothing is wasted. In order to make each cutter as efficient as possible, the cutters are divided, so as to have a different cutter for each grade of leather. In this way they become better judges of leather.

The lining cutters use patterns and knives on drilling. The facing is cut out with a knife and pattern. The side stays and the tongue are cut out by dies.

After the leather has been cut into the desired shape, uppers, vamps, toe pieces, back stays, lace stays, etc., cutting at times ten pieces, and for some styles of shoes as many as fourteen pieces, the cutters take care to keep the parts for the same shoe together, matching and marking them so that eventually all will meet again in the shoe.

Machines are used now on almost every operation, and annually several new machines make their appearance. The cutting of uppers up to four or five years ago was performed by an operator cutting the leather by running the knife along the side of the pattern. Now they are using a cutting machine and dies to cut uppers in nearly all factories. This cutting machine is called the “clicking machine,” and it is considered quite a labor saver in a department where it was the universal opinion that machines never could be used.

It is impossible to give a list of all the operations performed and have it complete. But a good general idea of the system can be given and the name and meaning of the main operations in the several departments. It should be kept in mind that the methods in rooms differ, and that hardly any two factories put a shoe through in exactly the same manner. The general system and plan is the same everywhere and the machines are the same in all factories, but the details and minor operations are so numerous that there is plenty of scope for them to vary.

The function of the clicking machine is to cut the upper leather into the desired shapes required. It consists of an iron frame, with a cutting board on the top of it. Above this is a large beam which can be swung to the right or left of any portion of the board. The skin to be cut, which may be of any kind, is placed on the board and a die of the design or shape of the leather desired is placed on it. The handle of the swinging beam is taken by the operator and moved over the die; then by pressure of the handle the beam is brought downward, pressing the die through the leather. As soon as this is done, the beam automatically returns to its full height.

These dies are made in different designs and sizes to meet the different sizes and designs in the upper of the shoe. One die for each design and size. They mark the vamps for the location of the toe cap and blucher foxings as well as the size by means of nicks in the edge of the piece cut. The dies are about three-quarters of an inch in height and so light that they do not mar the most delicate leather.

After the outside cutter has cut the skin into pieces to make up the shoe, these are tied up in separate bundles, that is, the twenty-four of tips in one bundle, twenty-four pairs of vamps in another. These are turned over to girls who stencil the sizes on the edge and match them, that is, see that each upper is exactly like the mate.

After the different parts have been cut by the operator of the clicking machine or by hand, the edges of the upper leather, which shows in the finished shoe, must be thinned down (skived) by a “skiving machine” to a beveled edge. This is done in order that the edges of the leather that are to show in the completed shoe may be folded to give a more finished appearance. The machines are operated by girls; each one an expert on one particular piece.

The order number and size of shoe are stamped on the top lining of each shoe. After all linings have been prepared, according to the data given on the instruction card attached to parts of the shoe, the parts are sent to the stitching department, where the stitchers on a multitude of machines stitch all the different parts together very rapidly and accurately.

The toe caps are then given a series of ornamental perforations along the edge. This is done by either “power tip press,” or a “perforating machine.” The first consists of a series of dies placed in a machine by which the leather is perforated according to the designs desired. Each series of dies represents a different design.

The perforating machine resembles a sewing machine, but instead of a series of dies, the one in this machine is made of single or combination dies which make one or more holes on each downward movement. The machine feeds automatically and does the work very accurately. The cutting tool is kept from becoming dull by pressing against a band of paper. Ornamentation on other parts of the shoes, such as the edges of vamps, etc., is made by this machine.

Before going to the stitching room, every bundle is examined by sorters. The sorters are divided and subdivided; that is, one man always sorts tips, another vamps, etc. They examine each piece for imperfection, and if any is found, the piece is thrown out and a new one put in. The last operation is the assembling of pieces. Here each job of twenty-four pairs is brought together and securely tied and numbered.

This stitching department is one in which female labor is generally employed, although in late years more men are being used to operate machines, especially on vamping or other heavy parts. In some parts of the country it is called the fitting room. The work of the department consists of stitching the different parts of the upper together, so that it is ready to put on the last. The terms used mean in most cases stitching the part named to the rest of the upper. There are very many operations in the department, several of which are named below, together with their meaning.

The bundles of pieces which have come from the cutting room are placed on the table, where they are subdivided into three parts, the linings, the tops, the vamps and the tips.

The linings for the tops of the shoes are pasted together (with the back strap and top bands), care being taken to join them at the marks made for that purpose. After being dried, they go into the hands of the machine operators, where they are joined together by a stitching machine, and the edges, etc., trimmed. The sewing machines used are very similar to an ordinary home sewing machine, with the exception that they are much larger and stronger.

The lining is finished. The next step is to join the lining to the piece of leather making up the outside of the same shape, called the top. The top receives the eyelets by a machine placed in proper position. The top and lining can be put together by sewing them face to face. The top is inspected and all threads clipped off.

After the shoe uppers have been properly stitched together, the eyelets are placed on by a “duplex eyeletting machine,” which eyelets both sides of the shoe at one time. The top of the eyelets are solid black knobs, so as not to wear brassy, while the bottom (which clinches inside the shoe) called the barrel, is of nickel. This finishes the shoe upper.

The vamp, tongues, and tip are then put together. The edges of the vamps, quarters, tips, etc., are covered with a cement made of rubber and naphtha, which is kept in small bowls on the benches in front of employees. Several grades of cements are used. The cemented parts are allowed to dry, and the edges are then turned over by “pressing machines,” which gives a finished appearance. The shoe is put together by stitching the vamp to the quarters. This work is done by both men and women, and is work which demands much care.

In stitching men’s uppers, the system varies in various factories as much as it does on women’s. Here are some of the operations, which will give an idea how men’s uppers go through.

Extension or toe piece sewed to vamp.

Leather box stitched on.

Tip stitched to vamp.

Vamp seamed up back.

Top folded around edge.

Top seamed up.

Eyelet row stitched up and down.

Lining seamed up.

Side facing put on lining.

Top facing put on lining.

Lining and outside pasted together.

Under trimming.

Eyeletting.

Hooking.

Vamping.

The upper is complete when it leaves the stitching room and is all ready to be put on the last. While the upper is being prepared, the soles, insoles, counters, and heels are made in other departments.

When the foreman of this department has received the tags with the data necessary for the preparation of outsoles, insoles, counters, toe boxes, and heels, they are sent to the stock room, where these parts are kept.

The soles are roughly cut out by means of dies, pressing down through the leather, in “dieing out machines.” Before the soles are cut, the leather is dipped in water and sufficiently dampened. After they are cut out, they are made to conform to the exact shape by rounding them in a machine called the “rounding machine.” The roughly died out piece of leather is held between clamps, one of which is the exact pattern of the sole. The machine works a little knife that darts around this pattern, cutting the sole exactly to conform. The outsole is now passed to a heavy rolling machine, where it is pressed by tons of pressure between heavy rolls. This takes the place of the hammering which the old-time shoemaker gave his leather to bring the fibers very closely together, so as to increase its wear.

Counters and toe boxes (stiffening which is placed between the heel and toe cap and the vamp of shoe) are prepared in the same room with the heels. After they are made, they are sent to the making or bottoming room, where the shoe upper is awaiting them. As the counter is an important feature in the life of a shoe, much depends upon the quality of leather that goes into it.

The sole is next fed to a “splitting machine,” which reduces it to an absolutely even thickness. The insole is made of lighter leather than the outsole, but has the same thickness and is cut out in the same way one at a time. The sizes are stamped on them and they are sorted.

If you examine a Goodyear welt shoe, you will notice no stitches in sight, the seam being fastened to an under portion of the insole. The durability of the shoe relies, to a great extent, on the quality and strength of the insole.

The smooth-appearing insole of a welt shoe must be either pasted in or fastened underneath in some manner. This fastening is accomplished by passing the insole through a very small machine called a Goodyear channeler, which makes two incisions at one operation. It cuts a little slit along the edge of the insole, extending about one-half inch toward its center.

The upper part of insole made by the slit on the edge is turned up on a lip turning machine so that it extends out at right angles from the insole. In other words, the channel is opened up and laid back, forming a ridge around the outer edge of the sole. This forms a lip or shoulder, against which the welt is sewed. In this way the thread used in sewing cannot be seen in the finished shoe. The cut made on the surface serves as guide for the operator of the welt sewing machine when the shoe reaches him.

The inner and outer soles as well as the uppers are now brought into the lasting or gang room. The first part of lasting is called “assembling,” which means that many parts are brought together, such as upper, counter, insole, box toe, and last. The counter is placed in the upper, between lining and vamp, while the box toe is shellacked and put in the toe of the upper (provided it has not been stitched in the stitching room). The operator first tacks the inner sole on to a wooden last.

There are very many different styles of lasts, and in cutting uppers a different pattern must be used for each style. Then the upper is placed in position on the last, and it is ready to be pulled and stretched to the wood and take its required shape. This is accomplished by placing the shoes on the “pulling over machine,” where the shoe uppers are correctly placed on the last by the pincers of a machine holding the leather at different points securely against the wood of the last. By the movements of levers the shoe uppers are adjusted correctly. Then the pincers draw the leather securely around the last and at the same time two tacks on each side and at the toe are driven in part way, to hold the uppers securely.

It is now placed on the “hand method lasting machine,” where the leather is drawn tightly around the last. Before this operation, it is dipped in water to preserve its shape when formed and that it may be more easily formed by the machine. At each pull of the pincers a small tack, driven automatically part way in, holds the edge of the upper exactly in place, so that every part of the upper has been stretched in all directions equally. A special machine by means of a series of “wipers” is used to last the toe and heel. After the leather has been brought smoothly around the toe, it is held there by a little tape fastened on each side of the toe, which is held securely in place by the surplus leather, crimpled in at this point. The surplus leather crimpled in at the heel is forced smoothly down against the insole and held there by tacks driven by an ingenious hand tool. In all these lasting operations the tacks are only driven in part way, so they may afterwards be withdrawn and leave the inside perfectly smooth, except at the heel of the shoe, where they are driven into the iron heel of the last and clinched.

After these operations, the surplus leather at the toe and sides of the shoe is removed by the “upper trimming machine,” which cuts it away by means of a little knife and leaves it very smooth and even. A small hammer operating in connection with the knife pounds the leather on the same parts. A pounding machine hammers the leather and counter around the heel so that the stiff position conforms exactly to the last.

After the “lasted” shoe has been trimmed and pounded down to the shape of the last, it is turned over to the tack setter, who pulls out all the tacks except a few, called draft tacks. The insole is then wet to make it pliable, and is turned over to a very experienced operator, called the “inseamer,” who is to sew the welt on.

The shoe is now ready to receive a narrow strip of prepared leather, that is sewed after it is wet to make it pliable, along the edge of the shoe, beginning where the heel is placed and ending at the same spot on the opposite edge. This is called the welt, and is sewed from the inside lip of the insole, so that the curved needle passes through the lip, the upper, and the welt, uniting all three securely and allowing the welt to protrude beyond the edge of the shoe. The thread is very stout linen, and is passed through a pan of hot wax before being looped into chain stitch that holds the shoe together.

The nature of the stitch is a chain--two rows of threads on the outside that loop with the single thread in the inside lip of the insole. When the welt is finally sewed on, and the shoe put down on the bench, it looks like an ordinary shoe resting on a wide flange of leather. This flange is the welt, and to it the heavy outer sole is to be sewed fast. Should a single stitch break in this operation, it is passed to a cobbler, who repairs it by hand.

Before the outer sole is put on, the edges of the uppers must be trimmed along the seam that holds the welt. A slip of steel called steel shank is laid along the insole where the hollow of the foot is, and a piece of leather board laid over this to give the necessary stiffness and prevent the shoe from doubling up. As the welt has left a hollow space along the ball of the foot, it is necessary to fill this up, either with a piece of leather, tanned felt, or other filler. Felt is not waterproof, and leather squeaks, hence a mixture of ground cork and rubber cement is used. This is heated and spread on the sole, and run over a hot roller until the bottom of the shoe is perfectly smooth and even. The shoes are placed on a rack and are ready for the outsole.

Sole fastening is performed by a number of operations, in which a score or more of separate machines are used. The sole layers smear a rubber cement over this welt with a “cementing machine,” after the outsole has been soaked in water to make it pliable, and then place it on the shoe and tack a single nail in the heel. The “sole laying machine,” through great pressure, cements the sole on and fits it to every curve of the last. Then the sole is trimmed by a “rough rounding machine,” which trims the soles to the shape of the last. This machine also channels the outer sole at the same time, which is necessary for the next operation. The “channel opening machine” now turns up the lips of the channel and the sole is ready to be stitched to the welt.

The outsole is now sewed by a waxed thread to the welt, by an “outsole lock stitch machine,” which is similar to a welt sewing machine. The stitch is finer and extends from the slit (channel) to the upper side of the welt, where it shows after the shoe has been finished.

It unites the sole and welt with a tightly drawn lock stitch of remarkable strength. It sews through an inch of leather as easily as a woman would sew through a piece of cloth. The stitches are made through the welt and outer sole, the seam running in the channel of the outsole.

The inside of the slit in which this stitch has just been made is now coated with cement by means of a brush. The channel lip is forced back to its original position after the cement has dried, by a rapidly revolving wheel of a “channel laying machine.” In this way the stitches are hidden.

Welt shoes are stitched on in three different ways: “channeled,” which, when finished, leaves an invisible stitch on the bottom of the sole; “regular stitched aloft,” showing the stitches on both sides; and “fudge stitched,” in which the seam is sunk down in a groove, being almost invisible from the welt side.

Every stitch must be of such a nature that it is independent of the one next to it, so that should one stitch break, the others will not work loose. This is accomplished by running the threads through a pan of hot wax just before entering the leather, which causes the waxed thread to solidify, becoming, as it were, a part of the leather.

Notice should be taken of the difference between the way the outsole is stitched and the inner sole is stitched to the upper. In place of three threads in the chain stitch “that holds the welt to the upper and insole” there are but two here--an upper and a lower one. The upper thread extends only part way down, where it loops, twists, and locks into the lower thread. This is the reason why you can wear a welt sole clear through without its pulling loose.

Shoes that are stitched aloft go through the same operations as the channel-stitched shoes, with the exception that the rounding machine contrivance of cutting is eliminated.

Shoes that are to be fudge stitched are sent through the same machine as the regular stitched aloft, but an additional little knife point on the arm of the Goodyear stitcher digs a channel in the welt so that the stitches on that side are sunk into the leather.

The outsole is nailed at the heel after the stitching on the “loose nailing machine,” which drives the nails through the outsole and insole and clinches against the steel plate of the last. The machine drives separate nails fed from the hopper of any desired size or length, at the rate of three hundred and fifty per minute.

The edge of the outsole around the heel is now trimmed to conform exactly to the shape of the heel on the “heel seat pounding machine.”

The stitches of the regular stitched shoes are separated by a series of indentations, giving the shoe that corrugated effect which adds so much to the appearance of the shoe. In the fudge-stitched work the stitches are entirely covered up by the indentations.

Then a leveling machine, called the “automatic sole leveling machine,” with a pressure of about two and a half tons to each of the concave rollers, comes into play. The rolls move automatically back and forth and from side to side, doing the work that the shoemaker used to do on his lap with a hammer and stone, but doing it better and more quickly. It practically levels off the bottom of the soles.

An automatic guage regulates exactly the distance from the edge of the last, and by the use of this machine the operator is enabled to make a sole conform to that of all others of a similar design and size.

Heels are formed by cementing different lifts of leather. A machine called a “heel cutter” shapes out the lifts. The heel is then placed under pressure, giving it exact form and greatly increasing its wear.

In speaking of the ends and sides of a heel, the part that rests on the ground is spoken of as the top, and the first piece is called the top lift. The part that is fastened to the shoe is spoken of as the bottom, while the side nearest the toes is called the breast. The wedge is a flat, heel-shaped piece or lift of leather that is skived to a thin edge at the breast. Being thicker at the back, it tips the heel forward. Wedges are made from thin strips of waste leather, or from sheets of leather board, and are cut out with a hollow die. The gouges are cut in the sole leather room from scraps, and are a regular heel lift, having a horseshoe-shaped piece of leather with an opening at the breast.

The sole leather, insoles, counters, and heels, in the stock fitting department are “got out” by being cut into shape by a machine die.

The heel is now trimmed of all rough and surplus portions of leathers to the exact size of top lift. A blower attached to the machine removes all scraps, etc.

The breast of the heel, which faces the forepart of the shoe, is trimmed evenly across and with the desired slant by means of a peculiar-shaped knife which extends over the sole at shank. The edges of the heel are now scoured by revolving rolls with molded sandpaper to make perfectly smooth. Blowers attached to the machine remove all dust.

There are several types of machines for fastening the heel to the shoe, all very rapid in operation. One of the latest is that which feeds the nails, and which is operated by a man and boy, who together turn off a great quantity of work.

The nails are left protruding slightly above the heel so as to retain the top lift, which is now placed in position by the same operator on the same machine. It is pressed down over the heads of the nails securing it in position. The small brass or steel nails which protect and ornament the heel are now driven in by the “universal slugging machine.” This machine cuts the slugs from a coil of wire and drives them in with great rapidity.

We have practically now a roughly formed shoe ready for the finishing room.

Here the heel slugs are ground down, heel and sole buffed by sandpaper rolls on a scouring machine, wet down, stained, or blacked, as case may be, finished on bristle brushes, placed to dry, polished by a polishing machine, bottom stamped with the trademark, and passed to an operator whose duty it is to see that no tacks are left inside the shoes. Generally girls are hired to do this, as their hands are smaller and it is very important that no tacks are left, which might cause a great deal of trouble. If any are found, they are cut out with nippers or otherwise removed.

A lining is also generally put inside the shoe, covering the whole of the insole in a McKay shoe, and the heel only in a Goodyear shoe. Shoes must also be inspected here before they are packed, to see if they are perfect in every way and that each shoe is a perfect mate in the pair.

The shoes are now sent to the last department, called treeing, dressing, and packing department.

This department has to do with the finishing of the uppers. The bottoms and edges are all finished when shoes get to this department, and nothing remains but to finish the uppers and pack the shoes in single-pair cartons and then in wooden boxes or cases.

The different uppers are all finished by a different process, some being ironed with a hot iron, which is done to take out the wrinkles and smooth the uppers. Ironing was first introduced on kid shoes, but in recent years the hot iron has been put on nearly all kinds of stock. A shoe must be on a form or tree when ironed, the form or tree being the same shape as the last. The whole idea in ironing is the same as that followed by the tailor, who uses a hot iron to press and smooth out clothes. The operations in detail are as follows:--

Each shoe is treed, after having been drawn over a foot form similar to that on which the shoe was lasted, and any stain or dirt which may have been carelessly put on in former operations is cleaned off; the shoe is sponged with a gum prepared for either black or tan goods, rubbed down dull, and then rubbed to a polish. In many patent leather shoes the treeing is to clean off the surface, as we said before, and then to iron it with a hot iron, which takes out all stains, and leaves the leather shiny and black.

The shoes finally go to hand operators, who rag the edges and heels, leaving them ready to be laced and put into the boxes. After lacing, the shoes are passed to inspectors, whose duty it is to see that they are perfect, to throw out all which are not, make a record of them, and pass the perfect shoes to the packers, who see that the sizes are right, that each pair is mated, and placed in paper cartons, ready to be packed in wooden cases for shipment. The packing of cartons into wooden cases is done by men who nail on the lid when each case is full, mark where goods are to be sent, make a record of same and load the cases into freight cars.

There are other uppers that are treed, such as wax calf, for instance, and split uppers, which are used in heavy shoes. The main idea of treeing a shoe is to give it a smooth and finished appearance and a good “feel.” In the regular treeing operation they use liquid preparations, often called composition, and these are worked into the upper, filling it to some extent. French chalk is used a great deal in some uppers, and oil or some form of grease or gum is also used, all of which make the upper as it was when first put on the cutting board of the shoe factory. All work done in this room is intended to give leather its original luster, which has been lost to a certain extent in going through the different rooms and in being handled so much.

There are still other uppers that may not be treed or ironed but merely cleaned and polished to give luster. Some of these may be dressed. To dress a shoe means to put on a liquid dressing. In some cases two coats of dressing are put on and in other cases one coat. A shoe can have a dull dressing or a bright dressing, according to how the buyer prefers to have his shoes look.