ENGLISH AND AMERICAN.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 205, 27 August 1912, Page 8

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN.

QXIAUTY AND COST OF BOOTS. AMERICA LEFT STANDING. In view of the commonly accepted idea that American shoe manufacturers are a long way ahead of Britishers in their • methods and the class of goode manufactured, it is refreshing to read in a leading American trade journal, "The Boot and Shoe Recorder," that the "boot is rather on the other foot." A representative of the R. and G. Shoe Company, on his return to America after a trip to Europe, giving his impressions on the subject, said: "Selling American shoes in England to English people is like giving a man a three-quarter-mile start in a half-mile race. English shoe manufacturers have left American manufacturers standing at the post in shoe manufacturing. From beginning to end of the race Americans are outdistanced in labour. We pay our elevator men more than the best "cutters in England are paid. We pay clerks in our office more than office managers are paid in England. The same proportion is maintained in wages and salaries throughout the industry. Labour isn't the only item of expense in which English manufacturers have an advantage over Americans. The English shoe trade is financed more easily and more advantageously than is the American trade. The English banking system is better than the American. English manufacturers secure money for capital, and for carrying on business, more advantageously than do Americans. An English shoe manufacturer can cell a bill of goods, get an acceptance of it from the buj'cr, and take the acceptance to the bank and cash it at li per cent. discount. In this country we have to grant discounts of four and five per cent, for cash payments. In machinery and supplies, too, English manufacturers have an advantage. They get their machinery on better terms. Their shafting and auxiliary machines cost them less. Hand labour is ao cheap in some English shops that manufacturers find it more economical to employ hand workmen than to buy and use machinery. HAVE CHEAP SUPPLIES. "Supplies are cheaper in England than in America. England is one of the greatest countries in the world for making needles, tacks and other hardware used in shoe manufacturing, and also for making silk, linen and cotton threads, and cotton and silk goods for linings and top facings. In buying such goods English manufacturers enjoy advantages over Americans. We boast the superiority of our American styles. But there isn't a progressive English manufacturer who couldn't put a line of American style shoes through his shop next season if he chose to do so. Some accommodating American last manufacturer would supply him with a group of models of stylish American lasts, as some are already doing. He would have lasts made from the models in English factories. The lasts would be cheaper than American lasts. ENGLISH LEATHER SUPERIOR. "We boast the superiority of our American leather. But some of the English trade will have nothing to do with American leather. They think the English leather, particularly the English sole leather, much better. English made shoes sold at 10/6, or 2.62d01., are equal to American shoes that sell at 3.50d01. There isn't the same style in them that there is in American shoes, but the material and the workmanship are there. In particular, there is more solid leather than in the American shoes. If English manufacturers ever discover the trick of making Yankee style shoes, and start to invade the American market, we'll have to jump the tariff from ten per cent up to one hundred per cent to keep out their product. AMERICAN SHOES IN ENGLAND. "We're selling American shoes in England, despite adverse conditions. That's a matter of merchandising, not of manufacturing. The sale of American shoes in England is probably over-estimated by Americans, who see- American shoes offered for sale in many stores in English cities. A number of these shoes are made in England, and are stamped with American trade marks. They look like American shoes. The bulk of American shoes sold in England are sold in stores established by American manufacturers. That is the only way for American firms to maintain the sale of their shoes in England. AMERICA A LONG WAY BEHIND. "Americans who think they have beat i the world in making shoes have overlooked the position of the English shoe men. In many things we Americans are I a long way behind them."