CHAPTER YIII. 



ECONOMY OF THE GOODENOUGH SHOE. 



A HORSE-SHOE that the united v.oices or 

 -^-^ the shrewdest and ablest managers in 

 the country commend — inasmuch as it enables 

 cripples to work, frequently restores them, 

 and maintains soundness where that quality 

 exists — need not be recommended on the 

 ground of economy. Such a horse-shoe could 

 not be dear. But it takes all sorts of people 

 to make a world, and the pressure to the 

 square inch of mean men is not to be governed 

 by safety-valves or regulated by gauges. 

 There are too many men who will use the 

 thing that costs the least outlay, even if it 

 tortures or kills the horse. On the point of 

 first cost we may say that if our shoe had no 

 advantage over the hand-made shoe in pre- 

 serving the natural action and growth of the 

 foot, thereby retaining the powers of the 

 animal in full vigor, it would still be cheaper 

 than the common shoe. It is sold slightly 



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