534 • TRANSACTIONS OF THS 



fiames belonging to it. The time was when the mechanics in the shoe liue^ 

 dreading the epithets of cobbler and shoemaker, were ansious to be recog' 

 nized, in their own associations, under the more enphouious title of " cord- 

 wainers ; " but so many shoemakers have arisen to affluence and fame, who 

 have not forgotten to acknowledge their trade, that the craft now begin to find 

 a new charm in the name. Broadway boasts of its Shoe and Leather Bank, 

 and the trade have a weekly newspaper in this city devoted entirely to their 

 interests, the perusal of which will convince the most skeptical of the vas8 

 extent and variety of these interests, and their direct bearing upon the 

 general prosperity of our country. The locality of the leather dealers in 

 this city affords another illustration of the manner in which pleasing asso- 

 ciations cluster around the commonest name. What word^ in its original 

 meaning, conveys more gloomy impressions than " the Swamp." In the lasS 

 century it was the most dismal part of Manhattan, but the tanners found it 

 fitted to their use, and there they and the leather trade have remained 

 ever since, like a band of brothers, unaffected by money panics, permanent 

 in their prosperity, until it may truly be said, no business houses in the 

 metropolis have a more solid foundation. To be a dealer in " the Swamp " 

 is 'prima facie evidence of stability and integrity. If we seek, however, 

 for first causes of prosperity, we shall find that to the inventor chiefly is 

 trade indebted for its greatest success. Men of energy and industry may 

 be found in every age, but creative minds are not so common. It will no 

 doubt surprise some who hear me, to learn that the prosperity of the shoe 

 trade has turned on a single pivot, and that this pivot was neither more nor 

 less than a common wooden peg. 



The use of the peg for fastening the whole sole was patented by Samuel 

 B. Hitchcock and John Bement, of Homer, N. Y,, in 1811. Some unsur- 

 mounted difficulties prevented them from carrying their invention into gene- 

 ral use ; these difficulties appeared to have been removed by Joseph Walker, 

 of Hopkinton, Mass., in the year 1818, He demonstrated the superiority 

 of the peg to the waxed thread in fastening the sole to the upper leather j 

 the latter being preferable only when great pliability or thinness of sole is 

 required. I have high authority for stating that seven-eighths of all the 

 shoes and boots now made in this country are pegged. 



The first pegging machine was patented by Fred. Bray, of Eawley, Mass., 

 in 1832; another was patented by William B. Randall, of Fayette, Me., 

 goon after. A great number of improvements have since been made. The 

 first patent for making boots and shoes was granted to Peter Gordon, of 

 Philadelphia, in 1791. The first for cutting out soles to Jonathan Hill, of 

 Bellerica, Mass., in 1836. More than fifty patents have been obtained for 

 crimping machines, which give the proper curve to the ujiper leather. 

 The importance of the shoe-pegging machines to the whole trade induces 

 me to notice more particularly one which is now in successful operation in 

 the city of Boston. 



In this machine, which is self-feeding, the pegs are carried along in 

 sheets of uncut wood ; as fast as the awl has made a hole, a peg is cut oif 



