14 THECUBAREVIEW 



SHOE MANUFACTURERS' OPPORTUNITIES IN CUBA 



HOW TRADE CAN BE DOUBLED LEATHERS AND STYLES MOST IN 



FAVOR PACKING DIRECTIONS 



The total shoe trade of Cuba amounts to over $4,000,000 annuallj', and is constantly 

 growing. Importations of footwear into the island according to the latest published 

 Cuban statistics gained a little more than 100 per cent during the 5-year period 1903 to 

 1907, inclusive, during which period the control of the market passed from the hands of 

 the Spanish to those of the American shoe manufacturer. 



There are only three factories in Cuba usinf^ machinery in manufacturing shoes, all of 

 which are in the city of Havana. Each o'f / ese is a comparatively small plant, having 

 a necessarily limited output. The factory of Antonio Cabrisas is equipped with American 

 shoe-making machinery with the exception of three antique heeling machines of French 

 manufacture. Power is furnished by a 25-horsepower gas engine. Sr. Cabrisas manu- 

 factures principally a McKay sewn shoe in men's, women's and children's and a few 

 nailed goods. He gives employment to 150 hands, and the full capacity of the factory 

 is 150 dozen pairs of shoes per week. The shoe produced is a good imitation of an 

 American-made McKay shoe, although, perhaps, lacking certain points of iinish charac- 

 teristic of the American product. On the whole, however, this shoe is well made and of 

 good appearance and, considering the difference between the comparatively untrained 

 Cuban operative and the skilled American workman, deserves creditable mention, says 

 Arthur B. Butman of the Department of Commerce and Labor. 



The piece-work system as employed in an American factory is not used in this factory, 

 the 'employees being paid by day-wage schedule as follows: A foreman receives $15 per 

 week Spanish silver; boy and girl employees, $2 per week Spanish silver; other employees 

 in all the various departments, $2 per day Spanish silver, on an average, which amounts 

 to about $1.75 per day United States currency. All the lasting is done by hand, there 

 being no lasting machinery installed in this or the other factories mentioned. 



The lasts, upper leathers and findings of all kinds which enter into the manufacture of 

 the shoe exclusive of the sole, are imported from the United States with the exception 

 of some duck lining, which comes from England, and elastic goring used in the congress 

 show, which is imported from England and Italy. The olutput of the factory in question 

 is sold to the retail Cuban stores at $18, $28, $38l and $421 Spanish gold per dozen pairs. 

 A 15 per cent discount is allowed. 



The R. S. Gutmann plant is in a modernly constructed 

 ci pi f ' C h building. All operations are conducted on one floor and the 

 anoe l lanis in ^^uoa equipment throughout is of modern American shoe-making 

 machinery, mostly in duplicate. Power is furnished by a 

 25-horsepower alcohol engine of German origin. About 100 dozen pairs per week of the 

 cheaper grade of McKay sewn shoes, in men's, women's and children's, comprise the 

 output of the factory. Eighty-five persons are employed, including both sexes and 

 children, and practically the same scale of wages prevails here as in the Cabrisas factory. 

 In the factory of Soler & Bulnes I found the entire equipment of the shoe machinery 

 to be American, with two exceptions — one a heeling machine, the other an edge-setting 

 machine, both German. An old-fashioned water wheel furnishes a 25-horsepower motive 

 power for this factory. Soler & Bulnes manufacture a Goodyear welt shoe only and 

 turn out a very good product on American lines. They employ 95 hands, and the ca- 

 pacity of the factory is about 125 dozen pairs per week. Native-tanned sole leather is 

 principally used in these factories, comparatively little sole leather being imported into 

 Cuba. 



^"^ The French system of measurements is employed in each 



'■U, 7 J p.' factory. I found in all three establishments good imitations 



o^p/es ana I rices gf practically all the styles of American-made shoes now 



being sent to Cuba, namely: Lace and button, both high and 



low cuts, for men, ladies, misses and children, in black and colored vici ; men's and 



boys' calf balmorals, also many congress shoes for men, a style which, I am told, is 



growing in favor here. In addition, they h'uild a low balmoral and a low button for 



misses and children, known as "Napoleons." These are made from grain leather, and 



were formerly imported from the United States, until the advance in prices in the 



States prohibited further importations. There is practically no sale for "Napoleons" in 



Cuba at a price above $1;50 Spanish silver, and they may be bought here, of Cuban 



manufacture, at the following wholesale prices per dozen pairs Spanish gold, 10 per 



cent off : 



