14 



THE CUBA REVIEW. 



SHOE S IN C UBA. 



Cubans Prefer the Imported Article — Native Tanned Leather Poor — Wealthy 

 Spaniards and Cubans Like Dainty Shoes. 



Prices on shoes in Cuba are high. This 

 is to be expected when the cost of trans- 

 portation and the duties to be paid are 

 taken into consideration. It costs consid- 

 erable money to place a pair of shoes in 

 Cuba. Of course, there are plenty of shoe- 

 makers in Cuba and some fairly good 

 shoes are manufactured. But the average 

 shoe dealer and average wearer of shoes in 

 Cuba prefers to buy and use the imported 

 article. While a number of the Cuban shoe 

 factories produce a good article, there lare 

 rnany that do not. There are hundreds of 

 little makers of boots and shoes who turn 

 out footwear that is hardly worthy of the 

 name. The most inferior grades of leather 

 are used. The leather is of domestic man- 

 ufacture and this alone is enough to war- 

 rant a poor shoe. The native tanned 

 leather is feeble in fiber, lacking in elas- 

 ticity and devoid of ma.ny of the good 

 features looked for in good stock. Even 

 the_ leather straps which are on sale and 

 which were made from Cuban leather, are 

 coarse, stiff, hard and ungainly. You can- 

 not bend them without breaking them. You 

 can take a sole of a native shoe and double 

 It up and break it. The makers of shoes 

 in Cuba who cater to the poorer classes, 

 are stingy with their leather. The shoes' 

 are lacking in material. Soles weai 

 through in a few weeks, due to the extreme 

 thinness and inferior quality of ihe same. 



On the other hand, there are some first- 

 class shoemakers who turn out costly goods 

 for the high-priced public. There are like- 

 wise a number of excellent factories in 

 which medium grades of shoes are manu- 

 factured. But the average shoemaker turns 

 out the ordinary soft leather, feeble, shab- 

 bily constructed foot gearing for which the 

 shoe makers of tropical countries are noted. 

 The result is that many of the dealers in 

 footwear rely altogether upon imported foot- 

 gear. The American, French and English 

 expcrters evidently have an idea that every- 

 one has exceedingly small feet in this coun- 

 try. I have witnessed the struggle of well- 

 to-do Spanish and Cubans in getting a pair 

 of shoes large enough for them. Tons of 

 undersized shoes and leggings, are found in 

 Cuba, whereas you are lucky if you can find 

 anything large enough to get on. The stores 

 carry complete lines of stretching devices, 

 and many of the fine shoes have to be 

 distorted on stretchers in order to make 

 them larger. 



The Spanish and the Cubans like artistic 

 shoes. They are accustomed to paying high 

 prices for imported shoes. In fact, the ]ieo- 

 ple may be placed in three classes. The first 

 class of people include the wealthy and 

 noted families who can afford to pa^y any 

 price for high-grade foot gearing and who 

 are on the alert to get latest styles. 'J"he 

 middle class buys the domestic shoe and 

 the cheap imported shoe, while the third 

 class either wears no shoes at all. or wear 

 the home-made hob-nobs, or the wooden 

 soles with straps. 



The people of the first class seek a dainty 

 shoe as a rule. While some of them want 

 the real business footwear, many of them 

 prefer a lightweight shoe, soft .ind glossy. 

 Low shoes are well liked. The style in Fig- 

 ure 1 at about $4 sells well, as also the 

 lace shoe of the pattern shown in Figure 2 

 at $5. The common type of .$2.50 slioes is 

 .another seller, preferred becatise of its 

 broad toe. While the narrower shoes are 

 liked the best by the dainty Spanish ; there 

 are many persons whose feet are too broad 

 to permit wearing of the narrow styles. 



Americans in Cuba cannot wear the little 

 shoes imported for the natives due to the 

 smallness in sizes. Therefore nearly all of 

 the stores carry lines of full-sized shoes es- 

 pecially intended for foreign custom. 



There is the especially designed low shoe 

 for ladies, price $7.50, shown in Figure 7. 

 - -le demand is not very large for this class 

 of shoe, still the dealers are obliged to carry 

 them. I noticed that many of the local 

 makers of shoes are forever striving to make 

 shoes of these classes, using the originals 

 as models. Very cheap imitations are turned 

 out. — American Shoemaking, Boston, Mass. 



New York Firm Gats Shoe Contract. 



July 11. — The Cuban Shoemakers' 

 League protested to Governor Magoon 

 against the awarding to a representative 

 of American factories of a contract for 

 shoes for the rural guard, although the 

 prices quoted by Cubans were lower. 



The New York World later said that 

 a commission appointed by the Governor 

 to receive bids had reported in favor 

 of awarding the contract to Morse & 

 Rogers, No. 134 Duane St., N. Y. City, 

 whose bid amounts to $60,000 — $3 a pair. 



An unsuccessful bidder protested 

 against letting the contract to the New 

 York firm, demanding protection for 

 home industries. The Governor called 

 on the commission for a second report 

 on the subject and the commission has 

 written to him that the award was de- 

 termined on merit, which means that 

 the New York firm's bid was deemed 

 the best. 



