MASSACHUSETTS— BEEHIVE OF BUSINESS 



239 



PAPER READY EOR THE CALENDER PRESSES 



This picture shows the paper after it has been coated and dried, as shown on page 238, 

 and is being rolled at the end of the coating-machine. It is now ready to be sent to the big 

 presses which calender it (or iron it, as popular parlance would have it). The pictures 

 on pages 238 and 239 show a continuous process over a single machine; but, on account of 

 the length of the machine, the process is illustrated in sections. 



solidify the leather, just as the village 

 cobbler beats them under his wide- faced 

 hammer ; or of the heeling-machine, that 

 sets the heel in place and drives all of 

 the nails at one operation ; or of the 

 counter-making machines, that give stiff- 

 ness to the spur piece of the heel. 



One shoe' factory in Massachusetts has 

 a daily output of 14,000 pairs, each pair 

 marching through the factory in four- 

 teen days in ordinary times. 



THE PECULIAR LANGUAGE OE THE SHOE 

 FACTORY 



The industry has its own peculiar par- 

 lance. A "cripple girl" is not crippled at 

 all. Rather she looks after the "cripples," 

 as defective parts of a shoe are known. 



"Vamping" has nothing whatever to do 

 with the activities of sirens, but is only 

 the process of joining the vamps and 

 quarters to the shoe. "Blackball" doesn't 

 relate to club proceedings, but rather to 

 a mixture of grease and lampblack for 

 blacking the edges of shoe soles. A 

 "cack" is an infant's shoe, and a "pac" a 

 duplicate of an Indian moccasin. An 

 "iron" is a unit of thickness in sole 

 leather, and a "lift" is one thickness of 

 leather in the heel. A "nullifier" is a 

 shoe for house wear, having a high vamp 

 and quarter, dropping low at the sides, 

 with a short rubber goring. 



It would be idle to attempt in a few 

 paragraphs to describe the hundreds of 

 processes and the scores of intricate 



