ordered October 10, 1910," the manufacturer
has only to read the record in order to know exactly what is wanted.

[Illustration: _Courtesy United Shoe Mchy. Co._

THE GOODYEAR PULLING-OVER MACHINE

This machine cost $1,500,000 and five years of experiment to perfect.
It shapes the forepart of the upper of a shoe over a wooden last.]

Next, the leather is selected, first grade or second grade, according
to the price to be paid. The patterns for the uppers are now brought
into play--and, by the way, it is no small matter to prepare the
hundreds of patterns needed for a new line of shoes in all the
different widths and sizes. In some factories the cutting is done by
machinery; in others the "upper cutter" lays the leather on a block
and cuts around the pattern with a small but very sharp knife. It
needs skill and judgment to be a cutter; for a careless workman can
easily waste the skins badly by not laying the patterns on to the best
advantage. While this work is going on, the linings, trimmings, soles,
and other parts are also being prepared, and all these many pieces now
meet in the "stitching-room." At the first glance, it does not seem as
if the right ones could ever come together, even though they are
marked, and sometimes it does happen that a 4a vamp, for instance, is
put with 5a quarters, and nobody knows the difference until the
experienced eye of the foreman notices that something is wrong with
the shoe. The uppers of the shoe are now stitched up, and after a
careful inspection, they are sent on to the "lasting-room." The "last"
of the earlier times was roughly whittled out, and it was the same for
both feet; but the last of to-day is almost a work of art, so
carefully is it made and polished. The shoe manufacturers jokingly
declare that lasts must be changed three times a day in order to keep
up with the fashions. Feet do not change in form, save when they have
been distorted by badly shaped shoes; but in spite of this, people
insist upon having their shoes long and narrow, or short and wide,
with high heels or with low heels, with broad toes or with pointed
toes, as the whim of the moment may be. It really is a big problem
for the shoe manufacturers to suit people's fancies and yet give them
some degree of comfort.

While the uppers are being stitched, the soles and inner soles and
counters have been made ready and brought to the lasting-room. The toe
stiffeners and also the counters are now cemented into