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Show THE SHOE TRADE. At a hearing into the footwear trade in Boston last week, it was stated by ono of tho witnesses that there are 600 styles of shoes for women, calling for a frequency of individual touch that enhances greatly the cost of tho shoe. According to . tho correspondent of the Philadelphia Public. Ledgnr, who sends his nowspaper a dispatch on the shoo situation at Boston, these numerous styles, which tho manufacturers sought to reduco during the war in the name of economy, are beginning to multiply again and are being offered to attract tho feminine eye. Tho medical profession deplores tho return of these fashions and is counseling coun-seling against them through the Massachusetts Mas-sachusetts department of health. Tho shoo would not lend itself to many variations of form if the rules of health were followed that havo been laid down by the Bay Stato Health department in a publication just issued to educate the public into tho adoption of common-sense common-sense footwear. Tho conclusion arrived at by tho writer of the dispatch is that the re-trail re-trail trade is showing a marked roluc-tance roluc-tance in buying spring goods, at a considerable con-siderable advance over the rate paid for the stock in hand. The hesitancy is due to the price. For examplo, a woman's shoe selling on the Boston market today for $7.50 is offered by the same manufacturer for next spring's delivery at $7.50, factory price. Increases of this kind inspire tho retail re-tail dealer tvith a good deal of business caution. Not only are the prices for the new stock still mounting, but it is also clear, says tho distpatch, "that some of tho stock on hand will go up to the replacement value before long, and this process is taking placo in spite of the grand jury investigations, high cost commission inquiries and federal trade commission report. Boston has been tho center of a grand jury investigation investiga-tion of tho shoe business and shoe prices for several days, and many of tho leading dealers and manufacturers have been on the carpet during the week." The stocking up by consumers goes on at regular retail prices and is attracting at-tracting attention. Many of the large Boston dealers who usually feature their business with an annual 15 per cent sale in August omit that feature this year, saying that they are shaving so closely to the margin that they cannot afford to mark down for the bargain bar-gain table. The trade is as heavy as though they were operating a sale, customers buying several pairs, just as they would if there were a salo on. The outstanding expectation in the public's mind, as a result of price investigations, in-vestigations, says the correspondent, is that very soon the industry "will be shaken to its foundations, tlie business men brought to account, especially the retail dealers, and placed under some angle of government control with attendant at-tendant drop in prices." However, the trade itself has not "responded to this undulation on sentiment." On the whole, the study of the situation situa-tion in Boston gives rise to a belief in the correspondent's mind that the prices will go higher before they go lower. |