THE LOCATION OF THE SHOE INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES.

The article discusses the theory of industrial location of the shoe industry in the United States. The shoe industry belongs to the category of those in which location is not completely explained by the Weberian theory. There is a large residue of chance factors remaining after exhaustion of all available dues. In this custom industry there has never been much advance in technique or organization because the market is so restricted and scattered. Once the policy of manufacture beyond individual order work had been adopted, there was no reason why shoemakers in one place could not send their product to other towns and other districts to be sold. The westward spread of population made the original producing districts, and particularly New England, more and more remote from the center of the country's markets, which was a disadvantage to not yet a decisive one. The manufacturers in already unionized shoe towns have displayed an illuminating lack of solidarity with their fellows in other localities.