. The Cuba review. 14 THE CUBA REVIEW. SHOES IN CUBA. 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
. The Cuba review. 14 THE CUBA REVIEW. SHOES IN CUBA. 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 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 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 fo
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