The Boot and Shoe Trades in London and Paris in the Long Eighteenth Century

England. These numbers, however, have to be related to the population of the two
countries. While England had not more than 9 million inhabitants, France in 1806
had nearly 33 million citizens. The high rate of cattle replacement was not
sufficient to supply the meat market and consequently the leather market. 39 Import
was a partial solution to the problem and cattle (in particular young cattle) wce
imported in the first half of the nineteenth century especially from Russia, Central
Europe, United States and Hudson Bay.4°
The beginning of the nineteenth century presented a situation of high leather
consumption and consequent high slaughtering. There was for the first time a
genuine demand for leather influencing both the rates of slaughtering and of cattle
replacement. When supplies decreased cattle began to be slaughtered very young.
This practice, preserved in France during the nineteenth century created a large
market for lighter leather, suitable mainly for shoe uppers. However, France was
lacking the right leather "pour faire du gros cuirprope a la chaussure des hommes
de labeur" and for soles.4'
Clearly France needed additional leather, having too small a quantity of cattle,
especially if compared with a large population in need of leather goods. The
Citoyen Roze, glover and shoemaker in the year XI (1804) reported to a leather
commission that "le peaux de France ne suffisent pas, nous employons dans le
cour de l'anné pour une somme considerable de peaux de dam, venant
d'Amerique."42 Roze provided to the commission even a more complex picture of
the leather market. The wide variety of uses of leather implied that in moments of
lack of leather shoe production was the most affected. 43 However, the opinion
presented by Citizen Rose was an exception in its general demand for more cattle
than more leather. Cattle importation seemed to be the only solution both to
provide meat and leather. Paris, where there was not only a high consumption of
meat (proportional to the population), but also where the best cattle of France and
J.B.F. Sauvegrain, Consideration sur la population et Ia consommation dénérales du bétail en
France (Paris, 1806), pp. 83-158.
40 H. de Chavannes de la Giraudière, Récréations technologiques. Le coron; les peaux et
pelleteries; Ia chapellerie; la soie (Tours, 1856), P. 74.
Rapport et projet de décret reIatfs a l'interprétation du Ddcret du 9 novembre 1810 qui a fixé
de droit d'entrée sur les cuirs vennt de l'etranger (Paris, 1811), p. 1.
42 AN, F' 2 2283: 'Le Citoyen Roze gantier & hottier, Maison Egalite no. 222' (7 Termidor de 1'An
XI).
Ibid.
36