The newspaper of April 26 says that persons in the military must use shoe rations to buy American-made shoes, although no date for when this has to happen has been set yet.

Being a American (but not in military) I went to a local shoe store to buy New Balance American-made shoes, and guess what? All New Balance shoes in this store were made in Asia. I did not buy any there, and my next move was to call New Balance Shoe in Skowhegan. After I told my story to the person who answered the phone, I was told that 25 percent of New Balance shoes are made in the United States; the other 75 percent are made overseas.

If we apply this analogy to the U.S. military, 25 percent of them can buy U.S.-made shoes and 75 percent cannot. Before we praise U.S. shoe manufacturers for making shoes on this shore, it would be wise to find out how many are made here.

I don’t remembers seeing these 25/75 figures either before or after a visit by a congressman. I, for one, will try to buy American, but can I?

Harold WitheeWinslow

Copy the Story Link