Bat'a on Bat'a

Cheap, strong shoes stamped "Made in Czechoslovakia" have made blunt, ruthless Thomas Bat'a famed as the "Ford of Footwear" (TIME, Oct. 8, 1928). A few years ago he was opening modernistic shoe shops gaudy with chromium in such strange places as Jerusalem. Last week Thomas Bat'a sat down and dictated a rebuke to himself, published it next day in his newspapers.

Though he has Fordized footwear and cut shoe prices lower than anyone else, Herr Bat'a wrote that he has not been able to cut them low enough to keep all his shoe factories busy. "That is my fault," he accused himself, "but all men make mistakes." To employes whom he has discharged or may discharge Thomas Bat'a promised a private Bat'a dole, warned that this aid will be instantly canceled the moment a recipient is found to be accepting State aid.

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