Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1873-05-07
SUGAR.

Ell PERKINS IN Su9AF AeuueFy yss
The Fun. ..NoVelty.-And Wisdom Of 1t.
To THE EDITOR OF THE DAILY
GRAPHIC:-Doy you wish to know all
about tie sugar which you eat every
day-how it is made in filth, shoveled
over in dirt,and how 1t Is finally puri-
4 fed till il Is white and immaculate
New York has 35 out OF the so su-
gar refineries in the United States
the other rehneries being In Boston,
| Philadelphia, Baltimore, and St.
Louis. The largest refinery in the
world Is that of Constance Sey, in
! Paris. Sey refines 5000 barrels per
day. The next largest is that of Have
meyer & Elder, Of New York. They
refine 5000 barrels per day.
! How does sugar come here?
Last year the 54S,769 tons of sugar
shipped to this country came mostly
from Cuba, Porto Rico, Brazil, Manila,
Jamaica, San Domingo, and Barba-
does. Itcame in hogsheads weighing
500 pounds, boxes weighing 450 and
bags weighing $50 pounds. "A large
part of itcame in black, dirty, iraWi
state, and some called centrifugal
had the water whirled out of it in
centrifugal machines before 1t left
Cuba. So sugar is quoted at "rawn
and centrifugal u Raw sugar Is
worth about 8 cents and centrifugal 8
cents per pound. G1oa sugar is the
best sugar, but it all has to be cleaned
before it is fit 70 use, and then the raw
sugar WHOLESALERS for abont9 cents per
pound more. From dirty cent SUI
gar they make white lump sugar
worth III, light yellow worth 10i,
dark yellow worth ea, and syrup
worth 4. i5 .--7...'.l..r
How do they do this? l5f % El1l5
This is what I saw for The Graphic
yesterday, in the largest sugar refinery
in the United States. .1-esca5 aa 1-1.h
First, the sugar In filthy black
bags, hogsheads covered with mud,
and boxes smeared over with biIge
water and filth, was landed at the
WiIliamsburgh docks, where you see
these immense sugar houses. Then
stevedores carried Il back to q big
copper vat filed with hot water,
broke open the boxes, cut open the
boxes, cut open the hogsheads and
let it all-dirt, mud, sticks, niggersi
shoes, old hats. pipes, bones, undis-
solved newspapers, and sleeveless
shirts--yes, let it all slide into the vat
together. -lsa es-. .r.a r-.t., h.
What! all this dirt? 4, L5.ssa.a =.
Yes, and more too. They placed
The filthy old hogsheads, soiled bags
and dirty boxes into a steam vat,
steamed and washed off the dirt and
sugar and then put that in too. Then
a greasy old Dutchman- stirred 1t up,
=, ok1...r fIr.rr- fnhoa0n
juice here and there and scraping his
.Wilfamsburgh mud into the future
frosting Of our weddiug1cake.
: What next?
Wen, the hogshead stayes, .after
the sugar and dirt are worked OF, are
sent back to Cuba, and 400 hogsheads
of sugar and dirt per day are pumped ;
in q liquid form, Into the fifth story
to be eleansed and purified. a aa. 2
What! can they take out filthy
cigar stubs, dead rats, negro babies,
bilge water, and everything
Yes; in five hours they draw from
this witches ehowder syrup as
pure and as colOFless and OdoFless as
ice-water, and as clean too. All dirt,
salts, smells, and every material obsta-
Gle or gaseous odor or oxyd is separa-
ted, and Transparent liquid sugar runs
out as water triekles from 8 crystal
spring.
How do they do it?
|. First, the dirty liquid Is pumped
finte one thousand-gallon caaldrons,
with a steam pipe In the b6ttom.-
Then, blue litmus paperl paper soaked
in blue cabbage juice Is dipped into
it to see If il is sour. 1fit b sour, the
blue paper is changed TO red. Then
they throw ina pail Of lime. This
kills the acid, or the acid leaves the
sugar 20 attack the lime, When[like
the Kilkenny oats, they are both eat
en- up. sIfyou pour acid In son soap
the alKal (another form of lEmel VIII
leave the grease to feed upon the
acid. $50
What next?e 4-
Then the half-naked men who work
Ions of warm bullcck's blood, fresh
from the slaughter houses, into each
900 gallons of melted sugar. The
white of eggs would be better, but
eggs cost too much, while blood, which
is almost as fullof albumen only costs
eleven cents per gallon. The blood
''settles" the sugar as an egg "settles"
your coffee-that is, the albumen
seizes hold Of every particle Of dirt,
and holds it. Then, when they raise
the temperature TO $50 degrees, the
blood, lime, dirt sticks, Sc, float to the
surface, while the syrup, yellow and
quite transparent, is drawn OFF thro'
strainers from the bottom, leaving
the scum on top. This SCUM and dirt
are rinsed with clean water, the best
part saved to wet Cp q fresh OF. ei
sugar. and the dirt carted of IS fer
tiiizer. They take ton of rich ma
nure out of the sugar every day.
How is the syrup strained
Through baRs-long cloth bags haI.
ing four or five thieknesses Of cloth
| in them. They catch all the heavy
dirt, little stones, sand, de-, and the
| syrup leaves them franspare Mt, only
slightly tinged with yellow. These
bags take out about four per cent. OF
dift-real black, mncky sdirt-the
same as you see in the streets. The
syrup is now ninety.three per cent.
pure sugar, whereas II was but eighty
per cent. five hours ago. There re-
/ mains seven per cent. Of coloring,
foreign salts and gases yet to be re-
moved.
How are these gssses and salts re-
/ moved2 arh .-ai-
This is done by filtering the yellow
syrup through bone black or animal
charcoal (bones burnt black and
groud up.) Large iron tanks, looking
like upright steam boilers. are filled
with $4,000 pounds OF bone black
each. Through this the syrup Is made
I to trickle. AS it comes out at the bot
tom it is as pure and transparent ~
rock crystal. A goblet Of 1t looks like
pure water. -ef ei '--- ~.
lis ii perfectly pure nov 2p I asked
Them chemists. -
"Yes, sir, as near as possible. It is
99S per cent. pure sugar. You might
pour five gallons of kerosene and q
smallpox patient cut into sausage
meat into that first tank, and I tell
you, Perkins, that Wouldn,t have
| the slightest objection to drinking the
syrup i've hours afterward. H's per
fectly clean and pure" .s-;yu9
How is this whi5e transparentsyrup
made into sugar 7? to--..--,...- ~ -, !.
This is simply done by taking the
water out OF it. This is accomplished
by boiling it in q vacuum. 1t would
A boil like water in the open air and
\ volitilize at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
but remove the air pressure and will
boil at I50l FahIenhe $50 degrees
never burns it, and the sugar Is white.
After boiling the syrup down to q
thick paste, 1t is drawn or in paje