The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-02-07

drug stores in our city. Price % cents.
The Lead Pencil Trade---Some Points
in regard to this branch of industry
The Dixon Crucible Company.
Very few perhaps have any idea Of the
magnitude OF the lead pencil trade, the
immense number Of pencils made and the
enormous aggregate IN dollars and cents
the annual production amounts to. We
will not mention all the dealers, but simply
refer to the Dixon Crucible Co., Jersey
City, \. j., the largest and Oldest estab
lished in the country, and which is par
ticulariy worthy OF mention, as the only
firm using American machinery and
American materials exclusively.
Nearly every person can call to mind
more or less of American machinery, or
| American productions, that have had to
| fight their way against the universal be-
lief in this country that nothing is good
| that is homemade; yet, in the face OF
this prejudice, many an American manu-
facture has forced its way into market,
proving itself superior to anything of Its
kind before known, in any country. When
the late Mr.. Joseph Dixon, the founder OF
this establishment, began to make Amer.
lean plum bago crucibles in 1927, he en-
cOuDtered the same prejudice, but twenty
years ago he had already revolutionlzeC
the whole of Europe in that article, and nj
plum bago crucibes are now made In any
part OF the world except by his process
The prejudice in this country is equally
strong in regard to fine pencils. Certain
foreigners are trying to make pencils here
calling them American pencils, but thi!
house is the only one who has undertaken
the production of fine pencils, and thu
success has been greater than the fru
had dared to hope for.
In the pencil department they emplc!
American materials, American capital
American brains, American labor. Ev
: cry operation is original, and many of tbt
manipuations directly contrary to thu
practice of the English and Germans
They have avoided every preconceiveC
notion, discarded all the experience o
pencil makers in the past, and their success
is just cause for pride as another substan
tial triumph Of American mechanica
skill They will enter the market as has
tiers of the trade, their long experience il
the working of black lead has rendered
this result certain.
1t is fortyfve years October, 1927,
since the late Mr.. Joseph Dixon inve nteC
his Black Lead Crucibles, and began alst
the manufacture OF his Stove Polish. Hi
| cruoibes have been the only kind useC
anywhere for many years, aud the stove
polish is the leading article Ia that trade
more of it being sold than of all Other
kinds but together. They have long pre-
pared black lead for all the finer and more
delicate uses, aud have mills Of their owl
adaptation for this special purpose. 1t il
generally conceded that the firm handles
more black lead properly called plumbago
or graphite) than any other single estat
lishmeot in the world, and that Mr.. CIeve
land (of the frD) is the most exper
examiner of the article in the country.
is these facilities that have enabled then
! to bring the preparation of plumb, %
almost to perfection, and to make r "a Mo
/ distinction in grading so nceess- .ru for III
finest pencils '''
, A perfect pencil shout. ba smoo.h az,
black, uniform and -.sliable, hold its it,, p poi
III weari aug 20 pleasant to use. III
marx shouiut % clear aud perfect, bl
disappear cd rely under the rubber. lea
4 ing the PIPER clean. All these qualitiC
nave 1een obtained in these pencil
oeyo' I'D anything heretofore produced, thu
: pr owing practically the superiority
> American manufactures.
$ The firm make millions of pencils ann
n ally and wherever introduced they are Il
Il standard among dealers aud consumers.
Is Hon. Orestes Cleveland, one of the fru
). has attained public as well as mercauti
'e celebrity, having been honored by his sta
ie on several occasions, and has served as
ot member of congress with distinction ar
credit. But the vast mercantile interes
ID at stake precluded his taking active ma
ID in politics. Never politician, aIwals
N business man, he prefers the busy hmm
industrial pursuits to the noise and clam,
e. of the political world
ID The Dixon Crucible COMPANY has
is may be said, revolutionized the lead non,
trade, and by their strict integrity erce
lent business capacity and attention ON
q details nave woD place in the commerce;
ID world which they may we'll feel nron nd o G
a the position of the largest establisbman ",
Its KIND in all America. 'D'