The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1886-04-21
THE SODA WATER HANDS"
Some Facts About the BOttling of Soda and
the Requirements of Those En-
ployed in the Labor.
New York Iimes.l

New York Times.
within a week l have let off at least
twenty men brought before me tor vagrancy
and drunkenness said Police Justice yes
terday, because they claim to be soda
water hands, and pleaded that month on
the island now would ruin their chances of
getting employment for the summer. Some of
the fellows 1 recognized, because / let them
go ON precisely the same excuse last spring,
and sure enough 1 saw nothing of them again
until the snow was on the ground the follow
ing winter"
1t would be as hard to tell what becomes
OF che soda water hand in winter as it would
to discover the whereabouts of the oyster
opener after the months without an RI
come in. After the season is over they
vanish from the army of wage earners, to re-
appear ready for work again few months
later. looking scarcely less seedy than when
they quit. The soda water season only lasts
about six months. A warm day in April is
likely to precipitate it with rush, and a
cold day in October blights it as suddenly as
it does the few flowers remaining in the
fields. In the warm and busy season several
thousand men find employment in this
city making and bottllng soda water
and other throat washes with
which the multitude assiduously slakes its
thirst on a hot day. When they work they
earn fair wages, anywhere from $12 to $40 a
week. The season over, their services are ne
longer REQUIRED and they are discharged.
Like brickmakers in the cities along the Hud-
son River, many of them continue to spend
an idle winter on the savings of busy sum-
mer and whatever trust they can get at the
corner store. But the majority are men who
in the plentitude OF to-day never give a
thought to the needs of the morrow, and cold
weather brings them hard lot. This is the
time Of the year when they have little diff
Guilty in finding employment which, If they
tnlPFahle steady will last hrnt N
the hot season. Soda water manufacturers
begin preparations early enough TO meet the
rush which a warm April day precipitates.
While certain proportion OF skilled labor
is required the majority OF the hands" en-
ployed in soda water establishments come, as
a rule, from the bottom strata of the labor
ing classes. OF late years machinery and
the general use Of siphons, so far as city
trade is concerned, has so simplified the
work of manufacture that very little ex-
perience at the work will make person
tolerably proficient. Nevertheless, there Is
large element OF danger in the employ
ment and 10 green hand not little pain.
Despite the multiplicity of fountains in
drug stores refreshment shops, and On the
street corners, vast amount of the soda
water consumed every day Is sent from
the factories in bottles and il is
surprising to learn through how many differ
ent hands bottle OF soda water has to pass
before II - TedQy lot the CO nSumer. w neither
an empty bottle is returned or comes out
OF the packing straw new from the manufac-
Tory, 1t is carefully washed, rinsed and dried
in the soda water establishment by men en-
ployed to do this work and nothing else. 1t
requires more practice than novice would
imagine to do it rapidly and thoroughly.
The washers don't know what il is to have
on dry clothes while at work. They rig
themselves out in cast-off garments and
splash around all day until they are as wet
as 50 many wharf rats
After they are dried the bottles are stacked
in crates and carried off to the "fillers." III
intended for lemonade or lemon soda they go
first to another squad of men, who dip in the
required amount of syrup with a ladle. In
bottling the aerated water is pumped into
the bottles just as 1t comes from the genera
tors, with pressure OF fifty pounds and over
to the square inch. If bottle has flaw in
it or the man handling IL is careless the glass
will burst into fragments and scatter all over
the room. An accident of this kind usual
ly means trouble, sometimes quite Sc
rious, for others than the man who happens
to be handling the bottle. In most factories
the rsen protect themselves with devices for
guarding the head and arms but every sea-