Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-07-06
WHERE SHEETS ARE MADE.
LIFE IN l. CANDY FACTORY AMONG
B0NBsNs AND CARAMELs.
Cheerful and Hsppy Workers wso Make
Fair Wages and Hssve Pleasant
Employment.
From the New York Star. {

quite likely there may be few eousci.
entious women who remember to lot down
in their neat little account books small
sums Of money spent oE'so many pounds Of
candy from time to time But the qrea,
majority of people who indulge in sweets
regard the expense as an insignificant
item. Now, the fact Is that each year
| New York alone Uses hundreds of thou
sands of pounds of candy, for which she
spends considerably over that amount in
money and forgets all about it. Did the
world only know how many bonbons the
ordinary young woman consumes in one
season, along with ices, cakes and fruits.
We would Immediately begin issuing sta
tistics to prove that the next generation
cannot escape utter physical depletion or
hereditary dyspepsia. But our girls will
not be denied their beloved "lumps of
| delight, and SO long as they do not lose
their rosy cheeks and round curves parents
seem qaite willing to endanger the diges-
lions of the coming generations. So. the
demand for good candies increases every
year, and the candy factories work each
season through to regulate the supply.
They are huge, square, red brick build
| ings, these factories, where the whirr of
machinery is heard at all hours of the dav
and the air Of the neighboring street is
| filled with the fragrance of hot chocolate
and boiling sugar. They nestle mostly in
the thickly settled portions of the east
and west sides and are not inviting build
| ings to the ordinary observer. Still the
story of life inside the walls turned out TO
be pleasant one.
Into one of the big gloomy looking
buildings the writer went, and the walk up
| three flights of narrow and somewhat dark
stairs, past mach noisy machinery and
| barrels of what seemed like sugar was not
calculated to give a favorable impression
| of that place But the room which | en-
tered on the third floor was a revelation of
| light and cleanliness. 1t was the place
where the girls and women wrap and pack
| chocolate and bOnbons. 1t was great
room set with long tables and cooled by re-
volving fans, On comfortable, long-legged
wooden chairs sit the girls before the
table, chatting as they work Each one
wears a simple calico frock and long white
apron, with oid-fashioned mob caps pinned
over the hair. This work consists in wrap
ping long bars and cakes of chocolate in
| tinfoil and oiled paper. Then other
women add the thick, white, stamped pa
per, seal the ends with glue and add a
band or ticket of trade mark These are
again placed in wooden boxes or piled on
trays and carried to the storage room.
This is vast room, with marble floor,
1 loH chal "A
draughts of air come up through grated
shafts set in the wall. Here are great
blocks of chocolate as thick and square as
paving stones, cooking cakes put up, in
papers, ground chocolate in pans all pre-
pared for use, and thousands upon thou
sands of pound boxes and bonboniers ready
for the retail shops.
"Well," remarked the forewoman Of
this floor, " have been here eight years
and like my business. began just as you
see them doing in the work-room, at wrap
ping, and now / get a pretty little salary
and my duties are almost light. l over.
look the girls work, initiate new corners
and keep a record of the storage-room
/ We, none of us, are oppressed by rules and
regulations are fairly paid for our work
and | find that if there are no restrictions
to bind one or bosses to insist upon rules
we work quite as well and are twice as
cheerful and happy. The girls fingers
must fly, but their tongues may also. Al
intervals they are allowed to get up, walk
about, and often exchange places at the
tables, and so learn to be proficient in
every detail of the business. At noon we
rest for three-quarters of an hour, eat our
luncheons in comfort and go back to the
tables ready for the two or three hours Of
work that are required in the afternoon
Then there is nothing dirty or disagree.
able connected with it; the rooms, tables
ETC., are the perfection Of sweet cleanli-
ness, and, if you will notice, most of oul
women have hands that a dainty lady
might envy in their whiteness and soft
ness. No, there is never any talk of so
cietieS for protection among them, and
can hardly explain the reason, but in some
way we secure the best girls, and among
the great number working in this factory
there is not one who, to my knowledge, i!
coarse or badly conducted; perhaps it i.
the sweetness of the candies that affect
their natures. Do we eat much candy
Well, for my own part, | am very
fond OF it, and find that my long asso
citation with so much sweets has only
served to strengthen my liking for it. w
may eat great deal, and to me it is reg
ular part Of my diet, and l would miss i
sorely were ] obliged to stop. Outsider
imagine that We never touch even a choco
late drop, as the constant working with i
soon disgusts the appetite, and physician
will insist that sweets are very injurious
but our constitutions are not yet wrecked
and am sure we are far roster, healthier
looking set Of women than you will fine
in other factories. Exercise, fresh air anC
absolute cleanliness is what keeps the skin
clear and eyes bright, and if this we're the
case in the other great manufacturer!
buildings our girls would not be the sal
low, dispirited set most of them are"
The pretty little forewoman became yer,
earnest over her small moralization on tn,
wrongs of workingwomen, and then in
sisted | should go to the next floor, where
caramels, nut candies and crystallizet
fruits were In process Of cutting and pack
ing by the women. Thereupon We
climbed another flight, and found that
great machine, run by hand, was busy cut
ting what seemed to be at first grea
, muddy, sticky-looking slabs of stuff int
the delicious and succulent caramel. A
! the little brown and yellow cubes fel
into receiver they were carried to table
where girlswith def fingers wrapped then
| in squares of oiled paper.
Doesn't it make you almost dizzy to 81
, and twirl those little papers ?" l inquired
of one sweet-looking young woman.
ooh, no, indeedr' she answered, $50
every now and then get up, walk about Z;
bit, pick out nuts or help dip chocolate
, and here comes some one to ask the loan o
my place, and I'll show you what they d.
in the other room. Here, you see, are bis
wire baskets full of English walnuts
pistache nuts, pecans etc, and here ar,
the nut candies ready to be crystallized,
n,,I nn1,nLt sin-ht Of r,n-,s ,niloI lnrh W;