The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1889-03-29
CIGARETTE GIRLS.
VERY LITTLE ROMANCE AND MUCH
WORK THE RULE AMONG THEM.

VERY LITTLE ROMANCE AND MUCH
WORK THE RULE AMONG THEM.
How the Tobacco Is Treated In Its Prog
rcss from the Plantation to tho Cigar
cttc-Watching the Young Women to
Keep Them Good.
The tobacco of which the cigarette is
after many days to be made comes to us
clmost exclusively from North Carolina
and Virginia. 1t is in itself n mild to-
bacco. and to make it milder yet only
the four or five lower leaves arc chosen,
tho strength Of the plant, like that Of
celery, for instance, deserving the lower
leaves and concentrating above These
leaves come up from the south packed like
solid logs into immense hogsheatls, but as
soon as the Glands" into which they are
tied are UNFINISHED, they are put into O
steam bath and softencd and cleaned.
Tho steam rushcs through them, big
brawny armed black men turn them and
toss them and then lay them in layers on
the floor As each thankful is laid down,
one of the men takes n pail full of rum,
glucose and some few other improving
liquids necessary to give the right flavor
ing, and with whisk broom sprinkles
them thoroughly.
From this improving treatment the
leaves go into the trough of the cutting
machine. They go in loosely enough, but
when they are dragging by n brass plate
chain through the smallest possible aper-
ture to meet the revolving knives the soft
leaves are pressed into block like wood,
Standing in front of the knives and
watching the mist, which is NIL that ono
can see in their 200 revolutions in n min
ute, tho ever changing surface of this
shaver block of leaves is thing of mar
velous beauty. The four Hanged knives
cut of innumerable fine shuvings in q
minute, and the result is surface that
looks alive. The yellow stems and veins
change their relative positions on the
brown leaves with every cut, and the re-
suit is winking, blinking mass that COM
pletely fascinatcs the beholder. The
knives are stopped, and in the box below
is the shredded tobacco, exactly rs we see
1t in the finished cigarette, damp, it is
true, but that is necessary in the making,
and the over supply is kept covered by
wet blankets until carried to the makers.
Then comes the making. You go into
q large, low, light room, down which go
long benches which arc partitioned off in
three foot compartments. On each side,
each ut place Of her own, sit the girls.
Before them are stout bit of paper
fastened by the back edge of the table,
two pounds of tobacco and some packs Of
rice paper. A marble slab is ut the right
hand and on it some Jumps of wet starch
ard long pointed stick. With her left
hand the girl picks up paper, lays it on
the roller with the front edge slightly pro-
jecting. With her right hand She picks
up the tobacco, not too much, but Just
enough, and puts it on the rice paper,
squeezing it, little into shape rs she does
so. Then she takes up the two corners of
both papers that are ncarset her and lays
them over towards the back, then brings
them back, rolling up the tobacco with
her thumbs us she does SO. Getting it
moderately firm, she changes to the tips
of her fingers and rolls it snugly, lifting it
the while from the under paper. A
second and it lies along her left foreflnger,
rolled but with loose edge. The starch
stick glides along this, another twist and
it is sealed and delivered, that is to say,
dropped into the box edge of the bench.
Tho process looks exceedingly simple,
but it often takes week of patient teach
ing and trial to learn the many motions
correctly, and even then it is astounding
to think how many motions it takes to
make even thousand cigarettes in day.
The maker of thousand perfect cigar
cites containing neither four ounces more
nor less than two pounds receives seven
ty-five cents for her work. Does it seem
possible, then, that any one could make
5000 of these in day? Hardly, and yet
they do.
After leaving the hands of the makers
the cigarettes are passed over to the cut
tiers, who sit between aisles and with big
shears cut off the hanging shreds of to-
bacco from the ends. These shreds are
ers, whose duty it is to keep the floor al
ways in perfect order. The finished CT
garettes 60 next to the examiners, who
run through the boxes, and with the eyes
of fcrrets, pick out the badly made or i'm
perfect ones. In some instances fifteen
cents u hundred is taken out Mt the end of
the week for cigarettes SO badly made us
to be necessarily split open and made
again.
The boxing and stamping and the pack
ing is work very easily imagined, the only
particular interest being in the rapitlity
and automatic precision with which it is
done. And, indeed, the whole fascina-
ton of the trade lies in the lightning like
nimblencss which is necessary to bring
about satisfactory result. The work is
clean and is said to he healthy, the girls
themselves claiming that they have rarely
any trouble except with headache, which
is very possibly caused by the fumes of
tobacco, but very probably is nothing for
which further reason is necessary than
what lack of exercise and such close ap-
plication to work can give.
The rules of attending to the bushes at
hand vary considerably, according to the
factory In one leading factory absolute
silence is imposed upon the workers, re-
CARELESS of the fact that if they waste
time it is their own loss, and the penal
tics imposed are exceedingly severe. II
sevcnty-tlve cent girl is caught whisper
ing or talking with another girl she is put
down to seventy or sixty-five cents thou
sand. 4 second offense brings either q
further reduction or solemn warning
or both. The third brings dismissal. A
teacher or forcwoman-''quecns," as tho
girls call these lofty crcaturcs-who un-
bends sufficiently to speak even to an own
sister otherwise ttan with the voice of
authority is ut once put down to making
cigarettes again.
Nor do the fines and authority end with
leaving the building to go home. The
firm employs detective and my number
of "stool pigeons" to watch their en-
ployes at night. A girl who is seen on
Sixth avenue after or 0:30 ut night is
discharged the next day. The life Of an
honest girl, who is being Swallowed to and
from her home, her house watched and
every pleasuring she attempts carefully
noted, can certainly not be overplcasaEt,
especially as it seems to be common be-
lief among them that it depends entirely
upon girls gractJusncss to her spy as to
what is reported Of her doings. This un-
usual discipline is of recent origin.-Fan.
ME b. Merrill in New York World.
The Chinese have utilized for centuries
In "a til,