Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1890-07-18
Fire Crackers.

check upon manuiacturerS. Strkes are
of frequent occurrence in China, and labor
ers are.thoroughly organized, having what
are here called unions and guilds. Strikes
are sometimes attended with loss Of prop
erty as well as of life.
The annual receipts of fire crackers in
this country are from eight hundred thous-
and to one million boxes, and orders for
these goods have been sent forward one
year in advance. The Chinese manufac-
turing year begins june and this is about
the date when American manufacturers
send forward their orders for next years
supply. The usual voyage from New York
to Hong Kong is 40 days, so that there
are only left, after passage to China and
return, lbs days of the year. The ship
Wandering Jew arrived in New York on
April % with 135, 900 boxes of fire crackers
on board, and she was the last ship that
could arrive before the Fourth of July, the
Great Admiral, now on the way, not being
due until August l.
1t is, therefore, positively known that
there will be short supply Of fire crack
ers, and this has had the effect Of advanc-
ing the price from so cents a box, which
was paid last year, to sl.25 per bov.
Crackers are made principally in Canton
and in the country surrounding that city.
A cannon cracker factory in the suburbs of
Canton is described by an eye witness as
follows:
The building is of san dried brick, with
tiled roof twelve feet from the ground,
and this space is divided into an upper and
lower apartment, each with the ceiling
about six feet high. The interior of the
building when visited was strewn with
pieces Of paper, while vessels containing
powder were standing round, the contents
of which seemed to be in imminent danger
of being exploded, and men, women and
children were actively engaged in the man
ufacturc of the goods.
The paper needed for the cracker is cut
to the required length and then weighed to
see that the proper quantity for each
cracker is exactly the same. The instru-
ment used In weighing is of the rudest de-
scription, being stick about two and q
half feet long, suspended from the ceiling
by a string, which is attached to the centre
of the stick, and stone IL placed as a
| weight on end and the articles to be weigh
ed on the other. The paper is rolled into
cylindrical form by means of fiat piece Of
wood held in the hands, and then one end
is creased with pair of pinchers and q
string tied into the crease as temporary
means of preventing the powder from run
ming out when the cylinders are placed in
perpendicular position to be loaded. The
last named process is as follows:
The cylinders are punched together like
cigars turned on end, and then pinched
with an awl, and into the apeIature thus
made the powder is poured from tin can.
Then the stem of the cracker is inserted,
which consists of piece of thin, tough
paper, with just sufficient powder twisted
up into it to make it burn quickly. A
piece of paper is temporarily pasted over
| the end containing the stem for the pur-
pose Of preventing the powder from run
ming ont, as the crackers are now placed
on that end.
The string placed temporarily around the
pinched end is now removed and clay
tamping is hammering into the aperature
and then the paper is removed from the
stem end and the clay tamping is applied
there, which prevents any powder from
sitting out.
The cracker is now ready for the thin
piece Of red paper which goes around the
outside and completes it. The stems are
then very neatly braided together, which
forms the crackers into packs, and these
are each wrapped in thin paper and orna-
mented with red label with pictures ol
dragons upon it. Red is the festive color
| of China, and as fire crackers are used
principally ON festal occasions, that color
is rigidly adhered to in the manufacture Of
these goods. The packs are placed in
boxes and in the proportion of forty packs
to the box. There is regular division oi
labor in the cracker factory, each person
having his or her special work to do, and
in this they become quite expert
The above is description of cannon
cracker manufacture, but the same will
apply to the small crackers. The latter
however, are generally made in the rura
districts, and are brought down the river
to Canton in junks.
There is large home consumption O.
fire crackers, and tho Chinese think thai
their explosion will ward off evil spirits
They are fred off on numerous occasions
but particularly on the Chinese new year
which is variable date regulated by the
changes in the moon. Foreigners residing
in Canton have what they call the Cantor
salute, which consists in the firing off al
one time Of six boxes of small crackers and
two or three boxes of cannon crackers, ant
this il given on the departure OF some o
their number for home.
OF the million boxes of crackers sem
each year to this country, a number are re
shipped to South America, where they arr
used on social occasions as wells as at pub
lie fetes They are used in the south a
Christmas time, and also in Canada on MAY
"a, which is Queen Victoria's birthday
Cannon crackers are also made in thi
country, but the small ones cannot be pro
duced here at anything like the price thel
can be furnished by the Chinese. Thei
product ia carried half way round thu
world, pays duty, and is then sold for 81
cents q box. In the Mckinley tariff bill
now before Congress, the duty on fir'
crackers is placed at 8 cents pound
which will make the tax 60 cents as against
% cents a box, which is the rate paid now
If this provision of the new tariff bill i
adopted, it will probably have the effect o
stimulating the manufacture of cannon
crackers in this country.
Fire crackers are Of very ancient origin
DIR. Williams in his exhaustive work OIL
China, entitled "The Middle Kingdom,
says "No evidence exists of the use o
gunpowder MS IN agent of warfare until tn,
middle of the twelfth century, nor did
knowledge Of its propulsive effects come Il
the Chinese until the reign of Yunglop il
the fifteenth century, thousand year