Frostburg mining journal., 1890-06-28
A HOUSEHOLD NECESSITY.
BROOMS AND NOW THEY ARE PRO
DUCED.
What 1t Costs to Manufacture Brooms-
The Growth of the Industry-There is a
Notable Trick in the Trade.

which the small capitalists have been
able to hold their ownagainst the wealth.
lest men in it, and that is the industry of
broom making. tits a business in which
a journeyman of skill and prudence can
hope to establish himself, if he wishes,
within a very few years after he has
learned his trade.
The process of broom making is simple,
and yet it is such that machinery has
never been devised for turning outa COM
pleted broom, and, beyond the sum nee
essary to erect such an establishment as
will permit Of certain division of the
labor, an abundance of capital is of no
special advantage.
1t is probably on this account that the
industry is not carried on to 70 great an
extent in this city at present IS it was 20
years ago. The broom center of the
country, however, is in New York State.
| the largest establishments and the best
workmen being located in the Mohawk
| Valley. The time was when the Mohawk
| Valley was the great broom corn raising
| center of the country, too; but the less
tough and stringy and more succulent
and profitable cabbage has driven the
wavy green tassels of broom corn from
| the flats which were once their favorite
growing place. 1t was because Of the
prolific yield of corn there in former
years that the trade of making brooms
became so well established.
The growth of broom factory is in
teresting. A young man of economical
habits learns the trade, and, having
learned it we'll, is able to do the equiva-
lent of turning out from 100 to 1875 or $50
complete brooms a day. AS a matter of
fact, in well regulated shops no man
makes complete broom, but only one
part Of it; but the journeyman having
learned his trade well can do enough
50 to 50 day Out of this he ought to
save $500 before starting in trade for
himself. With this sum he can buy
enough machinery (at a cost of $3.50 and
stock to set from 3 to ) men at work and
keep them going until returns come in
from the sales. That is a very modest
capital; but since the machinery costs so
| little men have started on $500, and even
less, and made notable successes as the
trade goes Second hand tools can be
had sometimes for $50 or $50, a couple of
bales of corn would cost perhaps S35, 800
handles S6 80 more. and other supplies
S25. and then the man is ready to set up
shop and make all the brooms his neigh
bols can use, at least.
The trade in New York city call, for
about $50, 900 dozen brooms year. The
ma jority of them are made i'll Amster-
dam and other towns along TIL Mohawk
River. Many come from Jersey, how
ever. The factories are unpretentious
wooden buildings. Steam power in the
larger factories is used in stitching the
broom and in winding the wire around
the corn where it is secured to the handle.
The largest factory in the business ac-
cordng to a New York dealer, turns out
1 900 dozen brooms day, or twice as
many as the New York city trade de-
mands. In such factory mans work
is equivalent to the making of from 200
to 250 brooms day, according to the
quality of the brooms.
OF the trade in the corn a dealer said:
"The manufacturers buy their corn in
the West. Kansas corn has the best rep
utation in this market, but Missouri, Ne
braska, and Illinois raise a great deal.
The crop was very small in Kansas this
wear. and Illinois did better than any
other State. An ordinary crop is 300 to
400 pounds to the acre. If a farmer gets
500 pounds he pays off some of his mort
gage, and when the crop reaches 600
pounds he buys a new silk dress for his
wife and piano for his daughter. And
vet there is not such a terrible profit in
it. 1t brings all the way from SSOto $3.50
a ton in New York, the ordinary brooms
requiring stock that now sells for from
500 to Sl20 ton. 1t costs $50 a ton to
get it here from Kansas and Sl5 from IL
linois. The middleman out there must
have his commission, and so must the
New York merchant. If farmer re-
ceives $50 an acre for his crop he is doins
well. Still that is better than wheat at
60 cents bushel.
"The corn comes to this market in bales
averaging 300 pounds each. The corn
from the prairies is baled with lath and
wire; but some Ohio corn comes here
with very liberal chunks of wood tok4ep
the bales from tumbling to pieces. The
wood sells at the same price as the corn,
if the buyer doesn't notice it. Sometimes
the prairie farmer gets even with the
Ohio man by dropping sod or two into
the bunch.
"The corn ON the average will make
1000 brooms to the ton, although in some
fancy brands of extra heavy brooms as
much as 30 pounds is used for a dozen
brooms. In the parlor brooms sold at
groceries to ? pounds are used.
"Observing people have noticed that
the grocer is always anxious to have his
customer buy the best brooms, and people
have come to believe that the best is
cheapest in everything. This is generally
true, but the dealer takes undue advan-
tage of the belief. The grocer usually
keeps two grades of brooms, which are
sold at % and 35 cents apiece, respect
lively. He pays II cents each for the
cheaper brooms and 81 cents, or 81. 80 a
dozen, for the one he sells at 30 cents,
thus making IA cents on what he calls
,.he best and on the cheaper article.
There is quite an export trade in broom
corn in ordinary times and in brooms in
other times. With low prices on the
corn the corn is shipped, but when the
broom makers have squirt, as they some
times do, and flood the market, no broom