Smyrna times., 1890-03-26
-5rEs riN3

4. ]lr'ES FiN3
soma ~''-r D.. these Adj
ia',, .t ~ 80. 81. '.st,ion
"Thc los cr $e; r." :- :, pailosophi,
German onte rs .lii ed. .' 10 more vol
iindt, 10y chimiii. IS. ,..hiI' During ,
desultOry walk ab0ut tlo citv the othe,
day the writer was more than ever strucl
with this triple shod truth.
For instance, there's the common
everyday clothes pin-the reliable old
bisected clothes pin of our mothers
which no man has ever been able 10 i'm
prove on any more than he has improved
upon the wheelbarrow or the old fash.
ioned wooden rolling pin. Who would
imagine that there was anything about
the clothes pin that was worth finding
out? Nobody! But there is.
In his walk the writer was passing a
little grocery, where a box of clothes
pins was among the things displayed
outside.
"How much for clothes pins todayP'
he asked of the grocer.
''Four cents" was the reply.
"FOur cents apiece?"
"Apiece! Great Hickory! no. Four
cents u dozen!'
"Ah-h-h! Are you a good judge of
clothes pins?'
"Should say so! I've made more than
million of 'em!' replied the sto-ekeeper.
I've followed the clothes pin, sir, in all
the processes of its evolution, from the
growing tree to the polishing box. Sayr
exclaimed the dealer, in a sudden burst
OF confidence and picking up clothes
pm. 10 look at that pin you'd scarce
ly believe that the manufacturer could
make anC sell twelve of them for a cent.
and have profit of more than so per cent.
ON them at that; now, would you!"
mot to look at it, wouldn't"
But he can do it, sir" exclaimed the
grocer. He can do it. He can whittle
out clothes pins at the rate of eighty a
minute. How? Easy enough. All he's
got to do is to take his maple or birch
log and go to work. Say his log is ten
feet long and foot through. He won't
have to pay more than 50 for it. If he
pays any more than that he don't know
his business. That log will whittle I'D
into $4,000 clothes pins as certain as the
tree the log came from grew. 1t will
take the man two hours and half to
chew that log up into clothes pins, which
Is at the rate of 4,S00 an hour. But when
they are all cut out they are worth S9G.4O
to the maker. He will work ten hours
day, II he Is smart, and will get away
with four of those logs. It's easy figur-
ing to find out that he will then have on
hand $4,000 clothes pins, worth 1885. go
if they're worth cent.
"The lumber for those pins has cost
only IS, providing the man wasn't stuck
IN buying it. Now, if that was all the
expense, a man with a clothes Din fac
tory would be blamed sight better off
than If he owned coal mine. But those
logs have to run the gauntlet Of a good
deal OF machinery before they are full
Hedged clothes pins. A saw separates.
the log into lengths of sixteen inches:
another one saws these blocks into
boards three-quarters of an inch thick: !
a third saw reduces the boards to strips |
three-quarters of an inch square. These
little strips are pushed to a big wheel |
which hurries them to a gang of other |
saws, where they are chopped into |
clothes pin lengths quicker than a sau-
sage machine can chop up a pound of
beef.
''These lengths are carried bv a swift
moving belt to a machine that grabs
them and sets them in a lathe. The |
lathe gives them their shape in the
twlnkling of an eye and throws them to
the man, who feeds them to still another
saw, which moves backward and for
ward as If 1t were madder than a snake.
Tins saw chews out the slot that the
Washerwoman Is to shove down over the
clothes on the line one of these davs. and
me clothes pin Is ready, all but kiln drv
ng and polishing. Kiln drying knocks
he sap out of the wood, and the polish
ng IS done by letting the clothes pins
rub against themselves in a revolving
ron cylinder.
All these processes cost money. and
when the manufacturer comes to mt nm
us goods for sale he finds that his Droft
IN the $4,000 pins, or a days hard work.
only about S193. 1 pay the manufac-
urer cent a dozen, or about 81 cents n
thousand, and, really, sir, 1 am COM
'elled IN these tight times to sell them
or 4 cents a dozen, or 50. .36 a thousand.
which wouldn't be so bad if sold a !
every hour or So But, with
are, thousand clothes pins will stav bv
ne Tor month or two, and have even
ad them with me whole year. Chi
ese cheap labor is pelting the life out of
he clothes pin trade, for Ling Sing and
un Lung don't use clothes pins in their
and they're washing about all ,
ne clothes that are washed, it seems TO
le, nowadays. How many dozen shall
do you up, sir?"
Half a dozen'll do, said the reporter.
nd the man looked disappointed as he
ounted them out.-New York Sun.