The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1891-10-03
BROOM MAKING.
AN INDUSTRY WHERE THE SMALL
CAPITALIST HOLDS HIS OWN,


in New York Clty-A Trick Of the
Trade.
There Is one industry In the country In
which the small capitalists have been
able 20 hold their own against the wealth.
lest men In IL, and that is the industry OF
broom making. It isa business ia which
a iourneymau nf skill and prudence eau
hope to establish himself, II he wishes,
within very few years after he has
learned his trade, The process of broom
making is simple, and vet It is such tlSlt
machinery has never been devised for
turning out a completed broom, and, be.
yond the sum necessary to erect such an
establishment a. viii permit of u GER
tain division Of the labor, an abundance
Of capital is OF no special advantage,
The broom center OF the country is in
New York state, the largest establish
mentS and the best Workmcn being
located in the Mohawk valley The time
was when the Mohawk valley was the
great broom corn raising center ot the
country, too, but the less tough aud
striugy aud more Succuleut and profitable
cabbage has driven the waNy green taSselS
ot broom corn from the tlats which were
once their fayorite growing place. IL was
because of the prolific yield Of corn there
in former years that the trade ot making
brooms became SO well established.
A BROOM FACTORY.
The growth Of broom factory Is In
tercstng \ young man of economical
habits learns the trade and, having
| learned it well, is able TO do the equtva.
| lent of turning out from 100 to l25 or 100
complete brooms day. As a matter OF
| fact in well regulated shops no man
makes "a complete broom, but only one
part of it, but the journeyman having
| learned his trade we'll can do enough work
/ usually at piece prices TO earn from 81 TO
/ So day. Out of this he ought. to save
| $500 before starting In trade tor himself.
| With this sum he can buy enough ma
/ chinery lat a cost of $3.50 and stock to
| set from three to five 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 80
/ 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 $50, 900
/ handles $3.50 more, and other supplies
| S25, and then the man is ready to set up
shop and make all the brooms his neigh
bors can use, at least.
The trade in New York city calls for
about lj0, 900 dozen brooms year, The
majority OF them are made in Amsterdam
and other towns along the Mohawk river.
Many come from Jersey, however. The
factories are unpretentiOus wooden build
j ings. Steam power in the larger factories
is used in stitching the broom and in
winding the wire around the corn where
/ il is secured tO the handle The largest
factory in the business, according 10 q
New York dealer, turns ont 1000 brooms
a day, or twice as many as the New York
city trade demands. In such a factory u
mans work is equivalent to the making
of from 200 TO 2lO brooms "A day, accord
ing to the quality OF the brOoms.
OF the trade in the corn dealer said:
"The manufacturers buy their corn in the
west. Kansas corn has the best reputa-
ton in this market, but Missouri, Ne
braska and Illinois raise a great deal. The
crop was very small in Kansas this year,
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 mortgage,
and when the crop reaches 600 pounds he
buys new silk dress for his wife and a
piano for his daughter. And yet there is
not such terrible profit in it. 1t brings
all the way from $50 to $3.50 II ton in New
York, the ordinary brooms requiring stock
that now sells for from 800 TO Sl2O q
ton. 1t costs S2j a ton to get it here from
Kansas and $lj from Illinois. The mid
die man out there must have his commits
sion, and so must the New York mer-
chant If farmer receives 500 an acre
for his crop he is doing well; still that is
better than wheat at sixty cents Il bushel.
BROOM CORN IN BALES.
"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 to keep 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 a sod or two into the
bunch.
Inc corn OH luc average Will Udke
1000 brooms to the ton, although in
some fancy brands Of extra heavy brOoms
as much as fifty pounds is used for a
dozen brooms. In the parlOr brooms sold
at the groceries two to two and one-quarter
pounds are used.
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 spurt, as they sometimes do, and
food the market, no broom trust having
yet been formed, brO0ms are sold SO low
as to enable merchants to send them to
Cuba and South America. Very little
broom corn is ordinarily sent to Europe,
the fields 0f southern France and Of
Italy supplying the European market.
"What IS the trick in this trade, if there
be tricks in all tradesP was asked Of O
dealer in broom corn.
''It is in making poor corn look like
good. The best article has healthy green
color, like well cured timothy hay. That
color indicates toughness, with proper
fexibility The cheap stuff, worth $50 a
ton, is Of a sickly yellow or lemon color
Nothing is easier than to give to the yell
low corn bath in a green dye, so as to
give it the appearance of first color corn
until after it is sold. Manufacturers who
use only the uncolored corn assert that
the dOctOred stuff has Paris green in it,
and that when the untidy housewife takes