The Monitor., 1891-09-04
The EruIf lar Hoonl.

AS the FIRST 0f Septe N Der, uesday marx
ed the resumption Of work at the various
glass manufactures in the district in which
Philadelphia is the ceRtre. Ordinarily the
starting up is not matter of special in
terest outside of the trade and the depen-
dent laboring element, but this year the re-
sumption takes place in the midst Of the
widest kind of a boom in glass fruit jars.
Except in the summer of 1879 nothing
like the present demand for jars has ever
been known. Prices have more than
doubled in the past few weeks, and the
feature Of the trade is 10 longer question
of price There is virtually a corner in
the market, and the controlling idea Is TO
get jars at any reasonable figure. The pri-
mary cause of the boom is the craze for
preserving fruits which has seized house
wives all over the country. Fruits at
nominal figures and cheap sugar have
given the houscmaid mania for putting
up"
Behind the boom there is most interest
ing trade story Of how Whitney Bros. the
proprietors of the Whitney Glass Works,
at Glassboro. have scooped in clear profit
of over 5000, 600 in the rise.
Whitney Bros. are the largest manufae-
turers of fruit jars in the East. OF the en-
tire Eastern production amounting annual
ly frum 80, 900 to 100, 600 gross of jars,
their furnaces turn out about 35 per cent.
Owing to the deficient fruit crops the past
two or three years there has been very
little demand for jars, and as result
prices have been seriously cut and the bus
mess demoralized. a couple of years ago
Whitney Bros. found themselves in a posi-
tion where it was to their advantage to
take the entire product of an outside mill.
This outside mill ran on jars for them.
Whitney's own mills continued 20 turn out
the usual amount, and the trade looked
with horror upon the jars, which were pill
ing up by. the thousand gross.
This accumulation was nightmare to
the other manufactures. They did not
know what to do while it stood before
them liable at any moment to come on the
market and demoralize prices.
At the beginning Of the season combi-
nation was made in which it was agreed to
maintain the price at $3.50 a gross. The
Whitneys went in it, but even the combi-
nation did not let the others rest easy.
Whitney Bros. great pile Of jars made
some impatient to get out before it began
to move, and 80 some of them cut the price
to 1925.
This was noised about and then others
in their eagerness to get out before the
Whitneys cut the figure to 81. This pre-
cipitated q rush to get out at almost any
figure above the cost Of production, which
is t6 gross. There were murnurs at
tending the rush about the Whitney pile
coming, but when all the excitement was
oyer and the middlemsn had the ars of the
other fellows the Whitney stock was
almost intact.
Then the boom came The Whitneys
had about 45, 900 gross of jars on hand, and
they were the masters Of the situation. Up
jumped the price. 1t rose quickly from 81
to s. 50, to IS so, to s10.50 to $11 and to
t11. so, and still Whitney Bros. had thou
sands Of gross. They COULD not ship them
fast enough to check the rise, From Eve to
fifteen car loads had been going daily from
their storeboases in Glassboro and Salem.
aud yet but small fraction Of the demand
was met. So prices continued to jump aud
Tuesday offers as high as sl6 and sl8 a
gross were made without securing the jars.
The resumption of work at the factories
will have no appreciable effect on the m ar
ket. Whitney Bros will now turn out
about 8, 800 gross day and the other fac
tories combined from 1000 to s, 900 gross.