Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1892-02-06

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There Is one industry In the country In
which the small capitalists have been
able 10 hold their own against the wealth.
lest men ia IL, aud that Is the industry of
broom making. IL In a business in which
iourneyman OF skill and prudence can
hope TO establish himself, IL he wishes.
within very few years after he has
learned his trade. The process of broom
making is simple, and yet IL Is such that
machinery has never been devised for
turning out completed broom, and, be-
yond the sum necessary TO erect such an
establishment as will permit of GER
tain division OF the labor, an abundance
OF capital IL OF no special advantage.
The broom center Of the country Ia I'm
New York state, the largest establish
ments 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 aud profitable
cabbage has driven the wavy green tassels
OF broom corn from the flats which were
once their favorite growing place. IL was
because Of the prolific yield of corn there
In former years that the trade OF making
brooms became so well established.
A BROOM FACTORY.
| The growth of broom factory In In.
teresting. A young man Of economical
habits learns the trade, and, having
learned IL well, Is able To do the eQuiya-
lent Of turning out from 100 to 1876 or f50
complete brooms day. As a matter OF
fact, in well regulated shops no man
makes a complete broom, but only one
part OF 1t, but the journeyman having
learned his trade well can do enough work
usually Mt piece prices To earn from $2 to
VI day. Out OF this he ought TO save
$500 before starting la trade Tor himself.
With this sum he can buy enough ma
chinery tat 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 n a very modest
capital, but since the machinery costs 20
little, men have started on $500, and even
less, and made notable successes as the
trade goes. Second hand tools can he
had sometimes for $50 or $50, a couple OF
\ bales of corn would cost perhaps $3d, 500
handles $3.50 more, and other supplies
| x2j, and then the man is ready to set nm
shop and make all the brooms his neigh
bors can use, at least.
| The trade in New York city calls for
about $50, 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
lngs. Steam power la 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 TO a
New York dealer, turns out 900 brooms
"A day, or twice "a many as the New York
city trade demands. In such n factory q
mans work Is equivalent To the making
OF from 200 to 2J0 brooms day, accord
ing To the quality Of the braoms.
OF the trade TN the corn a dealer said:
''The manufacturers buy their corn In the
west. Kansas corn has the best reputa.
tion In this market, but Missouri, Ne
braska and llliuois 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 800 TO 4OC
pounds To the acre. II n farmer gets SOC
pounds he pays OF some OF his mortgage,
and when the crop reaches 600 pounds he
buys new silk dress for his wife and q
piano for his daughter. And yet there il
not such terrible profit In It. Ii brings
all the way from $40 to si60 n ton In New
York, the ordinary hrooms requiring stock
I
ton. IL costs $25 '-t- 10 get it here from
Kansas and $i5 from IIIlnois. The mid
die man out there must have his commits
sion, and sS must the New York mer-
chant. II a farmer receives $40 an acre
for his crop he Is doing well; still that is
better than wheat at sixty cents a bushel.
BROOM CORR 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 tumhling to pieces Tie wood
sells at the same price as the corn, III the
buyer doesn't notice IL. Sometimes the
prairie farmer gets even with the Ohio
man by dropping sod or two into the
bunch.
1.-THE corn on the average win make
1000 brooms 10 the ton, although In
some fancy brands OF extra heavy brooms
as much as fifty pounds Is used for n
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 wheuthe broom makers
have a squirt, ms 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 of southern France and Of
Italy supplying the European market.
'what Is the trick In this trade, If there
be tricks in all tradesf'' was asked Of q
dealer In broom corn.
1T Is in making poor corn look like
good. The best article has healthy green
color, like well cured timothy hay. That
color indicates tonghness, with proper
fiexibility. The cheap stuff, worth $50 q
ton, is Of a siekly yellow or lemon color
Nothing Is easier than 10 give 60 the yell
low corn a bath In green dye, SO as to
give II the appearance OF first color corn
until after IL Is sold. Manufacturers who
use only the uncolored corn assert that
the doctored stuff has Paris green in it,
aud that when the untidy housewife takes
a broom splint TO try her cake or pick her
teeth, she h toying with deadly poison.
The men who make the dye say it Is .
harmless vegetable compound People
who will use broom corn splints for such
purposes may, perhaps, be frightened
from an untidy habit by fear Of poison,
but no case has yet been recorded where
any one was poisoned by a broom splint."
New York Sun.