The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1894-08-04
CHEWING GUM.
It's Composition Is . Closely
Guarded Secret.

Guarded Secret.
An Industry That Gives Employmsnt to
Thousands OF People-America
II . Nation Of jaw
Workers.
Do you chew gum?
In more technical terms, do you in
dulge in that continuous, vertical,
masticatory movement which is So per-
fectly disgusting in the street car but
pardonably popular in the privacy of
home?
Nowadays, says the Chicago Tribune,
everything is distinctively fin de steele
-or tries to be. And to be strictly fin
de steele means to have "a purpose"
All the new and popular books, for in
stance, are purpose" pieces OF fiction.
And so the persistent gum chewer,
much as he dislikes to see others COM
placently smack their lips over the bit
of gum and sugar, hides behind the
laudable purpose, SO called-a subter-
fuge, in other words-of improving an
imperfect digestive apparatus, OF
whitening the teeth or of sweetening
the breath.
Said Pope: ssOld politicians chew on
wisdom past" This truism is sugges-
tive. But the modern chewer, what
ever may be his excuse for the indul-
gence, is addicted to something more
tangible-and that something is a pc
culiar conglomeration of stuffs.
If your favorite brand is white gum
your solace is in chewing parafine-
which is mixture of various carbO-
hydrides-that has been dissolved at q
gentle heat in olive oil and glycerine.
It is stirred on cooling and afterwards
compressed.
If tolu occupies first place in your af-
fections you indulge in a mixture of
balsam of tolu-which is made by dis
solving orange shellac and gum ben
zoin in rectifed spirit, with the ad-
dition of few drops of the oils of cas-
sia and nutmeg dissolved in little es-
sence of vanilla-oatmeal and sugar.
There is also spruce gum, made from
exudations of the spruce tree. This
gum from the manufactory of nature is
regarded as both pure and beneficial.
Whether the chewer of gum gets a
liberal allowance Of the proverbial
peck of dirt which every individual is
supposed to eat in his allotted three
score and ten in the sugared, favored,
daintily squares OF gum is q
controvertible theme.
There is, in fact, such mysterious
air of secrecy about the manufacture
of these innocent-looking masticatory
sticks that the would-be visitor, who is
not given entree into the sacred pre-
cincts for love or money, is quite apt
to think maybe ''cleanliness is next to
godliness'' is not the motto of the
chewing gum manufacturer.
At any rate, there are innumerable
stories afoat as to the ingredients of
this decidedly popular American prod
uct.
A chewing gum factory that claims
the distinction of being the third larg-
est in the world may be found within
the gates of Chicago. Though one is
not permitted even to glance into the
great room where the clang of machin-
i cry indicates the sacred spot, and
though one cannot converse with the
liege lord who, locked in his private
Office, concocts mixtures to tickle the
palate of the professional gum-chewer,
there are many interesting things to
be heard and many interesting things
to be seen in the packing department.
One of the managers laughed aloud
at the bare suggestion of admittance
being refused on the ground that the
ingredients are injurious.
''Some people actually think" he
said, ''that chewing gum is made from
old rubber boots and refuse matter.
The fact is that only pure materials
are used, the principal Ingredient be-
ing "a exudation from species of rub
Der tree native in Mexico"
"What is the appearance of this sub
stance?"
''It is thick brown sap of the con-
sistency and color Of maple sirup. We
get it in the original state, with parti-
cles of bark and dirt. This goes
through long process of cleaning.
Then of course the process Of making
is profound secret. There is man
in our employ, by the way, who for
twenty-one years has done nothing else
but experiment on new brands of chew
ing gum. No, even a manager could
not take his wife through the factory,
so rigid are the rules. Each employe
knows only his particular part of the
work, so the secret of making, as q
whole, is preserved"
fare the materials expensive?'
''Yes, for the original gum costs 81. 10
pound in ton lots, and the essential
oils used cost 81 pint. These are the
principal ingredients.
"How long time is required to con-
vert one lot Of new material into chew
ing gum?"
almost week"
An interesting spectacle is to look in
the packing room. Here great trucks
filed high with strips of chewing gum
yard long and several inches wide,
ell carefully marked with geometric
precision into squares, are rolled in at
intervals from the factory. The deft
fingers Of the seventy-hve wrappers
young girls break these strips into
sections, wrap each in tissue cover
ing and then tinfoi1, and pack them
away in pasteboard boxes in an almost
Incredibly short time. One girl has
thus filed 153 boxes in one day, there
being 36 sticks In each box. or 5,50S
sticks all told. This Is an unusual rec
ord, however.
Great wooden boxes stacked to the
- ~ 80 = = q