The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1894-07-13
CHEWING GUM.
It's Composition Is Closely
Guarded Secret
An Industry That Gives Employment to
Thousands of People-America
Is Nation of jaw
Workers.
DO you chew gum?

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 dislil1es to see others com
placently smack their lips over the bit
of gum and sugar. hides behind the
lauda BILE 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: ''Old politicians chew on
wisdom past" This truism is sugges-
tive. But the modern chewer, what
ever may be his excuse for the InduI-
eence. is addicted to something more
tangible-and that something Is pc
culiar conglomeratiOn of stuffs-
If your favorite brand is white gum
Your soIace is in chewing paraffine-
which is a mixture of various carbO-
hvdrides-that has been dissolved at
gentle neat III ollNC OlA anu ~ CtL
1t Is stirred on cooling and afterwards
compressed
If tolu occupies first place in your af-
fections you indulge in a mixture of
baIsam of tolu-which is made by dis
solving orange shellac and gum ben
zoin in rectified spirit, with the ad-
dition of a few drops of the oils of cas-
sia and nutmeg dissolved in d little es-
,fv- rrnaa1 nd
There Is also spruce gum. made from
exudations of the spruce tree. This
gum from the mandatory of nature is
regarded as both pure and beneficial.
Whether the chewer of gum gets
liberal allowance of the proverbial
peek of dirt which every individual is
supposed to eat in his allotted three
score and ten in the sugared. favored.
daintily-wrapPed squares of gum is
controvertible theme.
There Is. in fact, such a mysterious
air of secrecy about the manufacture
of these innocent-looBing 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 afioat as to the ingredients of
this decidedly popular American prod
uct.
\ 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-
cry indicates the sacred spot, and
though one cannot converse with the
hege 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 an emulation from species of rub
Der tree native in Mexico"
What is the appearance of this sub
stance?"
1t is a 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 a 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 a
whole. is preserved"
Are the materials eNpensive?''
YES. for the original gum costs 81. IO
a 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 a week"
An interesting spectacle is to look in
the packing room. Here great trucks
filled high with strips of chewing-gum
yard long and several inches wide
all carefully marked with geometric
precision into squares, are rolled in al
intervals from the factory. The deft
fingers of the seventy-five wrappers
young girls-break these strips into
sections, wrap each in tissue cover
ing and then tinfoil, and pack them
away in pasteboard boxes in an almost
incredibly short time One girl has
thus filled 153 boxes in one day. there
being 30 sticks in each box. or $50.
sticks all told This is an unusual rec
ord, however
Great wooden boxes stacked to the
ceiling on all sides, packed with chew
ing gum ready for shipment, are the
result of only one days work. 1t is q
sight to elevate the everlasting devo
tees of chewing gum-the ubiquito ous
cash girl and the omnipreSent newsboy
to the seventh heaven of ecstasy.
1t is likewise a reminder that Amer
lea is distinctively a chewing-guu
country. And To think that manufac
tories employing hundreds. even thou
sands, of hands should be in daily op
Grafton all over the country to cater t,
ones penchant for something to chew
is an almost inconceivable fact
A LITTLE MISCELLANY.
THERE are less than 800 pure bloodet
Greenlanders.
PHoTodRAPHs have been taken so,
feet under water.
THE armadillo is the mouser of Soutf
American families.
A SACRAMENTO gardener irrigates hi:
garden by dog power.
\ PHILADELPHIAN has invented 3
fix-irsr