Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1894-09-07
In A SUGAR REFINERY.
PROCESSES BY WHICH THE RAW
SUGAR IS REFINED.
Terrific Heat Endured by Some OF
the Workmen-Lifei I'm the Drying
ROoms-FrightfuI Toll.

inc W0rkmen-Iffc In the Drying
Rooms-Frightful Toll.
I is doubtful if there is any other
group of buildings in or near
New York where the fearful diff
6 culties under which men labor
for the bare privilege of living, are so
plainly shown as they are in the
towering, forbidding, fortress-like
structures on the East River front of
Brooklyn, owned by the American
Sugar Refining Company, better
known as the Sugar Trust.
The big buildings cover space of
four blocks on both sides of Kent
avenue, from South First to South
Fifth streets, and on the west side of
the avenue extend to the river front,
their grimy, dull-red walls extending
seventeen stories above the street
level. A close inspection Of the
Havemeyer refneries is necessary to
a thorough realization OF the i'm
mensity of the establishment, and
this group is one of the refining places
owned by the trust. 1t has no equal
in size or in the amount of its busi-
ness in the limits Of the Greater New
York. The employees of the great
concern are disciplined with rules rs
strict as those which govern an
army. If one attempts to get into
the refineries he meets the discipline
in the shape of a gruff watchman and
a club, and call at the offices reveals
it in the shape of a more or less polite
negative from the clerks, who will say
that they cannot answer questions.
There are about 5000 men employed
in the big refneries, and these are
divided into day and night shifts.
About o'clock in the morning half
of the force can be seen filing down
into the basement of one of the great
buildings. Work is begun i'm.
mediately, and continued until in
the evening, when the men are sup
piled with checks, showing that they
were on hand when work begun.
The majority of the workmen are
Poles and Hungarians, and the severity
of their labors is shown by the fact
that they are nearly all thin and
stopped, and rarely above middle age,
it being well-known fact that men
employed in the refneries rarely live
to old age. They are nearly new i'm
migrants when first employed, and be-
fore work is given them they must be
found perfectly docile and otedient.
The rules of the refneries are laid
down to the applicant for employment,
and he is told that he will receive
81. II, $125 or 81. so rs the case may
be, for the first year, and then, If his
work is satisfactory, he may receive
an additional five or ten cents day.
The man is assigned to work in one Of
the many departments, and if he has
received the ''tlp" from friends of his
own nationality before going to work,
he trembles lest the edict may con-
denim him to the ''dry room" 1t 1T
be that, however, he receives it with
characteristic stolidity, and is THANK
full for an opportunity to earn his m
erable pittance, even under such t.
rible circumstances.
When the raw sugar is dumped from
the ship in which it is brought to the
refneries it is placed in great cistern
near the rivers edge, and is dissolved
in hot water. From this vat sweet,
sticky steam constantly arises, and
every little while n workman, dressed
in overalls aud an undershirt, pops
out from it, and in minute or so pops
back again, and is lost to sight in the
moist cloud The liquid is pumped
up to the top story of the pile, pass
ing through a wire strainer, which re.
moves any particles of size which may
be in it, and is emptied into great cop
per receptacles heated to 20S or 210
degrees Fahrenheit, known as boilers.
The process of boiling requires con-
siderable skill, and the men who have
charge of it are paid 500 or $3.50
month, the number receiving the lat
ter figure being extremely limited,
only one man in a hundred who re-
ceives employment in the retineries
becoming a boiler, which is the highest
ambition of the workmen.
The boiling and bubbllng sugar is
passed down through tunnels to the
next floor, where it is emptied into
box, the bottom OF which consists of
two thicknesses of canvas, one being
coarse, the other fine. This thorough
ly filters the stuff, and the room is
kept at terrific temperature i'll order
that the liquid sugar may flow freely,
and not become cool and thick. On
the floor below is another great cop
per tank, some twenty-five feet deep
and nearly filed with bone black.
This purities the sugar, ald, after be-
ing used for few hours, becomes sur
charged with foulness, and is sent to
the lower floor, where it is burned
again. The sugar, which is still kept
at temperature Of about 80 degrees,
is passed into another receptacle,
which is made alright, and the air
and steam are exhausted by means of
a pump. AS soon rs the sugar is gran
ulated, if it is to be soft, it is let off
by means of centrifugal mills. If not,
it is passed on to the great plates to
be dried
The rooms in which the drying is
carried on are veritable infernos. No
man can stay i'll them over ten min
utes without falling down utterly
prostrated by the terrific heat. No
one but an employe is ever allowed
within these walls, and no one but an
employe would dare to go in them
when the heat is on and the sugar is