The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-06-15
DO YOU CHEW GUM
It's Composition Is Closely
Guarded Secret.
An Industry That Gives Employment %
Thousands Of People-Americs
Is Nation of Jaw
Workers.
Do you chew gum?

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
laudab bic 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 indul-
gence, is addicted to something more
tangible-and that something is a pc
culiar conglomeration of stuffs
II your favorite brand is white gum
your solace is In chewing paraffine-
which is a mixture of various carbo-
ydrides-that has been dissolved at a
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 to1u-which is made by dis
solving orange shellac and gum ben
zoin In reotifed spirit, with the ad
dition of a few drops of the oils OF cas-
STA and nutmeg dissolved in a little es-
sence of vanilla-oatmeal and sugar.
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
peck 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 a
controvertible theme.
There is, in fact, such mysterious
air of secrecy about the manufacture
of these innocent-iool,ing masticatory
sticks that the wchld-be visitor, who is
not given entree into the sacred pre-
cincts for love or money, il 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
net
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-
cry indicates the sacred spot, and
though one cannot converse with the
hege lord who, locked in his private
Office, concoets mixtures to tickle the
palate Of the professional gu1n-ehewer,
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 sdmittancs
being refused on the ground that the
ingredients are Injurious.
'Some people actually think he
said. that chewing is made from
Old rubber boots and refuse matter.
The fact is that only pure uaterinis
are used, the principal ingredient be-
ing an emulation from species of rub
ber tree native in Mexico"
What is the appearance of this sub
stance?"
ut is thick brown sap of the con-
sistency and color of maple strip. We
get it in the original state, with parti-
cles of bark and dirt. This goes
through long process of cleaning.
Then of coarse the process of making
is a 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 employee
knows only his particular part OF the
work, so the secret Of making, as
whole, is preserved"
"Are the materials expensiveP"
"Yes, for the original gum costs 81. 10
a pound in ton lots, and the essential
oils used cost - a 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 10 look IN
the packing room. Here great trucks
filed high with strips of eheving-gum
yard long and several inches wide.
all carefully marked with geometric
precision into squares, are rolled in at
intervals from the factory. The def
fingers OF the seyenty-fve 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 filed l53 boxes in one day, there
being 56 sticks in each box, or 5.505
sticks all told This is an unusual rec
ord, however.
Great wooden boxes stacked 20 the
ceiling on all sides, packed with chew
ing gum ready for shipment, are the
result of only one days work. 1t is a
sight TO elevate the everlasting devo-
tees OF chewing gum-the ubiquit Gus
cash girl and the omnipresent newsboy
to the seventh heaven Of ecstasy.
II is likewise reminder that Amer
lea is distinctively ehewing-gum
country. And % think that manufsc-
tories employing hundreds even thou
sands. OF hands should be in daily op-
Grafton ali over the country TO cater TO
ones penchant for something 70 chew
Is an almost iaconceirable fact
IN the Alert
Potter-Why didn't You join rs or our
hunting trip