The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-09-02
IN a SUGAR REFINERY
1T is AN EXCEEDINGLY HoT PLACE
But NOT UNENDURABLE.
The Stories Told of the SuSerings of
Employees There Are Generally
Gross Exc atfons.

ONSIIIGdT0 III F1lt4dIioOui
If we suffer from the heat. what must
those poor wretches feel over in the sugar
refinery"
Pretty hot there, 1 suppose"
Hot says the first speaker. Why, I
don't believe there's a hotter spot on earth.
You have no conception how those poor
fellows suffer. No one has"
rs that SOP"
mo one has any idea of their suffering.
Why, $50 degrees is nothing to them
You don't say SOP"
Its a fact" And then, encouraged by
the curiosity of the other, he ventures fur
Their into details:
DO you know that during the hot spell
the thermometer rose in the drying room
to 224 degrees?'
What, Oh, you must be mistaken. No
man"
1.-TWO hundred and twenty-four. That's
right. I'm not certain that it wasn't 22412.
In fact, I'm pretty sure it was 22415."
But how can any man live in that?"
Lord knows. They drag out some sort
of miserable existence. You should see
them as they cone to one of the windows
for a breath of air and then you might
judge what sort of wretches they are. 1t
is a piteous sight. And when their days
toll is done you may see the poor devils
any day as they drag themselves home
miserable, emaciated ~wretches, their lack
luster eyes fixed straight before them.
looking neither to right nor left, never ex-
changing a word with their comrades.
They have no inclination to eat or do any
thing after their days work is done. And
in the hot weather they drop down like
sheep. Many die, and no one is a bit the
wiser. Others are driven mad by the heat
and throw themselves out of the windows
into the water below, where their bodies
are often found floating. No one knows
who they are, and no one cares
Perhaps the detail with which the first
speaker described the sugar refineries
might lead the casual listener to suppose
that he knew something of what he spoke;
that he himself had an intimate knowledge
of the inside workings. But if he chose to
edge, the latter would probably tell him
that he had it from a friend in whose We
rac1ty he had implicit confidence.
If, on the other hand, he will take the
pains to stroll down Kent avenue himself.
and observe as he passes by Havemeyer
& Elders refinery, he will see Outside a
number of robust. healthy locking fellows
manipulating barrels. About the docks he
will see more robust and healthy looking
fellows working on the barges. and if he
casts his eyes upward he may see still 9TH
ers; but in vain will he seek that window
comes with heaving breast, to catch, if he
may, a breath of fresh air. There are
many WINDOWS, and he may, OF course, see
men standing at them for air, but where
that particular window is remains a mys-
terry to him, as it will to any other
paSSer-by.
How, then. is this dismal tale of suffering
to be accounted for? The chances are that
the man who told it heard it from one who
had it at secondhand himself. And this
one. in all likelihood, has a disposition
which impels him eagerly to seek after
and devour all accounts of human suffer-
ing, and to relate in a picturesque manner,
all he hears and reads Of the misery of his
fellow-beings. Perhaps it is for this rea-
son that so many persons misconceive the
true conditions in q refinery.
However this may be. certain it is that
these poor wretches are not. so readily to
be found as he would have it believed. and
for a very good reason. They are a myth;
they don't exist. There was indeed a time
when work in q sugar refinery was terri
bic. but now If q man seeks the oppressed
and downtrodden w-orkingman he Will find
better examples than there. In
stead of the miserable and emaciated crea-
lures who. thanks to the imaginations of
sensation mongers. are supposed by many
to be the workers in the sugar refineries
of Williamsburg; the men who turn out
every evening are, as q rule, healthy look
ing fellows who. as they go home. laugh
and crack jokes with one another; and if
sometimes they do have a drink-or even
tWo-toegether. surely in this they do not
differ from many other WOrkingmen.
IMPROVED METHODS.
There are parts of a refinery which, it is.
of course, as necessary as ever to keen at a
high temperature, but so greatly have the
methods Of ventilation been improved that
it is now possible to endure with compare
tive ease what twenty-or even ten-years
ago would have been intolerable. The cleo
trio fan. for instance, has proved a great
boon to the man who works in q sugar
refinery. When the present superintend-
ent first joined the refinery in Williams
burg there was not a fan in the place. and
although the ventilation was as we'll man
aged as possible, the heat in certain parts
of the buildings was very great. 1t was
not until about 1888 that one was placed
in the filter room as an experiment.; but
fans had not as yet been brought to per-
lection. and this one. which was devised
to draw out the hot air. proved to be rather
a failure. But now electric fans of the
improved kind are to be found in album
dance wherever needed. AT one time il
was thought necessary to keep cool air
out of the hard-sugar house, and. indeed.
so far as the sugar was concerned, it was
necessary then. But for the men who
worked there it was better to have more
air than could be admitted through the one
little hole in the wall that originally af-
forded the only ventilation. 1t was there
mitted, and it was found possible to do
this without injury to the sugar by MAX
ing some alterations in the manner of pre-
window had to be closed, now the place
is well ventilated and the men can work
there without suffering.
One of the hottest parts OF the refinery
to-day is the drying room. When the sn,
gar has passed through the other stages
of refining it is poured into molds of the
familiar conical form of loaf SUI
Siderable time that the moisture
in it may drain off. After this has been
accomplished the molds are placed on a
truck and wheeled into a low brick tunnel
with shelves on either side on which tbe
sugar is placed that it may be completely
dried. Needless to say, the heat in these
little tunnels is terrible, for they must
needs be kept at a very high Temperature
The men who work here. as those in most
stripped to the waist. and wear the light
est possible kind of leg clothing. But even
when dressed in this manner a man NAV
suffer considerably from such heat as this.
it must not, therefore, be supposed that
any man works continuously in these hot
drying compartments. Only two enter here
at a time to take out the sugar, and after
is taken by two others. AS ninetv-six
pieces go to one section, and as each cart
load consists of twelve pieces. these mon
have to load just eight wagons before
they are relieved. When the eighth one
has been drawn out, they are at liberty tn
follow it and rest until, perhaps fifteen
minutes later, their turn comes again Tn
the same way the men at the wagons are
also relieved from time to time. 1t will
thus be seen that in such places as this
where The temperature is exceedingly high
matters are so arranged that the men arc
not Obliged to work too long on a stretch.
A HOT PLACE.
Another very hot spot is the tank room
situated between the floor where the sugar
passes through the mechanical or bag fill