The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-20
NAME
They Must ne Ingenious and Mesquite ProeS
and All Around Handy Men.


ISLAND FALLS. Me-. June ls.-The word
barker" as it is used In the Maine backwoods
signifies a man who is master of q profitable
trade. The city barker is a man who is hired to
rehearse the dazzling events in the line OF dime
museum freaks, but an up-river barker is Q
muscular, mosquito-proof man whose life's bust.
ness Is to peel the bark from hemlock trees and
put 1t in shape for use in the tannery. Last
week n down-river employment agency sent
more than 1000 bankers to this town and
beyond, all Of whom will work from now until
September, and will get $2.5 a day each, rain
or shine. for all the time they are in the woods.
In addition to this. they will receive board and
lodging and free transportation to and from
their work. When it is remembered that tho
best lumbermen get but 800 a month. and
trained pulp-mill men-acid makers and d..
gesters-can be had at S1.25 to 81. so O day
each. without board. the wages demanded BY
the bankers seem princely and out of proportion
to the kind of labor they have to perform.
In old days, when hemlocks were as plentiful
as gray birch. and every farmer had his hem
lock lot, tho bark was peeled in tho summon,
dried in the fall. and hauled out to the tannery
in the winter. This was the method followed
for more than a century. AS the hemlock was
driven back, TO the borders and the tanncrics
stili demanded more and more OF the tannio
acid, various substitutes were tried. including
yellow birch, oak, sumac. and sweet fern. but
none proving so good as hemlock, new efforts
were made TO secure what the trade demanded.
AZ Il time when hemlock was very cheap, a
Maine syndicate, which included senator Eu.
about all the available growth in the state,
ana AND no sooner was the deal rompleied
gan to go up by bounds. Tho market
would have been cornered and most OF tho
somebody had not discovered that the remote
hemlock bark, which WAS so far in the woods
that its cost OF transportation would hinder its
removal rpnll ln hnllpI down and the Innnin
condensed 40 that three cords OF bark could bo
put into an ordinary barrel. This discovery
enabled a pair OF horses 10 carry more tannin
than ten teams had been able to haul, and gave
the tanners another chance for their lives. Bo-
ginning In II small way, the extract works in
creased in size and number until most OF tho
hemlock peeled in Maine is shipped In barrels,
as is mOlassCs or kerosene.
The business OF the Maine barker Is the direct
outcome OF this change. Not only must ho
must be IA skilled cooper, who can split and
shave slaves and hoop poles, put them together
and insert tho heads. and warrant his barrels 10
pe nrniiy made and water;tight. Living for
roau' no must be a carpenter and blacksmith ms
wei as Il cooper and bark pccler, and II he has
any other trade or knack OF doing work it all
counts in his favor and tends TO increase his pay
or prolong his job. There are scores OF farmers
ana iunbcrmen In Maino who get along ms best
lhey may Tor nine months in the year and rely ON
money ana Injuries. Owing To the Introduction
OF extract" hemlock bark is as cheap to-day
as II was ten years ago, and the men who bought
heillock growth hoping for ~ rise in price aIG
waiting until no more extract can be made be.
fore Offering to sell. They expect that tln1
Is coming when they will own all the hcmlu'k
IN inc United States, but meanwhile they fear
some new tanning process will be discovered
whlch does not require hemloCk. For these rca'
SONS tho bark owners arc not wholly happy,
while the bankers continue to enjoy themselves