Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1899-05-20
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There are two industries. entirely
dtf.rent from. and yet entirely de-
usudcnt upon each other. which stand
alone IN this. that In the methods pur-
.ued there has been practically no
change or Improvement In thousands
Of yeats. Thcy probably stand alone
In that modern mechanical genius has
bsen able 10 invent no practical labor
sayina machine 10 take tho place
hand work. These manufactures are
gold leaf and roidbca,crr' skin. The
aiding used to decorate soiomon's
Temple was prepared In Just the same
way that the leaf Ia today.
Goid.bcatlng. as trade. stands alone
I'm another rcspcct-that of wages. II
is true there IL scale on pieccwork
,aud for reasons which will be made
clear Il IL Impossible to pay ON any
other basis). but while an eSDcrt work
man may cara considerably In excess
Of the scale. the inexpcrt may lose the
whole Of his wages By carclcasneas-
indeed. h. may be- In debt to his em-
ployer at the end of the week. This
i explained az follows. A lump Of gold
Weighing nny p-nnywcights IN re-
qulred TO Yield 1000 leaves Of beaten
GOLD. the scale of wages n based on
that number. and the manufacturers
price to the trade Il based on that. II
by reason ~ care and cxpertnesa the
operative succeeds In producing 400
leaves. he II paid for the surplus.
which IL called the tale" but II. on
the other hand. bungicr produces
only 800 leaves. the deficit would mean
Just 20 much loss TO the manufacturer.
and the gold has 10 be- remeltcd and
The work done all over again. u the
deficit u not too great the work IL ac-
cupted. but the loss Il deducted from
the workmhn's pay, n the gold leaf
were SOLD by weigh, no loss would be
cntailed. but NJ the users care nothing
Tor either thickness " leaf or weight,
the price must be based wholly on the
number Of leaves.
Collaborating IL a trade about which
vefy little IL known by the masses. In
all the states there arr not moro than
twenty-five manufacturers, and hardly
more than 900 workmvn ind employ.
mont IN the business Most Of the
manufactures are located In New
York. Boston and Philadelphia; Buf-
fal0 has one shop and Cincinnati one
and Han franclnco ala have some. H.
Louis has none. England has quite
number. and. In spite ~ the tnrin,
exports quite a quantity Co America.
The process Of manufacture II inter-
csting. First Of all. beating of gold
l. melted In a small erurihle which n
able To Withstand a white heat. The
Euld,in fuid state and entirely free %
alloy. Il poured into a small Iron ingot,
ana when cool II turned nut an oblonE
piece about ~ Inches long. ~ inches
wide aud about Y ~ an inch thick.
This l. passed between steel rollers.
adjusted by screw which tightsnH IN.
rollers ns the inFot becomes thinner.
The lnRoi II passed through over and
over again until n II elongated into a
ribbon ih Inches wide and i-T00th ~
an inch IN thickness a beating
consists or 20 pennyweinhtu, which il
cut from the ribbon. This IL divided
BY ordinary scissors into sauarca OF /
inch, 20 pennyweiKhts making 100
rqunfen. These squares arc placed,
one hy one. In what Is called a Hutch"
which 4 made NJ squares OF heavy
parchment and confined between two
envelopes NJ the same material. cover.
inF the kuich irankverneiy TO Keen the
leaves cotnpactly together Tn. gold
u then given i,H INST beating. For