The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-08
one MILLION A DAY
The Enormous Number OF Nee
dies Used in This Country.
BESTARE MADE IN ENGLAND
Germany Markets Lots OF Bad Ones
in the United States - We
Make None OF Our
Own.

1--WE are indebted to Germany for all
of the trashy needles used on this side
said a department store man. Ger
many has been proficient in the art of
needle making for a long time, but it is
only within the last seven or eight
years that it has reached such an ex-
tent and so cheapened it's products that
the present common needle could be
turned out and palmed off on the
Americans. Since then, however, the
trade in cheap needles has become enor-
nous.
Fully 100000 needles are sold in
this country every day, but of that
sum not more than one-half gives sat
isfaction. Examine those in the ped
dlers packages, or rather endeavor to
sew with them, and you will find either
the eyes left rough and imperfect, SO
that they chafe and cut the thread, or
the points blunted. Perhaps the size Of
the shank is out of proportion to the
eye, or sosStubby and unpublished that
it is impossible to force it through the
goods, or else 1t Is SO badly tempered
that 1t snaps in two on the first trial.
"A good needle will sew and sew well,
has been rusted and cleaned score of
times Its eye is precisely the right
size for the number of spool silk or
cotton it carries, and its point answers
to the slightest impetus given by the
sewers hand But these sweepings
which are hustled over here to US
Americans, and are put up in bright
packages and little wallets, are frauds
Look in at the bargain-day estab-
lishments at any time and you will see
the rank and file of women customers
buying the same sort Of needle and so
keeping uD an enormous trade in these
imitation-steel teasers. as we call them
under the rose But the intelligent mil
liners, dressmakers and furriers and!
the makers Of fine undergarments for
wealthy women never put themselves
in the way Of being deceived or en-
shared, nor does the amateur home
needle woman who understands her
business. Experience has Impressed i
on them all that there are needles ana
needles"
One million needles used here in one
day-just think Of that! And a bundle
which contains 100000 needles in the
bulk, which is the largest single pack
age handled, when trundled off the ship
it arrived on, at New York wharf.
looks almost as big as piano, and
weighs almost as much. The lo0OOO
needles are bundled first in a stout,
thick paper, then enveloped in zinc
covering to avoid dampness as far as
possible, and the package is then in
closed in 9 strong wooden case. which.
because Of its weight. must be kept TO
gether with iron clamps.
. The New York factory where these
big packages are opened. assorted,
classified and packed in neat boxes Of
regularly graded size for shipment to
all the retail dealers throughout the
country is very busy place. you may.
be sure. The folding in and under OF
so many squares of paper exactly at the
same time and in the same \ manner
makes subdued, although sharp, rus
tie through the rooms; and louder
sound is the shaking down ard into
their respective holders of the myriad
glittering pointers, which are sized up
in regiments like soldiers going forth
to the Philippine slaughter heads ard
points all on a level, or else stuck sing
ly in red or blue flannel beds for the
better convenience of the user.
The mapority of the hands employed
are women and young girls. Defines
and painstaking eXactness are main at
tributes of equipment; and there are
masculine oVerseers on the bright look
out that no odd sized or under-graied
needle slips in with it's superiors--ths
with fine-grade goods-and that thnre
is no slackness nor msmatchng IN the
folding, gluing and packing.
we SUIl Out ana pack the ne Gti!Ps
here which are the output of cur Lon
don works. said the. superintendent CT
a New York needle factory to me- For
two years or more, along in The '7ls,
needles were manufactured in this
country in New England factory: but
the enterprise was eventually abaa-
doned because the Workmen's wages
were too high to admit of profit. The
law concerning contract labor has s,i
further interfered with the domestic
manufacture of needles, but we will get
around gradually to making OIL" er,n
pointers. now that so many labor-slv-
ing devices are being brought nut, aspe-
cially in the needle making line
The pointing machine is the
latest invention. Although hardly under
way, it is certain to be signal factor
in reducing the expense of hand labor.
There are constant improvements being
made in the Furnishing of the nealles
eye, and in the tempering, which has
always been great obstacle in the
path ofrrapid manufacture
With all these improvements and
facilities at present extant and thor
oughly established. and other impoce-
ant aids in sight still, the bulk Of the
process incident to this making and
perfect finish of the needle must always
be done by hand, and as long as we can
get for the equivalent of $12 week on
the other side of the water the same
responsible, skilled workmen whom we
would aave to pay $50 to here, it stands
to reason that we will continue TO
manufacture on the other side
Good steel, ample good soft water.
an excellent quality of nut oil are ali
plenty in the United States, and as
cheap as anywhere in the manufacture
ing world, but patience and the quality
of adhering to trying occupation SO
far as the labor is concerned comes high
and is hard to get here. The American
workman is far more restless than the
foreigner.
1T is a sort of instinct and inherit
tance with the needlemakers on the