Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-02
The Enormous Number of Needles
Used in This Country.
TIE BEST ARE MADE IN ENGLAND
Germany Markets Lots of Bad
Ones in the United States.
WE MAKE NONE OF OUR OWN


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 extent and SO cheapened
its 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
enormous
Fully 1OOO. 900 needles are sold in this
country every day, but of that sum not
more than one-haif gives satisfaction. En-
anime those in the peddler's packages. or
rather endeavor TO sew with them, and you
will find either the eyes left rough and i'm
perfect. that they chafe and cut the
thread. or the points bunted Perhaps. the
size of the shank is out of proportion to
the eye, stubby and unpublished that
it is impossible TO force it through the
goods. else it is badly tempered that
it snaps in two the first trial.
"a good needle will and sew we'll, up
to the iast. even after it is bent or has
been rusted and cleaned score of times.
Its eye is precisely the right size for the
number of spool silk cotton it carries.
and its point answers to the slightest i'm
Petus given by the sewers hand. But
these sweepings which are hustled over
here to Americans, and are put up in
bright packets and little wallets, are frauds
of the rankest- description.
Keeping Up the Trade.
Look in at the bargain-day establish
ments at any time and you will see the
rank and file of women customers buying
the same sort of needle and so keeping UP
an enormous trade in these imitation-steel
tCaSers. as we call them under the rose.
But the Intelligent milliners, dresSmakers
and furriers and the makers of fine under
garments for wealthy women never put
Themselves in the way of being deceived or
ensnared. nor does the amateur home
1t edle woman who understands her bust
ness. Experience has impressed 1t on them
all that there are needles and needles
one million needles used here in one day
just think of that And a bundle which
contains 1tD,uN needles in the bulk, which
is the largest single package handled, when
trunded off the ship it arrived on. at a
New York wharf. looks almost as big as a
piano. and weighs almost much. The
1to.WD needles are bundled FIRST in a stout,
thick paper. then enveloped in a zinc cover
ing to avoid dampness as far as possible,
and the package is then inclosed in
strong wooden case, which. because of its
weight. must be kept together 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 a very
busy place, you may be sure. The folding
In and under OF 50 many squares of paper
exactly at the same time and in the same
manner makes a subdue1. although sharp,
rustic through the rooms; and a louder
sound is the shaking down and into their
respective holders of the myriad glitterng
pointers. which are sized up in regiments
like soldiers going forth TO the Philippine
slaughter. heads and points all level.
or else stuck singly in red or blue flannel
beds for the better convenience of the user.
he, IA of he hlT a rfa
women and young girls. Defines and
painstaking exactness are main attributes
of equipment and there are masculine
oversears on the bright lookout that no
odd-SiZed or under-graded needle slips in
with its superors - this with tine-grade
goods-and that there is no sackness nor
mismatching in the folding, giuing and
packing.
Nostiy Hand Work.
We sort out and pack the needles here
which are the output of our London
works said the superintendent of a New
York needle factory to me. For two
years or more. along in the 10s, needles
were Manufactured in this country in
New England factory; but the enterprise
was eventually abandoned because the
workmen's wages were too high to admit
of profit. The law concerning contract
labor has still further interfered with the
domestic manufacture of needles, but we
VIII get dlpuuu Sfduudify 10 making our
own pointers. now that so many labor-sav-
ing devices are being brought out, especial
ly in the matchmaking line.
The ueedle-pointing machine is the lat
est invention. Although hardly under way
it is certain to be a signal factor in reduc-
ing the expense of hand labor. There are
constant improvements being made in the
furnishing of the needles eye and in the
temperirg. which has always been a great
obstacle in the path of rapid manufa cture
With all these improvements and facil-
tiles at present extant and thoroughly es-
tablished and other important 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 S12 week on the other side of the water
the same responsible. skilled workmen
whom We would have 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 all plenty in
the United States. and cheap as any
where in the manufacturing world, but pa
thence and the quality of adherng to a try
ing occupation so far the labor Is con-
cerned comes high and is hard to get here
The American workman is far more rest
less than the foreigner
1T is sort of instinct and Inheritance
with the needle makers the other side
to adhere to the one profession, although
1t is most trying on the eyes and the ex-
pert adJusters. those especially who work
sti't't tflf cy tTllilIS. nave TO Keep a glass
before them TO protect their eyes from the
flying points and clippings of steel.
England Makes the Best.
BY far the best needles are made in
England, and the most needles are made
III Germany Germany has a monopoly of
the Chinese trade in needless which Is the
cheapest grade in the world next to the
or-scourines and factory sweepings, gloss
ed over and shipped here of late years
Il have been all through the German
French provinces. where the needle MAX
ers abide, and in their homes are the same
primitive machines for needle polishing,
securing and drying which were in use a
men and women are today employed as
poliShers and aSsorters, which work they
take to do in their own homes the trade
inherited from their fathers and grand
fathers
In many of these homes are the round
wooden boxes punctured with air holes
used for the drying of needles after their
final securing when taken out of the pol
ishing claws and also the shallow. wooden
flats into which the needles are poured
for sorting. In such houses where the
same family has lived for generations can
be seen the old emery stone. turned by a
hand wheel, and used for pointing needles,
just AS the ordinary street grindstone is
e used for putting an edge on New York S
cutlery.
In fay MI