Rocky Ford enterprise., 1900-12-28
Sugar Factory
Heartily Approved.
A Critical Pueblo Editor In
spects the Factory and
Endorses Il O. K.

bUOSko WV = oSsSsS
Endorses 1t o. K.
o. F. Thum. editor of the Pue-
bio Courier. the most able labor
paper in the west, made Rocky
Ford visit just before the sugar
factory closed the campaign.
From the stand point Of the Cour-
Ter all corporations are looked up
ON with more or less suspicion
n prejudice which has been jus;i-
fed by the action of many great
combinations of capital. Hence
the Courier would probably fiud
grounds for criticism OF our sugar
factory-did snch grounds exist.
From Mr.. Thum's lengthy article
descriptive Of the factory we make
the following extracts:
There was an air of satisfaction
apparent on the faces OF the gen.
ernl managers ns they handed us
passes to inspect the works. This
was really a pride that is the re-
suit of the success Of tho first
wears business MS evidenced by the
high per cent of sugar and large
per cent purity found in the crop.
This can only he found out after n
crop Of hects has been raised aud
generally happens after the factory
has been finished, nnd.thch IL there
is disappointment in the per cent
of sugnr and purity in the bects
farmers will he discouraged at the
low price that has to be pnid Tor
the crop aud will naturally refuse
to raj 70 more bccts. So it may
well he said that the best evidence
of the success of this new ArsGn-
sns valley enterprise is shown on
the countenance OF the manage
ment.
The inside of the mnin building
is indeed n wonderful sight. a
multitude Of vnts aud tanks, the
very finest of machinery Of all
kinds, and n veritable labarynth Of
pipes and retorts nre on every
hand. The wonder is how in six
months such an intricate arrange
ment could be completed aud
started off on n long run without n
hitch.
At the present time about four
hundred persons are employed.
These work in two shifts OF twelve
hours each. There Is Of course n
great deal Of what is known rs
common labor that has to be per-
formed. At the present time the
company is paying from IL cents
an hour up, or 80 n day for the IL
hours. Preference in this common
labor Is given to the farmers who
have raised beets for the factory.
y
One thing we will say for the
management, and on this point we
think that we are competent to
speak. In going through the
works we saw about 200 persons
Mt work. All were busy-none
were soldering" But no one
seemed to be pushed to gait be-
yond easy endurance. Time and
again have we gone through fac
tories and works employing large
numbers of men, and there was an
air of hurry and rush apparent
that left very sad face on the
worker. 1t is rot SO in the Rocky
Ford sugar factory. There seems
to be plenty of time to do all the
work needed to be done, and there
seems to be plenty of men to do it.
In the hasty inspection that we
gave the plant, and we freely
roamed over the place at will
without the surveillance of lackey
of the company to show us only
those things that they wanted to
be seen, we did not see any place
where the work appeared to be un-
healthy. Everything appeared to
be well ventilated and all the de-
partments are clean. In speaking
of this to Mr.. Wietzer, he inform
ed us that the real warm weather
was the only pest they had to con-
tend with. In warm weather there
was always a disagreeable odor,
but that is not necessarily un-
healthy in the presence of ample
ventilation. 1t is to be remem-
bered that the process of extract
ing sugar from beets is one of heat
essentially and ice does not enter
into it at any stage of the process.
Feeding Pulp in California.