Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-29
HOW TOY BALLOONS ARE MADE.
Their Manufacture is Unhealthy Work
and Most of Them Are Imported.

ana MOBI VI Ahom fAHC kCus
From the Bangor Commercial.
The toy balloon man has come to town.
He came along with the hot weather and
Memorial day. 1t is queer thing that hot
weather brings this particular species Of
vender just as it brings the files, mos
quitoes and shirt-waist girls. He must be
a studious reader of the weather reports
or a prophet himself, or he could never hit
the coming temperature Of a place as he
does. He never makes mistake. Nobody
ever saw a balloon man on cold day.
With the coming of this indication of
summer comes Joy to the heart OF the
small boy and the small girl To the little
girl in the pleasure which she gets from
the possession of the balloon, and to the
boy in the glee with which he punctures
the toy of his companion.
has come. Along with 1t has arrived the
little rubber bag which you blow up and
which lets out the most Soul-tear1ng wall
ever heard. There are also other devices
in this line designed to wear out the nerves
of the sensitive.
But the toy balloons do more than wear
out nerves and make little girls weep over
their destruction Their manufacture de-
stroys lives This is because Of the mate
rails used in the process Of making
The bulk of the toy balloons seen in this
country are imported. Americans have
proved successful manufacturers of india
rubber tires and belts, of blankets. drug
eists' goods and the more important arti-
cles Of the trade, and yet all EFFORTS to
make the toy balloon profitably have failed.
One factory Is just getting on its feet
and supplying limited quantity.
Its ticklish business making these bal
looms, a risk both to the health and the
pocket" said travelling man who has
been in the rubber business.
1.-The extreme thinness and fiexibility
of the balloon is the trouble. To get the
sheet rubber into that condition and yet
preserve its strength requires skill unlike
that in any other branch of the rubber
industry unless it be the coating of water
proof cloths. The fumes and resolvents
used in the process are injurious TO the
workmen. Then the dyes, the nrillla mt
puppies, yellows and greens, have to be
applied, and to persons of certain constltu-
ton work at the trade is suicide,
Even the superintendent, who do not
with the rubber have been known to fail
In health And chemists are now occupied
with experiments in their private laoora-
tories looking to the possible simplifying
of the process the rendering 1t more
wholesome
There's money in toy balloons, but 1
wouldn't touch them if somebody gave me
a factory" said dealer who imports the
balloons as a side issue.
Those from Paris are the best made
The factories are well beyond the barriers
of the city, and every solitary man and
boy in the rubber rooms has to show
doctors certificate at stated intervals tes-
tifying that he is sound in health from
head to foot. Even a defective tooth
would endanger his safety. and yet those
fellows work for much less pay than
skilled labor of the same sort would COM
mand here.
An American maker of rubber surgical
appliances has lately originated a method
for partially overcoming the harmful in
fiuences of working in rubber and has
started a factory for making toy balloons
by this new process. Three times ne es,
sayed the manufacture and was stopped
by the city authorities to whom neighbors
had reported the place as nuisance.
Within a year, however, he has contrived
such precautionary measures for Disgusting
the odors and carrying off the gases and
yapors that the health inspectors now let
him work in peace.
There are no little nimble-fingered help
ers to tie in the mouthpieces of these bal
looms as in France, but a dozen girls over
ing to be finishers and number OF
healthy boys are practicing at the secrets
of the rubber work.
The German chemist In charge of the
workmen shares this feeling, and chur.-
ish factotum is posted at the door to see
that no spy or emissary of the trade IN
terests gets by.
The few individuals who work single
handed at the making Of the toy balloons
have hard time despite the popularity OF
their products. They are mostly 1orelgners
who came to this country unacquainted
with business conditions and expecting to
make and sell their balloons just as the
bootmaker makes boots or the harness.
maker makes harness. They remain OBJ
scure and unknown sometimes without the
money even to procure the Crude rubber to
work with, or for the necessary help and
for proper quarters to work In.
When at last their balloons are COM
pleted they have to depend upon 6edd'ing