The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-03-09
PYROTECHNICS As AN ART
Great Strides Made III Their Deyel-
Opment in Recent Years.
From the Simple FIrecracIler They
Have Become an Affair Rcquir-
ing Rare Talent and Produc-
ing Great Spectacular Results.

is a painter on the sky Can him a sky
artist, and you have put him in his prop
er place and differentiated him from the
landscape gardener, and others of that
ilk- His canvas IS the inky heavens; his
mediums are the brilliant coIors of fire
He draws with the curving rocket, he
spreads his hUes with the Spouting toun-
tain, the spraying mine, the Whirrlng pm
wheel, puts his backgrounds with Farl-
gated flames, and spots them with the
fiaring stars from the splitting roman
candle.
In these days the pyrotechnIc artist
has all the right in the world TO take a
place with those other artists who put
their more lasting creations On canvas
His is an evanescent show. \ moment of
glory, a flash of pleasing color, droop-
ing trail of sparks like a shower Of dia-
Tnonds. and it is finished But his work
has a vigor, a brilliancy that goes far to
offset its fleeing character For the abil-
ity to create for one second & 1.-THE OF the
glowing spIendor of which he is master
q Raphael or even a Turner might have
surrendered part of his permanent pro
auctions, and not sighed over the loss.
oUTDID THE POOR CHINANAN-
The pvrotechnic artist is the offspring
of new conditions and a higher civiliza-
ton. From time immemorial the China
man has set off his tiny pop-cracher, and
clapped his Iong-nailed fingers with g!ee-
He went no farther. When the first
food OF patriotism overwhelmed the
hearts of the Americans they began an
era Of progress in pyrotechnics. fostered
by the annually recurring independence
Day But that did not bring them much
--fOrreder~ Manufacturers OF fireworks
produced a few novelties each year. the
skyrocket took on a little more brilliancy,
and there were a few more colored balls
put into the roman candies Compare
lively, things were at the stagnatlon
point. There tame, however, a national
awakening again a war, the excitement
of armies and navies, the eXultation of
conuuests. the glory Of heroic deeds, the
celebration of bravery; all of these stirred
the national heart. and, as in all times
uast, stimulated an artistic development
OF the fireworks art What more natural
than that the line which this artistic de-
veIopment should take would be in the
direction of public displays? The sky
artist IS the direct product of the late
war with Spain, and the national aWak-
ening which followed. Cplifted by the
same spirit that inspired the poets, he
too exercised the art instinct, and no lon
ger content 10 give perfunctory exhibit
fionS in which the price OF the gUnpOWdeT
was the main thought, tried TO portray
on the sky, in his heeting medium, his
personal idea of the spirit that was am
mating the nation
In the daytime painting with colors on
the streets, the masters of pRgeantry
grew and developed in their art pa
rade became thing to be composed and
arranged with an eye to the art tlat
might be put in it In the night, the sky
artist held the eyes and thoughts Of the
multitude. and il was for him TO tell
again IN pictures written across the heaY-
ems the story OF great heroes and their
achievements
AT ITS GREATEST STAGE.
II can be said that the art of pyretechny,
as nov practiced, IS greater in point Of
development than It was four years ago.
1t has reached its point Of
greatest successes in the United
States and probably touched
the high-water mark in the display which
terminated the ceremonies attendant
upon the second Inauguration of Presi-
cent Mckinley An element of conscious
art differentiated that exhibition from all
others, and gave 10 it qualities 10 be
landscape. 1t was composed, the effects
were calculated. The COlOrS were thrown
on the sky with just the same nice sense
OF proprletyr ntneSS, and contrast that
the oils would be transferred from the
palette of a master painter 10 his can
vas.
the art of producing effects of color,
sound. ana form, with the sky as a back
ground Just as IN every other art, the
materials are few, comparatively speak
ing. OIL coiOrs, a brush. palette, few
bits of charcoal suffice for the artist in
oils. GunpOWdeT, q few kinds Of colOred
lights, q frecracker or two. and you have
IOJaled the instruments with which a sky
artist makes his pictures.
Just few facts concerning the fire
works made today may be OF avail IN
showing what progress the art has made.
4 conservative estimate Of the amount of
money spent yearly for fireH orl1s dis
plays is 50, gp0.t tJ. and when the country
has such occasions as Dswey's victory
in Manila Bay and his return home to
celebrate the total amounts 10 nearly
twice that sum
Until few years ago every frecracker
bought IN this country was imported from
China The odd gold Iettered labels were
not fakes They were the real Celestial
thing The Chinese hrecracker was i'm
ported into the United States for the sim
Die reason that the ingenious Yankee
had not been able to manufacture II more
cheaply than he could purchase II IN the
orient. even after paying the 100 per cent
duty thereon Three years ago, however,
the inventive brain Of a New Yorker, pro
duced a machine which could make the
small frecracker cheaply, and now the
ChInaman Is pushed out Of the pop-crack-
er market The contrast between the
methods OF manufacture used by the Chi
Ueso and by the Yankee Is both interest
ing and instructive
THE SYSTEM N CHINA.
The Chinese hrecracker IS manufactur-
ed by what in this part of the world we
would call the sweatshop system. 4
whole city, men. women, and children.
are occupied in making the article. and
one and all turn their product into the
hands OF the man at the head of the
Hong The Chinese cracker is made out
Of d shell, few grains Of powder,
fuse, and some clay The shell IS made
from rice paper Of the coarser s grt- Each
cracker is patiently rolled on little ia
pered stick as core. taking about fifty
turns OF the paper 10 each shell Chill
dren are given this work TO do. Then
dies Of about IL, set side To side. and
the whole bunch held together by a
string Fine powdered clay Is put at the
bottom Of each shell. mOistened with sa-
Iva and then packed down The fuse.
which has been carefully rolled by hand
cracker. after which the powder Is
sprinkled careleSSly over the top. Some
mere clay packed on the top Of the
powder finishes the work
The Chinese firecracker maker earns 3
cents q day. The crackers a they come
10 the United States are in boxes of
about forty packs, each pack containing
Eixty-four crackers The price Of the
box in China IS - cents which repre-
Fents the wages Of about twelve people
plus some profit Each workman. then.
makes about 200 crackers q day
By the machinery in use in the ad-
vanced factories in the United States two
people can make about 4,O09 crackers a
day. For rolling the shells there is a
rapidly revolving Inandrel, upon which Is
fed the rice paper, cut 70 tne exact size
These shells are stinened by starch The
fsSe is made on a machine which feeds