The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-08-16
BRlSTLES COME HIGH.
vance In the Price OF
Brushes. -


Brushes. NJ.
The price Of hog bristle, from which
bristle brushes are made, has just gone
up another per cent. The total ad-
vance in this important article of COM
merce during the past two years has
been from 60 to Is per cent. This big
increase has been attained both gradually
and in jumps, and is due to causes novel
and interesting. 4 large share Of the
supplies us with 60 per cent. of our hog
bristle: Before the Boxer trouble, how
ever, in the summer of 1899, a German
syndicate bought up all the Chinese bris-
tie offered at the semi-annual Leipsig
fair, some 100000 worth. and took ad
vantage of its corner by boosting the
price 25 pc cent.
Burned at Tien Tsin.
mer warehouse holding 100000 cases
of sorted and cleaned Chinese bristle
was burned. When one understands
that a single cas- Of good bristle. is
worth from $500 to 5000 the. immediate
advance of Is per cent. in the price Of
the article as the result of the fire will
not be wondered at. The scarcity in the
supply due to the war was further height
ened by the fire and further still by the
best sales year that the brush manufac-
turers have ever knowa. The ''boom''
was partly owing to the advance last
year in the price of broom corn and the
bristle brushes instead. Other publish
influences have been the doubling Of the
wages Of the sorters and cleaners in the
Chinese bristle factories. There actually
was strike in China and as result
the workmen now receive 1000 coins
day instead of 800 as formerly; These
amounts are the equivalent of 6 and IL
bristle also has gradually fallen off for
the past twenty years. The breeding Of
the American hog to fat and size has so
reduced his hair raising qualities that
to be shipped from a packing house in
day now but eight, ten and twelve are
produced. These combined influences
have gradually raised the price Of bristle
since last October from p to ~ per
cent. At the present time. the supply Of
bristle is so short that importers can
only partially fill orders.
Effect On the Consumer.
The effect of these jumps in the value
of bristle on the consumer has been to
The shoe brush that sold for y cents
now costs Is cents and so on. There has
even been an advance of Is per cent in
the output of convict labor factories les
where the men receive from lO to 20
cents a day. Though 1901 is not as
booming year for the bristle brush
manufacturers as was 1900, the demand
in the United States and at the Leipsig
fair is good and there is danger OF stu
another rise in the cost OF raw material
to the manufacturer.
The best bristle comes from Siberia,
Germany and France; the next grade
from China. and the poorest quality from
the United States. The French can
beat the world bleaching the hair and
their process is likely TO remain secret
As to supply. China furnishes ~ per
cent, Russia 35 per cent, and America
per cent.
The bristle comes already sorted. gath
cred into round bundles or tiny sheaves,
and securely tied. The little packages
filling a box from China are often about
the size of small cannon cracker. and
are wrapped in paper, with the utmost
pliers name and city are printed in red
! upon the outside. Some of the packages
Of Russian bristle are large and wound
round and round with heavy, string or
bark: Manufacturers complain at pay
35 pounds of it to 35O-pound box, which,
at $1.3O a pound. would amount to
$175.5O. Hamburg is said to use plenty
Of wrapper.
Some of the Russian bristle measures
according to it's transparency; The, high
err up from the root of the hair that it
retains it's clearness, the more valuable
it is. The clearest bristle is grown near
the back Of the hog. Hogs are bred on
alkali land in India, which renders their
Russian and German bristle contains 20
per cent. of glutinous matter; it can be
likened to gum and the more gritty
American. product to rosin. The Chi
nese grade is Il medium: Its softness.
renders the Russian article better for
Heavy Russian bristles were formerly
used for needles by cobblers and harness
| makers. Russian hogs have been import
ed into this country for the purpose Of
securing a. good bristle breed, but they
have not thrived here.
Comes from Wild Hogs.
The hogs supplying the best bristles in
Russia and Siberia are wild. At certain
times of the year they rub their hair off
is gathered by the peasants and sold to
small dealers, who in turn send it to
Moscow or st. Petersburg.
Among the chief users of imported
bristle in Milwaukee are A. r. Wiens
& Co. The bristle when received is
sorted, washed, tied into wads, dried and
sized up for brushes. Among the other
curious materials used in brush manu-
facture are skunk's tail hair, very soft
hair for varnish brushes, and whales
whiskers or strainers The latter are
stiff, long and black and are admirably
adapted for bottle cleaning brushes. The
bulk of the cheaper grade of brushes,
like scrub and shoe brushes, is made
mostly by employers of convict labor.
1t is noteworthy fact that the brushes
most used by laboring classes are made
by contract convict labor.
osv fos~ lol ~ l.
mand for bristle was excellent. The
SHORTAGE of Chinese hristle raised the