The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1902-07-10
FOURTH OF JULY TIPS.
Various Forms of Novelties In
This Years Fireworks.
CHEAP CRACKERS FOR SMALL BOYS


| Torpedo Is the Newest Explosive.
Variety Of Forms In Penny Crack
ers-ParIor Fireworks.
| Orient and occident will share honors
on July 4, for then there will explode
side by side the seventy -for-one-cent
| baby firecrackers, handmade by untir-
| ing Cinnamon, and the twenty-five cent
machine made American frecracker,
says the Philadelphia Press.
Both out Of the east and out Of the
west new things in the fireworks line
| have come for the next Fourth, and
advance purchases show that enthusi-
asm and patriotism will explode more
| loudly than ever. In fireworks, as in
other things, America leads the world,
| but the Chinaman is the best COPPER
once the model has been set. All the
American firecrackers are made by
machinery almost as complex and per-
| feet as the machine which swallows
tree trunks and turns out boxed tooth
picks And yet, despite the labor saw
| ing economy Of the machine, American
| firecrackers Of the cheapest kind cost
one-third of a cent apiece retail, while
Chinese crackers can be sent across
the seas, contributing upon their en-
trance to the United States to the ex-
pense of maintaining the national gov
eminent, and sold for one-seventieth of
a cent.
These seventy-for-a-cen frecrackers
are the newest things in their line.
They are about half inch long and
an eighth thick, but are all handmade.
The cylinder of paper, the string fuse
the plug of clay at one end and the
secure tie at the other all have been
arranged by Chinese fingers The
child who pays his penny for seventy
of them pays out of that penny the
profit of the retailer, the profit of the
jobber, the profit Of the importing bro
ker, the customs duty, ad yalorem and
specific; the profit of the steamship
company, the profit of the manufac-
turer, and finally the wages of the EN-
ployee The Chinaman who makes the
the penny the child paid
Chinese crackers run from the afore-
mentioned ''baby" to the common
mandarin" cracker This year, for
the first time, there, is offered a COM
plete bunch of mandarins, sixteen in
number, for a cent All the crackers
are united by fuse, which sets off
one Immediately after the other, and
the continued crackle of the cracker,
hitherto only the privileged enjoyment
Of the man who invested or 10 cents,
can now be enjoyed by the child with
his penny.
American crackers this year, in Penn
| sylvania at least, contain only black
| gunpowder. Previously chloride of pot
ash and dynamite were used, but these
explosives are now prohibited. Amer
lean crackers are confined within the
price of extremes of one-third and %
cents apiece. Their most expensive
form is in a string. A leading dealer
offers string of $4,000 large crackers,
twenty feet long and requiring twenty
minutes to explode, for $40.
The newest explosive is a lozenge
shaped torpedo about the size of a pep
permint drop, green in color and of I'M
certain ingredients. If trod on, it sim
ply ignites and puffs; if a flame is ap-
piled, it burns sputteringly, but when
it is laid on metal and exploded by the
percussion of other metal it makes a
terrific noise. Intended to be laid on
street car tracks, the torpedo will ex-
plode with the report Of ten FOUNDER,
and if there be dust about a binding
cloud will be thrown into the air,
This torpedo is also made in the size
of a pea for explosion at the end of an
iron tipped cane. 1t is very cheap 4
can and fifty torpedoes neatly packed
in pillbox are offered for cents. 1t
| is believed that the torpedo will snp
| plant blank cartridges.
| The common penny American crack
er is offered in variety Of forms, so
that the savage joy Of destruction may
be had. The cracker, for instance, be-
comes the chimney Of cardboard
house that Jack built" Its explosion
| makes fuzz of the house. Again, it is
used as the smokestack of a Spanish
lEOucIiQ VI Is LlOulltGu dS d CdNItO14 Oh
a cardboard carriage. This years par
ticular novelty, however, is a paper
representation Of a dusky damsel maxi
ing "googoo" eyes. The fuse In the
| cracker becomes her plat.
Hot air balloons OF various styles are
very. popular this year, Santos Dumont
and other aerial navigators haging no
doubt unconsciously contributed to
their vogue. These goods sell from 5
to SO cents and more Set pieces enjoy
considerable favor, "Good I.ghtw be-
ing most in demand. They may be had
at prices ranging from $1.50 to $500,
the latter sum commanding Niagara
Falls or George Washington on
Horseback" or other complicated de-
signs.
But all fireworks are not strenuous.
Fireworks are offered this year for use
indoors - parlor fireworks, they are
called and included in the assortment
are genteel snakes in the grass. self
contained pinWheelS and Subdued tor