The daily sentinel., 1903-07-09
WORK AMID DANGER
EMPLOYEES IN DYNAMITE FAC.
TORY IN CONSTANT PERIL.
Trivial Accident Likely at Any Time
TO Cause Fearful Explosion-Men
Seem to Become Used to Their Sur.
roundings.

Dynamite factories are in full
swing near Dover and Farmingdale,
N. j., and the men who work in them
seem well content with their danger
GUS occupation. They wear rubber
soled shoes, and their tools are COW
cred with rubber or are made of
wood, so as to avoid the possibility
OF friction and consequent accident.
As further safeguard, the various
utensils in which the deadly explo-
sive is mixed or manipulated are
lined with lead, and mishap is of
rare occurrence. Nevertheless, these
men know that the fabrication of
dynamite constitutes a work of dan
ger, and many of them develop
nerves when they are new at the
business. This trouble wears off
quickly, or, as in some instances, not
at all, and the victim is seized with
nervous chills and tremors whenever
loud noise is heard in the factory
Finally he is obliged to give up his
position and seek work of a more
congenial nature.
The men are paid from 50 to $225
per day, and the labor is not particu-
larly heavy, nor are the hours as long
as those of other workmen. No 'smok-
ing is allowed from the moment they
enter the factory until they leave,
and only men of quiet, steady habits
are engaged. A spirit of good com.
radeship seems to exist between the
workers, and when opportunity pre-
sents itself they talk to each other in
the most friendly way. But woe be-
tide one of their number who earns
for himself the sobriquet of Butter
Fingers" a term applied to individu-
ais who allow things to slip from
their hands to the floor. He is sure
to earn the enmity of his companions.
This is due to the fact that some
times a slight jar, such as is caused
by the dropping of even small sub
stance, will precipitate an accident,
and the culprit who evinces such
carelessness more than once may as
well resign gracefully before he is
frozen out by his fellows.
The dynamite workers are a very
intelligent body of men. Many of
them possess a comprehensive knowl-
edge of chemistry and can tell visit
tructive agent which they handle
under the direction of scientists.
One of these workmen, a middle
aged Swede. claims Alfred Nobel, the
inventor of dynamite, as a relative
What he does not know about explo-
sives is not worth knowing. He talks
of the properties of nitro-glycerine
with the fuency of one who has made
an exhaustive investigation of the
subject, and he says that he devotes
every spare moment to experimental
physics. Why a man of his type
should elect to remain in a dynamite
factory in the role of an ordinary
workman is a problem which he
alone can solve. But evidently he
likes his job in the nitro-glycerine
department, and he talks enthusi-
astically of the results achieved by
his distinguished relatives in
vention, not only in war
fare, but in the works of peace, such
as the mining operations OF New
Yorks rapid transit underground
system, which will presently do SO
much to facilitate travel and traffic.
Men of various nationalities work
side by side in these New Jersey fac
tories, and when representatives of
the different countries were asked if
they minded the element of danger in
their daily labors they answered in
the negative. and few of the more
communicative workers expressed the
opinion that there was more chance
of being killed in Philadelphia by
trolley car or automobile than by an
explosion at their post of duty