Mexico Missouri message., 1903-05-21


There is one article Of manufacture
that is used so extensively in the Unit
ed States that no one has an idea of
the annual quantity consumed, name
ly, wooden toothpicks. According TO
an expert the number is simply meal
culable. Millions upon millions of the
tiny wooden slivers are turned out
every year from American factories
alone, and on top of this tremendous
output come importations from Por-
tugaI and Japan and other countries
nearly as large as the domestic prod
uct.
Most of the American toothpicks
come from Franklin county, in Maine,
near the forest home of the white
birch, out of which 50 per cent OF the
domestic toothpicks are made. This
wood is soft and pliable and of admir-
able resistance for the purpose for
which it is used. Whole mills in Maine
are devoted to supplying the country
with toothpicks, and in the industry is
to be found some of the finest and
mendous is the output of these ma
chimes that in a brief season, during
the spring, enough toothpicks can be
made to supply the markets of the
entire country for the year to come.
A further idea of the capacity of
the machines may be had from the
fact that only 100 men are necessary
oil he N
Franklin county. Other mills of this
kind are scattered throughout Penn
sylvania and Massachusetts and west
ern New York, but the real home Of
the toothpick is Maine.
White birch is not the only wood
used for the domestic toothpick, maple
and poplar are employed as well, but
birch has the property of retaining its
forest odor and sweetness.
The telling of toothpick trees is only
incidental to the regular lumber work
of the Maine foresters. No espeeial
men are sent out to hunt up suitable
! trees. But whenever tho foreman OF
| a gang of woodsmen comes across n
! tree especially adapted to toothpicks
|
branches of the tree are then trimmed
! and only the trunk itself is transported
! TO the mills. There the bark is skinned
and the naked trunk is run through q
machine which sewers in into veneers.
"Veneers" ie the technical express
sion for thin strips of wood no thicker
than a piece CT plotting paper and no
| ~ Of n fnnthninK
Once the trunk has been cut into
these sheets Of wood, only one process
remains To turn out the toothpicks
fit for packing and shipping to market
The vcneers are fed into a second
machine supplied with sharp, rotary
knives that whirl at tremendous high
speed shipping the veneers into tooth
picks at the rate of hundreds Of thous
ands an hour.
It is only the so-called fancy
toothpick that is not made in this
country. In Portugal, from where
most of the orangewood picks are i'm
ported the sticks ARE sharpened by
young girls, who. il return for turning
out picks" arc paid three cents day
The japanese toothpicks are made
of fine reeds, and are distinct from
those sent to this country by the Por
tuguese manufacturers. A JAPANESE
toothpick Is delicate and thin as tbs
sue paper. and nevertheless stroni
and pliablo. The japanese toothpicl
maker carnr even Less han his Por
tuguese feliow-craftsnan his rcmuner
alton being but a fraction more thai
two cents day. In short, 1000 tooth
picks may 30 bought in Japan for a
much as It costs only to pack and boz
5000 of American makc.--New Yorl
Times.