Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1903-04-25
MEN WHO MAKE DYNAMITE.
Extreme Caution Shown, put no IN
due Anxiety Displayed.


due Anxiety Displayed.
Dynamite factories are in full swing
near Dover and Farmingdale, N. j..
and the men who work in them seem
we'll content with their dangerous oc-
cupation. They wear rubber-soled
shoes, and their tools are covered
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 explosive
is mixed or manipulated are lined
with lead, and mishap is of rare oc-
currence. Nevertheless, these men
know that the fabrication of dynamite
constitutes a work IF danger and many
of them develop nerves" when they
are new at the business. This trouble
wears off quickly, or, as in some in
stances, 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 81 to $2.25
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 habits are engaged.
A spirit of good comradeship seems
to exist between the workers, and
when opportunity offers itself they
talk to each other in the most friendly
way. But woe betide one of their num-
Der who earns for himself the
sobriquet of Butter Fingers" a
term applied to individuals who
allow things to slip from their
hands to the floor. He is sure
to earn the enmity of his COM
panions. This is due to the fact that
sometimes a slight jar, such as is
caused by the dropping of even small
substance, will precipitate an accident
and the culrrit who evinces such care
lessness more than once may as we'll
resign gracefully before he is frozen
out by his fellows.
The dynamite workers are very in
telligent body of men. Many of them
possess a comprehensive knowledge
of chemistry, and can tell visitors to
the factory all about the destructive
agent which they handle under the
direction of scientists.
One of these workmen, a middle
aged Swede, claims Alfred Noble, the
inventor of dynamite, as relative.
What he does not know about explo-
sives is not worth knowing. He talks
of the properties of nitro glycerlne
with the f1uency of one who has made
an exhaustive study of the subject,
and he says that he deCotes 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 prob
lem which he alone can solve. But
evidently he likes his job in the nitro
glycerine department, and he talks en-
Enthusiastically of tre results achieved
by his distinguished relatives 1nven-
ton. not only in warfare, but in the
works of peace, such as the mining
operations of New York's rapid transit
underground system, which will pres
emily 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 a few of the more
communicative workers expressed the
opinion that there was more chance
of being killed in New York by cable
car or automobile than by an explo-
sion at their post CT duty.-New YORK
Times.