The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-05-06
EVERY WORKER Is BLIND.
Factory in Philadelphia that Has
No Equal Anywhere.
From the Philadelphia Press

rdctOFy IN FhAlaueAphih that nus
No Equal Anywhere.
From the Philadelphia Press.
Philadelphia has a factory where
only those who are sightless are en-
ployed, which is a veritable hive of in
| dustry and which does a business of
over $4,000 every year.
Its SUPERINTENDENT is blind. Its
| Dookkeeper is blind and it's 125 work
men, whose skill in their separate call
| ings is remarkable. are all blind.
In spite of the fact that a ray if
| light is an unknown quantity in the
lives of all these workmen. they &C
complish what they do by remarkable
exercise Of the faculties they are pos
| sessed of and their products have a
most enviable reputation for excellence.
4 handsome buff brick building, four
| stories in hight, the factory stands at
| the corner of Thirty-sixth street and
Lancaster avenue. A stranger visit
ing it might go through it's various de-
| partments without perceNing that 1t
| differed at all from any other factory.
He would find there men working dex-
terously at rafting looms or running
up and down stairs or handling sharp
knives or lodging swift and dangerous
machines quite as seeing men do.
There are only two things at the fac
| tory that would inform him of its pc
culiarity. One of these things is the
cheerfulness of the workmen: they
sing and laugh at their labor. The
other thing is the. sworkmens eyes,
which have the OPAQUE, blank stare of
the blind. Ifk ISL
Feel Their Wav tn Work
These men come to work at o'clock
factory quickly from a half-dozen di-
rections with sharp tap-tapping of
| their iron-polnted sticks upon the pave
ment- The moment they are within
| they lay their sticks, with their hats
| and coats aside and all set hriskly
and cheerily to work, blind men no
longer, for training, habit, in the tasks
they perform takes the place of sight
| quite adequately.
Sometimes in the winter it is dark at
| Z o'clock when the factory opens.
| Sometimes it is dark at o'clock, the
| closing hour. Then, should there be
perhaps a visitor, the electric lights
are not turned on. in order that the
visitor may enjoy the novel spectacle
of factory running hastily--men rush.
| ing to and fro, men minding clatter-
1
| sible to see the hand before the face.
H. L. Hall conducts the factory; he,
| indeed, founded it. A blind man, tall
and erect, with a white beard, with
a look of energy and intelligence, Mr..
| Hall sits all day at his desk, telephone
beside him, a clerk at his elbow. Ask
him the meaning and history of the
| plant. and he takes his cigar from his
mouth and answers:
| IT have always been interested in
| blind men. l go about a great DEAL
| and / keep my eye peeled for chaps
| who are blind-nny guide, you know,
| leads me up to these chaps. Now, sup
| pose we run across an organ grinder.
| He sits on a stool, his little machine
whines and wheezes: he has on his
breast the placard 1 am blind and he
! holds in his hand a tin cup. I stop
/ before him.
Hello 1 say are you a blind
man?
Yes he answers.
Well, that's good: so am I. Now,
how is it you can't get along better
| than this? Have you an education?
Have YOU been to SCHOOL,"
Yes, sir; I've been TO school,
DO you know how to work-how
to cane chairs, make rag carpets, make
brooms?
Yes, sir; I can do all that
well, then, why don't you pitch
in any work? Why don't you be a
| man? What do you sit here on the
street and beg for?'
| 81 can't get along at chair-caning
or carpet-weaving, or broom-making,
| the blind man answers.
Cant get along, Ell? Well, maybe
| you drink whisky. Do you drink
whisky?'
No, sir; don't drink
Why can't you get along, then?
Ingram carpets, says the blind
man, can be bought cheaper than
| can weave rag ones; there is no de-
| mand for chair-caning, and. as for
| broom making, the raw materials Of
| a broom cost me more, in the small
| quantities I can buy them, than a
broom itself costs me in store
That is the kind of talk, said Mr..
| Hall. that l used to hear before the
| establishment of this factory. The talk
| was true and there was no answer /
| could make to it. The blind were de-
| barred from engaging in the trades
| they had learned at the institutions in
their childhood. for the reason that
working at these trades singly in
! small way they could produce nothing
that did not cost 200 to 800 per cent.
more than its market. price. You, to-
| day, if you should decide TO make
broons at home. would pay more for
/ the corn and other raw materials for,
say, a gross of broons than a gross of
| broorus finished would cost at a broom
| factory.
Pities Their Inhrmity.
81 saw blind men everywhere who
either begged or. supported by their
families, moped in kitchen corners-in-
dustrious men, willing to work, desir-'
ing above everything else to work. but
doomed to idleness, wretched. queru-
lous, unable to eat, unable to sleep.
II saw that what was needed was a
factory for these men--a factory where
raw materials might be bought in great