The Colfax chronicle., 1904-10-22
MEN OF SODA FOUNTAIN.


b00 0c8UV0s
It was all right enough now during
the summer days TO look at the soda
water clerk and think he has good
thing Of It But wait till the winter,
and see what you think. You will be
reminded of the old song about the
birdie" and wonder what he will do
then, poor thing. says the Brooklyn
| Eagle.
After the season Is over the soda
clerks vanish from the army OF wage
earners. to reappear for work again a
few months later. looking scarcely less
seedy than when they quit The soda
water season only lasts five months. A
warm day in April is likely to precipi-
tate 1t with rush, and cold day In
September blights it as suddenly. In
the warm and busy season several thou
sand men find employment In Greater
New York and other large cities maxi
ing and bottling soda water and other
throat washes with which the multi
tude assiduously slakes its thirst on q
hot day. While they work they earn
anywhere from $12 to $40 q week.
The season over, their services are
no longer needed. and they are dis
charged. Like bricklsyers, many of
them spend an idle winter on the saw
ings of a busy summer and whatever
trust they can get at the corner store.
But the majority Of men In the pleni-
tudes Of to-day never give thought of
to-morrow's needs and cold weather
brings them hard lot.
While a certain portion Of skilled la
Dor is required. the majority OF hands
employed in soda water establishments
come, as general rule, from the bot
tom strata Of the Iaboring classes. OF
late years the machinery and general
use of the siphon, so far as city trade
Is concerned, has so simplified the
work OF the manufacturer that little ex-
perience in the work will soon make a
person proficient
Nevertheless, there is large element
OF danger in the employment, and to a
green hand not little bodily pain. De-
spite the multiplicity of fountains" in
drug stores, refreshment shops and de-
partment stores. vast amount Of soda
water consumed every day is sent from
the factories in bottles, and It is surpris-
ing to learn through how many differ
ent hands bottle must pass before It Is
ready for the consumer.
Whether an empty bottle Is ere
turned" or comes out of the packing
straw new from the bottle manufac-
turer, 1t is carefully washed, rinsed and
dried by men employed to do this work
and nothing else. 1t requires more
practice than novice would imagine
to do it rapidly and thoroughly. The
washers do not know what it is to have
on dry clothes while at work. They
dress themselves in CASTOR garments
and splash about all day until they are
as wet as SO many wharf rats.
After the bottles are dried they are
stacked in crates and carried on to the
-fillers." If intended for lemonade,
lemon soda, or any special flavor, they
go hrst to another squad of men. who
dip in the required amount of sirup
with ladle. The aerated water is then
pumped into the bottles Just as 1t comes
from the generators with a pressure OF
so pounds or more to the square inch. II
a bottle has flaw in it or II the man
handling it is careless, the glass will
burst into fragments and scatter all
over the room. An accident of this
kind usually means trouble sometimes
serious trouble for others than the man
who happens to be handling the bottle.
In most factories the men protect them
selves with devices for guarding the
head and arms, but every season adds
TO the list of the disfigured for life
through their own or somebody else's
After the bottles are filed and wired
hey are labeled and polished. and nut
away in cases ready to be sent on in the
delivery wagons as fast as ordered. The
process Of filling siphons and patent bot
les OF numerous make is much simpler.
more easily done, and with less risk.
But they are not suitable to all branches
IF trade.