The Palatka news. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1905-07-07
HELL : EIICHE ~.
b JsO. g1arris
ABRIDGED;
Eszss b. PEna UsAa.

The common expression "ruM
very properly covers most Of the So
called hard " spurious drinks.
for they are nearly all mate from al
cghOi imported from West Indian
sugar plantations. where they call
this fiery spirit rum" 4 few relia-
bl,. details about the origin " this
stuff would come a. quite shock 10
"A great many people, and these facts
ought 10 BE- exposed a. mere
matter Of dec6Hcy.
Plenty Of people will defy all the
lurking demons In drink. II II u
daintily served over fine counter.
Il il always the other fellow, not
ourselves, who will be weak enough
~ 20 On 10 excess aud destruction.
But. If it once became known for eX-
ample. that very uuclean people pad
died about Iu their barefoot iu this
liuuid, on it, way from the cane to
those fine decaHters, would 80 many
young men feel inclined then, out Of
bravadO, to | ut it 10 their lips? As
surcdly not.
On sugar plantations the distilla-
ton Of rum or alcohol necessarily
accompanies tine making Of sugar
Oh the score Of economy. The de-
tails OF this economy can not fail TO
make unpleasant reading. Supervis-
ing this process as OVerseeT for two
long years. will always remain in
my memory a. hIdeOus nightmare.
IN the manufacture Of sugar, the
green Juice Of the cane Is gradually
heated in a trio Of huge boilers, and
il ladled from one to the other Of
these until, from the last aud hot
test Of them. the liquid is sucked in
~ a VACUUM pan, where it bOils at
low temperature aud soon separates
into grains Of sugar and mOlasses
From the vacuum pan this mixture
l. drawn oil into miniature tank cars
and goes by rail to another building
where it is dropped into centrifugal
sleeves These revolving at great
speed, swing the mOlasses out Of the
sugar. An immense tank beneath
the floor receives the stream Of mo-
lasses, and the sugar il scOOped out
Of the machines into wooden trays,
GENERALLY by Chinese coolies, and
borne on their heads to the packing
room where, it is put into hOgheads
for shipment.
AS the cane Juice SINNERS in these
boilers ii great quantity Of black
scum rises to the surface, which is
skinned OFF and emptied into long
wooden trough, along which it flows
to another aud larger tank, which is
sunk into the ground 50 that it
drains every part Of the large build
ings. This receptacle ought to III
terest rum" drinkers, because the
filling Of it with what is not inaptly
called wash" is the first act in the
manufacture Of rum
Water thrown on the floor Of any
room in the buildings, ultimately
finds its way into it. That
Is an arrangement for the there
careful gathering and storing
Of all the waste sweets" that
are dropped on every floor. This
waste stuff with the continuous,
dense steam from the pans, makes
every foot u the brick paved floors
most disagreeably moist and sticky
70 walk oyer, particularly so ut night
when one treads on living carpet
Of reaches. The crunch OF these I'M
derfOOt and the incessant flight be-
tween the lamp lights and into ones
face, Of large insects, apparently OF
the same species, together. with the
somewhat leisureiy moving away Of
Lizards and rats, make a night
round Of the building anything but
pleasant. Every morning at half
past five, hose pipes play on these
floors and many brOOns swish the
water along, helping it carry its load
VI swsctenrd filth tout Of doors and
into the canal, one cxpectsJ not so,
but forward and down grade. until it
falls, like a small Niagara, into that
preparatory rum tank. The pan
skimmings would take very long
time 10 fill that mighty receiver;
clean mOlasses being too high priced
to be put there. During two years
Oyersccrghip | never saw "a pailful of
molasses used for rum making. The
night gangs clean up in this way be-
fore they leave in the early morn
ings; the day-gangs before going
home evenings.
It can be easily imagined how
those Chinese who carry the sugar
all naked except the scantiest loin
working hard in that hot,
moist atmosphere, become more or
less coated over their yellow skins
with sugar. This they are carefully
prevented from carrying away with
them. There is "a big faucet always
supplying warm water AS condensed
from the steam of the engines. Uu-
der this faucet each sugared celestial
has to stand, which the "driver" lets
go on each a cOpiOus sOusing, before
he is allowed to leave the building.
But, to the rum drinker, the real in
terest in these enforced baths must
be TO follow the waste water there
from. He will find that 1t follows
gravity and flows, as it must do, into
the rum tank.
TO fully appreciate the loathsOme-
ness Of the above practice 1t must be
further explained that these sugar
carrying Cinnamon, probably from
the nature of their employment are
singularly, and wherever so EN-
plOyed, subject 10 skin disease, nOta-
bly, the itch
Perhaps the worst was reached on
pumping days, when this terrible
wash caldrOn was drained By
steam pumps. The great rose at
tachcd to the end Of the hose lowered
into this seethiag mass of filth, often
gets clOgged up, and the engine had
to stop until something is dragged
away with long handled grapples
When about two feet from the bot
tom had been reached, II couple Of
negIoes climed down and began
shOveling out drowned rats in all
stages of decay, which could not be
reckoned by numbers as the MAORI
ty Of them went to pieces as soon ~