The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1906-07-26
KANSAS GLASS; IN DEMAND,
GLASS WORKERS EARN LARGE WAGES.
THE ARlsT06RATS or LABOR.

* AMID J vbhhlS W LAbuh.
CoFFEYvIILE, KANs., June 28. Since
1902, nineteen glass plants have been
established In the gas region OF Kansas.
The first was located at Independence
early In that year and since then they
have come thick and fast, until now six
teen ore Iii operation and three building.
Cofeyyille leads with seven plants In
dependence has three, Chanute two,
Peru two, Altoona two, Caney4 one,
Cherry Vale one, and Fredonia one. Be.
sides these IA Kansas, Bartlesvile, I. AZ,
has one. VI. \, 4. X n Y " ~ ss TX y
AZ Of the twenty, one at Independence
and two at Altoona are not yet in opera
ton but they are building and soon will
lbc ready for the gas, In addition to
these plants in sight, a company has been
organized for the establishment Of one or
more at New Albany, In Wilson county,
where a large deposit Of superior glass
sand has been discovered. Others will
come certainly, attracted BY natural gas
at three cents q thousand all over the
gas region and by an nexhaustible supply
Of sand. W NJ Z. Y H VA
These plants manufacture al kinds 81
glassware known To commerce, except
plate glass, and their market is the entire
United States west Of Chicago. Soon
Kansas by its abundance Of cheap gas
md sand, proper freight rates having
been established, will be producing more
glassware than any other State Of the
Union. Even now the Kansas manu-
facturers market their product in three
fourths Of the area Of the country. VI
The inception Of this new industry in
Kansas was conference Of representa-
tiyes Of Kansas Commercial Clubs and
Indiana glass manufacturers held III
Chicago upon the invitation Of the In
dustrial Commissioner Of the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company
March 10, 1898. Before that, steps had
been taken by the lola Commercial Club
to. interest glass manufacturers in Kan
sas, but it was not until the conference
with the Industrial Commissioner Of the
Santa Fe that they manifested a willing
ness to pull out Of the Indiana field and
try Kansas. Even then Kansas had
more than gas to offer. The
glass sand had not yet been discovered
in Kansas, and more than that freight
rates were not right. Sand might be
shipped from outside to the gas belt, but
without proper freight rates both for the
raw materials and for the manufactured
products, there could be no profitable
industry. ie
So it became necessary primarily to
make market for Kansas glass, which
has been done by the railroads joining in
to fit the case. This has taken
years and has come more by evolution,
as all stable rates come, than by the di-
rect or arbitrary action Of the rate-mak-
ers. Even now these schedules are not
but a substantial beginning
has been made, and thereby the trade
has become secure and stable.
In making these rates the freight traf-
&c men have not considered glass prod.
lets alone. In the glass trade, as In all
other manufacturing trades, Transports
ion Of the raw materials must be con
,idered when freight rates are made.
Kansas contains all the raw materials
that enter into the manufacture Of glass,
but when the industry was started this
was not known, or If known their quality
had not been tried, and so these constit-
uents were brought from outside. The
sand and lime came from Wisconsin and
Illinois; the soda ash from Michigan, and
the carbon from Pennsylvania. Indeed,
even now, with the exception OF the salt
cake and the lime, all the raw materials
are shipped from outside the State, al
though there is an abundance Of all
within II.
Nor are these native raw materials Of
quality. They are the very best,
and soon win be generally used by all the
Kansas glass plants. Their value has
been proved by run made at the plant
Of the Midland Company OF Independ-
ence, and the glass produced was Of the
FIRST quality. For this special run the
sand came from Fredonia, where there
Is a quantity Of rock sand which con.
tains SO per cent Of silica. The lime
came from Chautauqua county, and the
salt cake from the Argentine acid works.
The arsenic and carbon also were Kansas
products,
In the time that followed the confer
ance Of 1893 until the actual location OF
the first plant at Independence, the Traf-
fic Manager Of the Santa Fe, cooperating
with the same departments Of the other
was working out y schedule OF
rates that would make the manufacture
If glass IN Kansas profitable and at the
same time preserve the siatus quo in ere
class trade elsewhere In the country.
The elimination Of this Wag the indie.
Dendence plant. b
In the meantime, the Industrial Com
missioner OF the Santa Fe was at work in
The Kansas gas region looking for adj
vantageous locations for gas plants along
he lines Of his railway. This work in
GUIDED Q search for glass sand, as well as
or gas, and the result has been the
discovery Of the valuable deposit of sand
'ock near Fredonia in Wilson county.
So by this valuable discovery, the
Santa Re has fixed the glass industry in
Kansas for all time. It has come to
tay, as the beet sugar industry, the
inc industry, the brick industry, and
,ther industries, which have been de-
,eloped In the State by the wise policy Of |
his great railway corporation.
Window-glass workers probably are
l. \