The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-11-30

modern cranes operated by steam en-
gines lifting great castings and carry
ing them from one end of the yard
to the other: and further on. inside
n shops, travelling cranes handling
pieces Of iron Of fifty ton each. In
the same place they were casting
steel ingots, and not far away the in
through one set Of rollers after an
other until they became writhing.
flaming boa-constrictors, and finally
steel rails OF cold blue color which
they have when first laid on our rail
road tracks,
Chinese As Steel Workers.
| asked AIR. Rupert as to the Chi
nese as steel workers. He replied:
AT the start they are not equal
to Europeans, but we can train them
to be as good man for man. as any
of the world. [ have been employing
Chinese for seventeen years, and have
used thousands right in these works.
They are quick to learn All we need
do is to put a trained man over ZACH
new hand for a couple of weeks, and
after that the amateur can be relied
upon to do the work for himself.
This is so ever with complicated ma
chinery. Take our new electric travel
ing cranes. If / have an employe who
understands them l can let a Chinese
COOIfc WOIk Win Hffn LOT SIX dd VS.. ana
after that the coolie will handle the
machine. All of our operations. in
making every class Of structural
steel, are performed by Chinese. They
do their work honestly and well. All
that is necessary is TO have a good
foreman in charge of each shop, and
this is chiefly to keep the men from
going to sleep. We prefer to use
foreigners for foremen, and now have
something like eighteen or twenty III
our employ as such. They ar.
chiefly Germans or Beigians.
Low Wages for Chinese.
What Kind Of wages do you pay"
Our Chinese mechanics and mill
men get from ten to eighty dollars
Mexican per month; that is. from four
to ~thirty-two dollars gold per month,
or from one to eight dollars gold
per week. This is high in comparison
with the wages throughout the coun-
try, the common laborer outside re
ceiring only about ten cents 3 day
They are twelve. on all DAYS X
cept Sundays. when they are tWenJ.-
four. We work day and night. and
have day and night shifts. On sun
day we change the shifts, and for hat
reason they have double hours. This
twelve hours includes one hour of
for lunch, with double hat sinle IT
more on Sunday
DO you nave many strikes.
w have never had one. ana nave
never had to shut down on account Of
labor troubles. We treat our men
we'll. and they are attached to rs. We
have tenement houses which we rent
to them at low rates; and also q
first-class hospital with European doc
tors. We expect to establish 4 library
and reading rooms, and also a techni-
cal school,"
The Plant in a Nutshell.
Before leaving the works. / asked
Mr.. Rupert to give me an outline
stort of the plant in a nutshell. Here
is the gist of his reply:
The Hang Yang works we're
founded in 1888 by Chang Chi fung,
the installation plant being ordered
through the Chinese ministry ut Lon
don Of English and Belgian firms.
This consisted of three blast furnaces
of sixty tons each. a Besemer plant
with two converters of FIVE tons ca
pacity, twenty pudding rnace
| with one bloom mill, a plate-and-bar
mill and one rail mil of $500 horse
power. To this installation were added
the foundry and the shops for general
repairs.
THE works were started in 1894
and at the same time We're built an
imperial arsenal for making firearms
and unitiOn, crucible steel and
| also q plant for the manufacture Of
powder and explosives. Until 1897
both the arsenal and iron works were
under one management, and then the
iron works went into the hands of his
evcellency, Sheng Kung Fac.
1T was under Sheng that the new
plant was built. Everything was
then modernized and plans were insti-
tuted which will eventually result in
giving us 1000 tons of finished steel
per day.
AT present the works comprise two
old blast producing 40 tons
per day, and two new ones, one be-
ing now under construction. each of
which will produce SO tons per day.