The Republican journal., 1910-03-17
William Tell
A Liberty Lyric.
And a Glance at the Towns Thriving
Industries.

/ go
Industries.
| 10 THE EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL:
am Just recovering from severe attack
of Indigestion and jaundice, and having
more time on my hands than ! know
what to do with l find myself looking
backward to the time l wrote nv first
article for publication in any paper.
More than thirty-five years ago someone
connected with your valuable paper in
vlted me to write up the locals for Lib
erty and vicinity. I think it was before
you came on to The Journal, and know
that it was long time before ever saw
you. After some hesitation l reluctantly
consented to make the effort, for at that
time had no confidence in my ability to
write anything that would interest the
intelligent readers of your valuable
paper. | attacked my first article with
fear and trembling, feeling very sorry
that l spoke" But it proved to be all
right, and soon got interested and took
pleasure in getting up something inter-
esting and had the satisfaction of beliey-
ing that | succeeded; for this reason:
Readers of The Journal from all over the
county have told me that they first look
ed at the locals from their own town and
then turned to the Liberty items for
something spicy. The late Phineas G.
Hunt of Belfast once said to me: "News
is one thing and the way it is dished out
to us is another thing Somehow we
like your way of dishing it OUT | soon
found that | could not write without
something to write about, and the village
gossip had no charms for me such as,
"Mrs. Jones visited at Mrs. Smiths last
Sunday and lone of Mrs Smart hens
laid double yolked egg one day last
week" and like things that local cor
respondent from county town must put
in to fill up space. And being too old to
get around and pick up such crumbs
came to the conclusion that | would let
others attend to that and send an occa-
sional article to The Journal and to other
papers as the spirit moved. 1t moves me
this beautiful spring morning, and | feel
impelled to say to the readers of The
Journal that business is moving all along
the line. | took my team Saturday and
visited every industry along the river
within the reach of my cable tow" Of
course it is well known that the tannery
is the greatest and most important in
dustry in our town. 1t is now running
at full blast and Mr.. Walker informs me
that he has made three or four large
sales of leather within the past week.
Next in Importance to the tannery is the
machine shop of Frank Bennett, the in
ventor. Frank always has some new and
useful invention to show that interests
you. He recently invented brand
new machine for saving slaves that old
mill men say will revolutionize the entire
business of saving slaves, and it is very
simple. 1t is a crank feed instead of a
weight feed. All savers of slaves will
know what that means better than |. He
has orders for four machines, and has
them nearly completed. He informed
me that about fifty mill men had inspec-
ted the machine and it is their opinions
that it will supercede all others by reason
of it's rapid motion and simplicity of con-
struction.
L. C. Morse has large lot of fine logs
for clapboards at his mill and has full
crew of men at work saving them out.
The Sylvester mill in the upper part of
the village is we'll stocked with lumber,
for both slaves and shingles. G. A.
Palmer is busy at the. foundry making
castings for the Bennett machine shop.
The Stevens mill in the lower part of the
town is not as well stocked as usual at
this time of the year. This mill manu-
features both slaves and long lumber,
and is continually busy in the winter saw
ing long lumber. People haul their logs
and wait their turn as they do at the
with them.
Next, and perhaps of the most impor-
lance to the greatest number is the ques-
ton of fuel. Nearly all of US use wood
on account of the great cost of transpor-
tation of coal from Belfast. Heretofore
there has been consumed in this village
about 700 cords of wood, the tannery
using about 400 cords Of that amount.
But since the rebuilding of the tannery
and the putting in of new machinery
they have a process of pressing the water
out Of the tan after it has been leached
and burning that. thereby making a
great saving in wood; SO that instead OF
using 400 cords, as they formerly did,
they now use about $50 cords. By reason
of that wood is little more easily OBJ
tanned by the rest of us, but at no less
expense. With the corn factory and the
foundry we use not far from 800 cords.