Bisbee daily review., 1911-06-25

encN 70 F. as uN tDt tdDOfefS III many other fields Of danger, they appear to be the most superstitious class of men on earth. They are well paid man who has nerve enough to work at this trade is worthy of his hire. He can com mand $10 a day, sometimes <29 He is practically his own rules since he is the one to suffer from an infraction of them. His every suspicion Is respected by his em. ployer. He cannot dictate the hours Of labor. since that is matter eternally in dispute. as in other kinds of labor. but he can dictate the conditions under which he works, from the moment he enters the factory until he leaves.
 These superstitions seem absurd. sometimes. but they are the law of the gunpowder factory. If you are an employer you Break the law at the risk of financial loss; if you are a fellow employee. you violate it at the risk of your life.
 "One of the first laws among the employees is that of self-preserVtaion. They have a deep-rooted fear of the casual visitor. Few men have gone through a gunpowder plant out of mere curiosity. They are not wanted, and are told so frankly. If they succeed in obtaining the per. mission of the superintendent. or possibly of some one higher in authority, they are subjected 10 an extraordinary ordeal before they are admitted to the sacred precincts.
 First, they are searched-and no police offigal is more adept in the art of frisking, than is the cutter guardian of the average gunpoWder plant. Every piece of metal, from pocket knife to garter clasD-every coin. match, suspended buckle. every thing that could possibly strike Q spark. is removed. The hatband Of the most fashionable derby is eN. amined with care, to see that it carries no metal initials. And this examination is not carried on alone by the official whose favor yon have gained. A representative Of the employees takes an active part in the examination, and he haS any doubts he will politely request you to strip to the skin.
 "Once inside the powder factory you are under even more careful scrutiny. Your shoes are taken away, and you are provided with felt slippers. Convinced that on vour person there is no piece or metal which under any provocation could strike a spark. you may feel at liberty 10 roam around, but you ar not Your every move IS watched carefully. and should you make a gesture calculated to m spire distrust you would be hustled out of the building and told TO leave the neighborhood within a given time. x,r
 -I.aboring under the constant fear of death. the employees grow extra ordinarflv superstitious. once allo" a vomap to set foot within poWcer factory and the entire force Will qult- If is one of the axioms of the trade tbat a woman brings misfortune, and ;t is useless to argue the question woman uhotographer for news, nanar on A Sunday assignment, once was admitted into an Illinois powder factory by an inexperienceu of;cial ana the next day the plant was shut down. The employ eS e,rnel The plant remained idle until an entire new force was re cruited.
 sT once made a test of this super stition to see how far lt wonid so' I was a close friend o1 the supei, intendent of a gunpowder plant anu he already had given me written permission to visit its every oenaf i' ment at my own pleasure arrned myself with the credentials from government department, obtained after some trouble, which stated that myself and my wife were an. thorized to inspect said plant and make a report thereon.
 My wife sat in the superintend ent's office while ! argued the case with him. Here are the signed pc pers.' I said T don't believe you can refuse to allow a woman to en- ter the plant under these circum- stances.
 He laughed. T am perfectly will ing, he said will ask the fore man a
 aTIe rang a bell and the foreman appeared. T have an order from the governor to permit Mir. and Mrs. q 77r~7 to i1qua~t ths -la~ing -Cor he said There is no necessity for further foTmalities. I can youeh for them.
 The Bluff Fails.
 The foreman, a weazened little individual who had survived two ex- plosiOns. bowed politely to Mrs. Adams and then to myself Then he said to the superintendent: 'Dees woman can vista de plant after de men have quit Eef she does in. dev quit anyway. Dees way. please eef you want a strike We did not 20 in.
 The glazing room already men tioneS. is the most dangerous de partnnent of a powder plant. Here. bv the use Of steam and friction -ominous in themselves-the pow der granules are polished of. Glaz- ed is the trade word. The glaze on the powder makes it the fn- ished product. It renders it as highly explosive as huHnan workman shio can make it. Obviously. the more perfect the glaze the higher the explosive power and the greater the Fargcr.
 m this glazing room superstition