The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-05-11

erdone. not SO long as the popula,
ton increased and while clothes were
made. Somehow 1t CHANGED to be
that the men who were confined in
prisons were put to work making
button slugs. At Fort Madison they
diu a big business in that line 1t
grew to be part of that institutions
the slug making works, and many
were the hours and the hands applied
to the cause Competition only in.
terfered with the continuation of
the button industry in Fort Madison
1t was work that the free could do,
and they required no opposition in
the convict labor. And the legisla-
tive session of 1904 cut out the but
ton contract at the Fort Madison
prison.
There is disadvantage to making
buttons. The Job looks simple. but it
Is not The shells are contaminated
by residue from the water beds. When
washed these shells are not free from
doors or poisonous substances. They
must be handled a few times before
they are finally changed from their
natural state into form and ready for
the sterilizing tank 1t is because OF
the condition of these shells in their
rough state that there was strike
OF button workers in Muscatine. The
factories responded to request for
cleaner shells by cutting down Inc
gross allowance. The measure was
increased to correspond with the ex-
pense OF back-washing and straining.
and the change reduced the earning
power OF Inc workers. At present
there is a settlement in process and
the subject will rest, mutuall com
promised. 1t was odd that Muscatine
IN the time OF this strike would be-
come a history maker. 1t has. Those
three thousand women and men and
children who stood out for better con
dltlons have attracted attention to the
button industry. All around us there
are business men looking up the but
ton trade, its origin and it's POSSIBLE
tiles. Something good will come from
all this. Iowa will take jump in the
button industry. More capital, more
labor, and more trade: that's to be the
result. The other day there was al
little man with fat wallet stepped
off the Burlington train in the button
making town, and he hailed from
Bostons He was looking for a place
to lay by financial store where it
would increase, and Muscatine and
the surrounding country made a hit
with him. And the chances are that
the union of button workers have bet
tered their conditions In more ways
than one by reason of their strike de-
mands. Certainly they have attract
ed labor organizations in all parts OF
the country. In Chicago the fedora
ton gave about thousand dollars to
the Muscatine girls so that they could
stick out the siege occasioned by their
contested demands. And now there
are some of the Chicago laboring
classes thinking of migrating to Iowa
to get work making buttons
Just one more fact Buttons are
made from various kinds of shells.
Anu W." Ii dioHS Tie htSSlSSlppl near
Fort Madison and Keokuk there is a
beauty spot Or two where the shells +
are pearly, and pearl buttons are
more sought for than the common !
kind. Up yonder on the hill in the /
penitentiary the boys have picked up
pieces of shell and have made objects I
OF adornment. There are many of /
them who have derived considerable /
profit from the shaping of watch .
pins, stick pins and a score /
of other things out of common shells. I
that Is trodden under foot |
in the busy mechanical life OIL the I
prison. Ii tact and genius can bring |
about an evolution of the apparently /
worthless shells lying about into
something useful, then the prospects I
are that the whole substance presents
an outlook for industry without limit |
and for good profits. William Beop- /
pies, who started the button business
here, is now earning the big, worthy
income of $500 per day. and his out
lay of original ideas in saving up
shells to De made into buttons are the
modus operandi of some keensighted
business man. who has reaped har-
rest from the enlargement upon
3eopples' tinkering.
/