The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1914-10-01
COCkR0ACAES, "Cn|Nk" JUICE, RATS!
MIXTURE CALLED WHISKY
PERSONAL LIBERTY ADVOCATES CAN DRINK IT If THEY
WANT 70. BUT EXCUSE NE
Thin Story That will Wrinkle Make Your In
sFds Culver Appeared in Everybody's Magazine for
July, and Was Written by 0verseer Of q Big Dis
tillery Plantation in the West Indies

somewhat startling. They ought to be
particularly so to rum-drinkers in this
country, for a large percentage OF the
West Indian product is consumed here.
! was an Overseer on two plantations
in Demerara, British Guiana. on the
west coast. and year on another
plantation on the east coast In each
place l had charge of the buildings and
superintendcd the manufacture and
shipment OF the rum and sugar. When
! was there the great bulk of our rum
| was shipped 10 New York.
In sugar manufacture the green
| juice OF the sugar-caEe is gradually
heated in a tier OF huge open boilers
or pans. and is ladled from one to the
| other of these, until from the last and
hottest of them the liquid is sucked
into vacuum.pan. whore it boils at
| low temperature and soon separates
into sugar and molasses. From the
vacuum-pan this mixture goes into
centrifugal sieves, which, revolving at
great speed, swing the mOlasses out
o! the sugar. The latter is then
scooped out Of the machines into
wooden trays, generally by Chinese
coolies. and borne on their heads to
the packing-room where negroes pack
II into bags or hogsheads for ship
ment.
While the cane-juice SINNERS In
those big pans great deal of black
slimy scum rises to the surface, which
is deftly skinned off by negroes and
emptied into cutters. along which it
flows into a mighty tank sunk into
the ground, so that 1t drains every
floor of the buildings. This receptacle
ought to interest rum-drinkers. for the
filling of it with what is aptly termed
wash" is the first act in the making
OF rum 1t Is the mother rum-tank
Any water spilled on any OF the
| floors is bound to find its way into
this great underground receptacle.
| That is SO arranged for the careful
gathering of all waste "sweets'-more
or less sugar. molasses. skimmings,
| etc. that are dropped on the floors.
This waste. with the continuous, dense
| steam from the pans, makes every
inch OF the brickpaved floors most
Gisagreeably moist Particularly Is
this felt at night, when one treads
On living carpet of roaches. etc.
What May Be in Rum,
The crunch OF these underfoot and
ne incessant flight between the
amps, and often into ones face. OF
a. al ln{c
ureiy moving of innumerable lizards
and large, fat rats makes night
round of the buildings anything but
pleasant. Night and day these crawl
ing things are foraging all over the
floors; and all the time, but especially
al night reaches are crushed by thou
sands under the feet always bare
feet except the overseer's) Of men
who are all the time pattering back
and forth about their work.
At $50 every morning hosc-pipcs
play on the floors and big broom5
swish the water along, helping it
carry its load of filth--out of doors
into the canal. you may think? Not
so, by any means; but forward and
down.grade, until it falls like a small
Niagara into the mother rum-tank.
1t was indispensable that the floors
be cleaned of their coating of that
kind of saccharine mucilage once in
every twelve hours. The night gangs
washed off before they left at in the
morning: the day gangs did the same
before in the evening. The cane
mill never stops grinding cut the
juice. night or day. nor on Sundays.
while cane-cuttng is on. No stop in
any of the sequence, the mill, boiling
pans. whirling centrifugals, and carry
ing out the sugar.
As to that general cleanup, oEe pert
deserves special notice. II can easily
be imagined that those Cinnamon who
carry the sugar as mcn'ioncd-all
naked. Of course. save for the scantiest
oin-cloth-workirg hard as they do IN
that hot moist moSphcrc-become
more or less coated all over their yell
low skins with adhering sugar. This
they are carefully prevented from car
rying home with them. There is a big
faucet supplying plenty of warm wa
ter. as condensed from the steam OF
the engines. Under this faucet each
sugary Celestial has 10 stand while |
the headman, or driver, lets 90 on
each a copious sousing Then he is
allowed to leave the buildings.
To rum-drinkers the real and cruel |
int crest of these baths must lie in fol |
lowing the waste rinsings: for these |
can be traced with deadly certainty |
until they fall into the rum-tank.
There is another sight not easily
forgotten. There are pumping days.
when the big wash reservoir has to
be relieved of some of its contents A
steam-pump is used to lift the stuff
to the great watts, two floors above.
The big rose on the end of the hose
lowered into the seething caldron often
clogs up. The engine is stopped and
something is dragged away from the