The Natchitoches enterprise. (Natchitoches, La.) 1888-1965, 1917-11-22
OUR LOS ANGELES
LETTER.

: the other day, which is just over the
. Los Angeles river-that being the same
i kind of a stream as Cane used to be IN
t summer. 1t is an immense place, the
third largest in the west, the Company
owning forty in all. The manager took
4 US thru the immense plant which was
S as clean and sunny as could be. -
Z First we saw the rooms whore the
cans are kept, millions of them which
are loaded right on a carrier narrow
track above our heads and come down
in steady stream. with man to shut
them off. They were unloading wagons
and cars of tomatoes, several tons day,
at the side-the Co. has about eighteen
thousand acres planted in this vegetable
alone, and we watched them being put
in sort of chute, washed in cold water
assorted by men, the very big ones,
taken in charge by girls who core and
seed them 1.-THE seed for this varity is
three dollars pound the next big
4 regular ones being put into another
chute for the pack, the smaller for
sauce, catslp etc.
The plant employs about 1000 girl who
were spick and span in blue chambry
uniforms with white net caps, blue
banded, and big yellow water proof |
aprons, the last two being furnished by |
the Co. They were foreigners, mostly |
Russians and Slavac With some Japs
mixed in and you would marvel at the /
dexterity they displayed. They took the /
tomatoes from the buckets as the
carriers Sided them pass, they had been
passed thru boiling water, skinned them,
then other girls cOred them and the
next row placed them whole in shiney
half gallon cans. Each girl filled her
can on a small scale, as they are sold
by weight, then men grabbed the fill ID
cans, placed them on trays, four to a
tray, and piled trays on each other with
in creditable rapidity.
When the piles were about seven feet
high, they were taken by others on long
trucks like trunks are tipped up on at
depots, wheeled slanting to other
carriers which are sliding CUTTERS
passed into another moving chute, each
one going under machine which slideo
a tin top on it and pressed it down
These tops were not soldered. by new
process, but simply pressed, the machine
rising and falling so fast that you can
hardly follow the movement Indeed .
one little machine turns out hundred E
and fifty cans of tomato sauce per
minute.
Then the sealed cans are conveyed ali
by machinery into watts, where they are
cooked go minutes, then loaded ana
taken out, cooled then labeled.
The pirlS work liko machines Mr. g 81
pointing out one stolid creature who
had record of peeling by hand, forty
i've gallons of fine peaches, per day.
We next went upstairs to another
DOM, where in spotless surroundings,
girls were making the best catsup in s.
zig watts. We watched them put in the
ngredients-the tomatoes were run
hru machine which reduced them to
,ulp-then there were big white tubs q
# ground onions, ground pepper, salt,
piceS, etc, and we saw the chef &
Measuring the sugar, twelve hundred
'ounds to vet, which were not very
ig ones either, and when it was steam
az and bubbling, hEdipp d out bowl
or Us and it was the most delicious
atsup ever ate. They say one loses
mes appetite after seeing most things
AIMED and packed but you wouldn't in
his place, everything is so clean and all
ut up by machinery, the best peaches,
pears, cherries ETC., canned
nd preserved; delicious spinach, the
lost perfect asparagus, olives, cucumbers
nd more than can tell you about
AIMED in tins and glass, much of it to
II high government orders and the
asteboard and wooden boxes used for
acking are all made right on the
rounds.
There is a minimum wage law for
omen, ten dollars a week and short =
ours and comfortable rest room and
very convenience for them.
l know haven't given you very =
BOD idea of the place, but you would a
ave to see it for yourself to be able to :
,alize what Del Monte factory
.ally is.
From there we went on to the Dahlia Nc
low which was marvellous, as there
ere more than ten thousand exhibits j.
I'd it was like peep into wonderland, VI
Ie different nursery exhibits being u ~:
,autiful. There was one in particular vi S,i
lat attracted me, big futed pillars ~
tertwined with ferns dividing it from .o -,
e long tables and stands and great y. W.
Iskets of mixed dahlias, tied with Wy
lie, every color, size, shape. peony and -
rysanthemum variety, single, double, ou .L
It, dwarf etc., two thousand varieties ~,
ed. Prizes were offered for singles ~ ~.
d vases and you can fancy the artistic
,ects. My friend, the Wyzard of 0 NJ
an, won six prizes and there were
any beautiful souvenirs of flowers and
lbs given to tho visitors.
WYN0NAH