New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-07

however, are the prices quoIeu ny
writer in The Far Eastern Re
view" and, what seems still more
remarkable, he explains that they
are the prices paid for eggs which
would be labelled strictly fresh"
by grocers in the United States,
SINCE in China the older an egg is
the more valuable it becomes, eggs
guaranteed one hundred years old
being served as great delicacies at
Chinese banquets.
How Model
Plant Operates
The consumption of Asistic egg
products in this country has greatly
increased in recent years, and there
fore the conditions under which they
are prepared become of greater in
terest to the public. The operation
Of a model plant at Shanghai is de
scribed as follows:
The eggs are received at the door
Of the factory in baskets containing
approximately 1000 eggs, and as the
factory offers better prices for choice
eggs il is securing the highest class
Of egg produced within a circle Of
probably a hundred-mile radius. The
eggs are brought into the examining
room, where the contents Of the bas-
kcts are gone over and all cracked
or otherwise damaged eggs are sepa-
rated. The eggs are then candled by
Chinese, who pass them before the
Gambling lamps at the rate Of 500 an
hour. The Gambling rooms are kept
in a temperature not exceeding So de-
grees Fahrenheit, the range of tenn
perature in the building, used both
for freezing and for drying eggs, be-
ing from zero 20 upward Of 100 de-
grees Fahrenheit in the freezing and
drying rooms, respectively.
From the Gambling room the fresh
eggs with unbroken shells are taken
TO the breaking room, which in point
Of sanitary appliances and attention
20 details Of personal hygiene scarce
ly is surpassed by the operating room
Of a hospital. In fact, the general
effect Of the room. aside from its low
temperature, is that of we'll or
dered hospital but with ten white
capped and aproned nurses where the
ordinary hospital would have but one.
The factory now employs one hun
bred girls, each Of whom is expected
to break and separate from 1000 to
1000 eggs a day of twelve hours.
Owing TO the factory paying higher
wages than other similar plants and
working only six days a week instead
OF seven, which is the rule of the
cotton mills and silk failures Of
Shanghai, it can pick and choose in
its labor, so that the type of girl
employed in the egg-breaking room
is far ABOVE the standard of any
other Chinese factory, and a COM
posite picture of them all probably
would come nearer the Chinese idea
OF feminine beauty than any other
one hundred girls that can be found
in Shanghai.
As the workers enter in the morn
ing they are dressed in freshly ster-
ilized clothing furnished by tho fac
tory, and after their nails are mani
cured they are allowed TO proceed 70
the workroom.
The breaking room is solid con-
crete and is sterilized each day as
carefully as the operating room Of a
hospital. The girls are seated on
metal stools at low zinc tables. Be
fore each one OF them is a curious
appliance which mechanically sepa-
rates the white of the egg from the
yolk. The girl takes an egg from
the can, into which they have been
counted by the gamblers, and with
the right hand cracks it on the bar
OF the separating machine. The
breaking is then finished by a dex-
ferrous movement OF the fingers,
which permits the egg TO drop into
a shallow cup. where the yolk Is
caught and the white allowed to
drain of the sides.