Flint & Bottle News; The Pleasant City insulator factory is expected to resume Nov. 1

FLINT AND BOTTLE AFFAIRS

IMPORTANT IRON MOLD ACTION.

Unlimited Move Question Is Up For Consideration

in the Iron Mold Branch - Some

Pertinent Comment on Trade Conditions -

Effect of the Introduction of This System in

Eastern Ohio Tableware and Bottle Factories -

Bellaire, Cambridge, Lancaster and

Zanesville Are Visited by Our Traveling

Representative, Who Sends an Interesting

Report.

TRADE CONDITIONS ARE ENCOURAGING

By S.N. McCarthy.

At the meeting of representatives of the iron mold branch of the flint glass trade, held recently at Pittsburg, it was almost unanimously decided to adopt the unlimited move system in that branch of the trade, there being only one vote against the proposition out of a total of fifteen at the Pittsburg meeting. It is said that the members of the iron mold branch are taking more kindly to the suggestion than was expected and are voting in favor of adopting the system.

The manufacturers in that branch have recently been insisting on concessions being granted and claim that they have been unable to meet competition from nonunion factories and also from the bottle trade where some iron mold ware is being made. Relief has been constantly sought by the manufacturers, which accounts for the almost unanimous action at the meeting referred to above, which declared in favor of the unlimited system as the best form of relief that could be given, instead of accepting a reduction which might be of only temporary benefit. The workers representatives also realize that they cannot much longer refuse to concede the unlimited system and expect to be steadily employed as the work will naturally go to the factories where it can be produced on the cheaper basis which the unlimited system offers.

The object lesson is particularly striking this season, when trade is somewhat slow, in that the pressware branch where the unlimited system prevails is the most prosperous branch of any in the flint glass trade, and what is even more evident, it has been in better shape ever since the unlimited system was adopted about ten years ago. As is well known to the trade a great fight was made against the unlimited system then chiefly because it was held that under it the pressed branch could produce sufficient ware in six months and it would be idle the balance of the season. However, is has been found the reverse has really been the case and besides there has not been the annual demand for a reduction in wages to meet competition such as the branches on the limited basis have had to contend with. Another striking example is the wonderful development of the bottle department which has made greater progress than possibly any other branch of the glass industry of this country, owing principally, it is thought, to having the unlimited system.

It is also held that it would be better to adopt the unlimited move while the basis is high rather than wait until after repeated wage concessions have been granted and then drift to that basis as the press branch did when it allowed competition to grow and become so formidable that it could not secure any better rate. The bottle branch has been considered more fortunate in adopting the system when the basis of wages were high and has been able to hold its advantage against almost all forms of competition, and the earnings of the members today are almost double that of those in the pressed branch of the flint glass trade. There is no logical reason, in the trade union tenets, why it should be so, as one works about as hard as the other, with possibly a little of the advantage in that respect held by the presser.

The result of the vote in the iron mold branch on the question will in all likelihood be made known in the near future, and it may materially change a critical situation which now confronts the flint glass trade.

Buckeye State Glass Factories.

The Bellaire, O., Bottle Co., are operating their plant in full and are getting out a greater production this season than ever before. The company have not increased their capacity over last year, but they began the season with a good trade of glass and a very favorable start all around, and thus far, after a month's operation, it has kept up to the satisfaction of all concerned.

A fine brick storage and shipping department is being built. It is about 50x120 and two stories high. The floors are made of concrete and will certainly be an excellent addition to the present well equipped plant. Secretary Geo. W. Yost, who is a prominent manufacturer in the bottle trade, takes a hopeful view of matters and does not appear to be worrying himself in any appreciable extent about the reported innovations that are said to be in store for certain branches of the bottle trade. It does not seem to trouble Manager D. A. Colbert to keep the factory end of the plant moving smoothly, while J. W. Thorp efficiently looks after the sorting and packing departments.

The Cambridge, O., Glass Co., have two furnaces operating and Manager Conrad Gang is averaging nearly 100 pots of glass from them each. They are of 14 pots capacity each and are built on the regenerative principle. A new electric power plant is under construction, and it is expected to be ready in about a month. It is so situated that coal can be dropped from the cars down in front of the boilers. It will furnish power to small motors which will be placed in various parts of the plant where power is needed and it is expected that there will be great economy in the cost of the power furnished as a result.

General Manager Bennett is studying economy for every part of his big Cambridge factory and expects to have a model plant in every respect. He expects to put a line of pressed ware on the market equal to any sold by his competitors and better than most of them, and the two new lines now being gotten out may be considered good samples. They are imitation cut, deep figures and in crystal glass. Mr. Bennett thinks that the finest display of glassware ever offered will be presented to the dealers for their selection after the new year. He does not mean that his did play will be the best, but rather that all manufacturers are making a greater effort than ever before. He also takes a hopeful view of this fact, and says that the standard will then be so high that no reliable concern can afford to recede from it, which will be of incalculable good to the trade and enable all to maintain a much higher standard.

At the Ohio Flint Works.

The Ohio Flint Glass Co.'s factory, Lancaster, O., is doing better now, under the management of Scott Littleton, than it has for a long time. He has had his troubles, though, principally over the small help problem. The company make quite a variety of pressed and blown ware, especially in the lamp line. Manager Littleton has been particularly successful with his opal glass, especially in the tank furnace.

D. J. McGrail, the night foreman, has about fully recovered from the late accident when he was burned about the face and hands in a gas explosion. Strange to relate, he is only slightly disfigured, owing to the good medical attention he received at the time of the accident. He has not had the use of his hands for some time, but they are gradually coming around all right, only one of them now troubling him. His many friends in the trade will be pleased to learn of his rapid recovery and that he is again able to attend to his duties.

The City on the Muskingum.

The Kearns-Gorsuch Bottle Co., Zanesville, O., are moving along with a full force on both shifts at the big tank and also have several men working at the day tank. Capt. Gorsuch, the well known head of this concern, still manifests a deep interest in trade matters and his son, Ralph, who looks after the office end of the plant, is following in his father's footsteps in the glass trade. Chas. Hess still keeps close tab on the factory proper.

An unusual departure in the glass trade is the presence at the Gorsuch factory of a colored man who handles the furnace, and still another strange thing is that some of the blowers prefer being on the shift he is on. He is an old master teaser named Bennett.

The G. W. Kearns & Co.'s flint prescription factory at Zanesville, O., is enjoying a very fine run with a full force of workmen on the covered pot furnace. G. W. Kearns, the originator and head of the concern, who is now nearly 80 years old, is still able to be around, and delights in talking about his early experience in the glass trade at Pittsburg previous to 1843. As is well known, he went to Zanesville on a flat boat to start a glass factory before the railroads in that vicinity were built. His son, Edward, has charge of the business end of the company, and three other sons, L. P., William and Tobias, are employed in the factory.

The Zanesville Mold Shop is getting its share of the trade. O. A. Bridges is foreman of the shop and Roy Chilcote and Ira A. Norris are two of the skilled workmen.

Owing to the fact that there is a rumor to the effect that a receiver will be asked for the Byesville, O., factory, many believe that an early start will hardly be made, although the fire is still being kept in the furnace.

The Pleasant City, O., insulator factory is expected to resume operations about Nov. 1.

Among the Buckeye Bottle Blowers

John A. Voll, the newly elected member of the executive board of the G.B.B.A., is employed at the Kearns factory. He is one of the up-to-date young men of the bottle trade who is keeping in close touch with the general course of events and his selection will no doubt prove a wise one for the bottle trade.

John Quinlan and John A. Voll say that their partner, Henry Stremmel, will surely soon become a benedict. among the others at Kearns' this fire are P. F. Casey, Henry L. Ebert, Samuel Reed, H. S. Carroll, H. Vogelhelm, and Harry Young.

At Gorsuch's plant are Henry Snyder, John Haddock, Jos, Seibel, John Schaubut, the two latter work on the machine; Wm. Carroll, A. Taylor, Wm. H. Lewis, Ed Schaum, Clarence Pegory, C. L. Noon, Andrew Kuhn, J. Kroneneiter, Chas. Wiswell, W. C. Cunningham, C. Stoneburner, Robert Stowe, Hary Conn and Jos. F. Hann. - John Haddock and Chas. Wilwell took in the World's Fair during the stop. They were accompanied by H. Wartenbe, now at the Bellaire bottle works. They ran a race on camels and they tell a great story about how Haddock got off the camel, or rather rolled off.

Lancaster Flint Workers.

Among the flint workers at the Ohio Flint, Lancaster, O., are Geo. Bartley, Harry Pence, John Cearney, P. and C. Fairchild, Harry Gersmam, T. Connell, Robert Gabut, M. Williams, Ed Hank, A. Keenan, F. Terrell, Wm. Rider, Chas. Ancil, Geo. Moralee, Dan Woods, Jacob Pence, Dennis Cain and Robert Peters. In the mold making shop are Nick Henkel, foreman; W. S. Graham, Wm. Parks and Chas. Wilcoxen. Maurice Angland is the furnaceman and Eugene Imler is packing. Alfred Doville and Albert Hughes are also working there. - Richard McCormick, an iron mold blower, is off work with a bealed hand and has gone to his home in Bellaire to have it treated. A good cure for a bealing, and one which removes the pain and gives instant relief, in Antiflogistine, a box of which may be secured at any drug store for 50 cents. This is not written for the purpose of advertising the stuff, but rather for the reason that it may serve the glassworkers who are so often troubled with bealings and lose many days work on that account.

"Polly" Long, foreman, seems to have everything lined up properly on the night turn at the Cambridge, O., factory. - F. E. Insley is almost constantly pressing large roof tile there, and chas. Seiffert gathers them for him. Among the rest there are John Lovejoy, Jos. Hoskins, Patrick McDonough, Clarence McMorris, Jas. Wilcoxen, Frank Murray, Robert Nicoll, Lawrence Patten, Chas. Denenhart, Chas. Jewell, the latter late of Evansville, Ind., Homer Greer, J. Finwick, O. E. Martin, C. Love, H. F. Pepper, Harry Motts, M. Conroy, J. McAfee, John McKelvy, John and William Slevin, Wm. Flannery, Chester Brannen, Frank Zeizer and Michael Zeizer, the three latter comprise the caster place shop; C. Z. Lewis, John Wilmore, Dan Schuler and H. McMorris. - Henry Forger is the head of the mold making department, in which are also C. A. Lottes, Wm. Zimmer, Ed Wenzell, Curtis Laveryt. Ed Healy, the ex-member of the engraving branch, presides over the engraving branch and is ably assisted by Wm. Schaum. - Three of the packers are J. L. James, J. A. Crum and D. C. Kirker. - H. C. Clark is the accurate timekeeper for the concern.