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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (July 20, 1902)
American Matches Made in England for British Use YANKEES GIVE FREE DINNERS TO THEIR ENGLISH WORKMEN. THE GIRLS SIT AT REVOLVING TABLES. (Copyright, 19)2, by Frank O. Cnrpenter.) ".IVERPOOL, England, July 10. i. I (Special Correspondence of The VV. J IU HID UIIUUIBblUllUB ivn frffffiMj of Bcaforth, about four mile from Ldverpooi, uoi mr iruui iui muu of th Mersey, up which ateam the greatest of cur Atlantic liners, atanda on of the great fortifications of the American lnva Ion. It la a gigantic building of gray brick, covering acres. It his four stories and la walled with windows. At one end la a amokestack so tall that It can be seen from the sea and over the country for mile around. High above the roof of the building are two signs, one marked "bryant and Hay" and the other "The Diamond Match Company." The whole Is under one firm and It comprises one of the largest factories of England. The building Is Olied with American machinery, it la operated chiefly by American capital and it haa a monopoly ot the match business or Great Britain and Ireland. John Bull la the greatest smoker on earth, but It ib Unci Earn who furnishes the tobacco and makes .the matches to light his pipe. I have already written of the atruggie be tween Bryant ft May and the American Match trust. For years Bryant May bad the ironopoly of match making in Great Brl.aln. No one attempted to compete with them an J they had little fear of English op poaltl.n. Then the American Match truet came In. The Diamond Match company, headed by Ohio Columbus Barber, east 1U covetous eyes on the profits of the British monopoly and aent Its men here to Investi gate the trade. Thelfc report was that the chancea were excellent, the matches in use very poor and the possibilities of tne mar FACTORY WHERE AMERICAN MATCHE S ARE MADE FOR BRITISH USERS. 1 .. . ,, ,v. n,...j amlnatlon of each mouth, and ao far there Great Britain with Its products. Its and as high as $60,000 in experiments and ket enormous. As a result tne uiamona , . ' . , . . . . . . ' r Match company determined upon the phoa- n no necr!s whatever. ma chet were made by the finest of ma- the result was that he went into the busl- phorlo Invasion of England They built this While the Bryant ft May people were In chlnery. , For years Mr. Barber had been ness equipped with the latest inventions, factory a 3d filled It with the finest ma- trouDl about their dleeased employee the studying ani experimenting. He had apent He had made a fortune of $8,000,000 or $10,- chlnery Diamond Match company began to flood aa much aa $10,000 a year for matcn patents COO, 000 by manufacturing matches for the Phoaphoraa Feeds on Unman Jaws. Bryant & May had been working after old metheds. Most of their matches were strong In phosphorus, and they had to be dipped in such a way that the phosphorus came in contact with the skins ot the workmen. Now, phosphorus Is ordinarily very deleterious to those working in It. It Is especially to to the teeth. The workman cr workwoman for women are chiefly em ployed In matchmaking who haa a decayed tooth soon finds that she haa a decayed Jaw, and, If aha continues to work, no Jaw at all. Tne phosphorus gets Into her sys tem. It eats its way throush the tooth to the hone, and the result is the terrible dis ease known as necrosis. Bryant A May had 1.000 girls working for them, and of these hundreds had decayed teeth. All auch were affected by the phosphorus, but they worked on In despair, and dropped out when the disease became o bad that they could not work. Tht heads ot the establlanment tried to kp thess conditions a secret, but they at last came to the knowledge of the public. Much Indignation was expressed, a par liamentary investigation ordered and the firm was notified that no more uch matchea could be made. It was about this time that the Diamond Match company began Its bi'slneea. It made Ha product by such machinery that the hands of the workmen did not com In con ' tact with the wet phosphorua, and its good were put on the market In competition with Bryant A May'a. Before beginning work the Dlamtnd Match company had a careful examination made of the teeth ot its em ployes. It tilled those that were decayed, and employed a regular dentUt to do noth ing else but watch the teeth of the people working In the factory. Tbla Is the caae today. There are about on thousand girls employed, and these glrla hav perhapa the pureet and sweetest mouths ot any thousand glrla you can find la any factory the world over. They are divided Into corpa and each corpa la under the head ot a matron, whoee business It la to watch the girls and to report at one it there la anything the matter with their teeth. Th girl that complain ot a tooth ach la aent at one to the dentlat, and th cavity filled or th tooth Uhn out. Every oflea th den Uat make a personal x- (Jnlted States, his various works at Barber ton, near Akron, employing about 6,000 peo ple. Ha la also a thorough business man in every tense of th word and he brought both experience and brains to aid his pat ents in working the trade. Th Bryant ft May people soon found that It was Impossible to compete with the Americans. They aent their agents all over th world for patents that they might get new match-making machinery, but there were none to be had. Then they tried mak ing safety matches, but they did not under stand the business and the matches were not a success. The heads would come off or would fall to light and they proved gen erally unsatisfactory. The English monopoly had been paying dividends of 20 per ceut, but under this competition they saw their business rapidly dwlndlng. The dividends fell to 14 per cent and it was seen that in time there would be nj dividends whatever. Then the heads of the American company stepped in and held a conference with the managers of Bryant & May. The Americans showed them that they knew more about tne Eng lish match business than the Engiisn them selves and proved to them that they could easily crowd them out of the markets. They aid they would do this, but that it would be cheaper to buy them out or absorb them than to fight them, and wie, offered them the alternative. The Bryan, ft May people gave in and the English monopoly was swallowed up by the American firm. The business is still carried on under the two namea ot the Bryant ft May and the Diamond Match company. It la now nom inally English, but It la really American. Yankees Make Matchea for England. I went out to Seaforth this morning tc learn how the Yankees make matches for (Continued on Eighth Page.) J-' 1 y t -. v.j - A . 4 r- v y,ht SWIFTS MAMMOTH 80AP DELIVERY. Abov la a photograph of th first aection ot Swift and Company'a big aoap delivery, made Saturday. July 12, 1902. Delivery consisted of fifty-five teams loaded with nearly $.000 boxes Swift's Pride Soap, every box of which was sold to retail merchants in Omaha, South Omaha and Council Bluffs If placed end to end the bare of aoap In thla de?lvry would rach tt miles. It placed on top ot on another, they would make a column fourteen miles high The parade was over a' mil in length and la aald to be th largest team delivery ot soap ever made in th world to the retail trad.
