Nebraska Newspapers

    Jannnry 21, lOOfl.
TTTE OMATTA ILLUSTRATED BEE.
The Concern that Aade Clay Center a Famous Nebraska Town
Office Building, Factory and Warehouses of the Sure Hatch Incubator Company and the Processes of Preparing Its Finished Product Ready for Its Ever-Wid?nir nirlict -
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A SCORE OP STENOGRAPHERS REQUIRED TO GET OUT THE
DAILY SUMS HATCH MAIL.
' LAY CENTER. NEB., Is a mall
f I town, but it Is the home of a
." 1 very large manufacturing plant
nCofj exchilv)ly engaged In making
n ' " machlnoH for artificially hatching
and raising chicks.
One of tfie flrnt slhls that forcibly
Strikes the stranger's tye, a few steps
after he leaves the Burllnfrton depot on
his way "up town" Is a large, red two
and a half story corner building, the
length of half a rlty block and half as
wide as It Is long, upon which a huge
sign, the entire length of the bulidlng,
displays the legend, "Sure Hatch Incubutor
Company."
View of thr Warehouse.
A few steps further and the other cor
ner of the same block comes Into view,
showing- the large warehouse and office
building, reaching from the street curb
line back to the alley line, HO feet long
and seventy-live feet wide. Lumber sheds,
oil roofs, chicken' houses, testing labora
tories and an elevated tramway connect
ing the factory to the warehouse, cover
nearly the entire block occupied and
owned by the company. '
Entering the main office, you hear the
click of half a score of typewriters, gaze
down long tables at which are seated an
equal number of young women mailing out
circulars, catalogues and , letter by the
tens of thousands. '
Off tn a corner of the .large room, huge '
filing cabinets that arc the more conspicu
ous on account of their great slse, keep
mora young women busy.
Tresaendonnly Active There,
Everything has the aspect of tremendous
activity. And no wonder, It Is the be
ginning of the selling season of the world
famed Sure Hatch machines.
I found the manager in his private office
up to his ears In papers, letters and docu
ments of every description. He was Just ,
"cleaning up," he said, after having been
two days out of town. It looked as though
ha had a two weeks' job, and whan I men
Nebraska Boy a Hero of
. J i tttt announcement of the awarding
w I " I of a medal and $100 In cash un-
A I Aat ffAnnr.il nritpri frnrn Rcretarv
Bonaparte to each of eleven mem
bers of the crew of the United
States ship Bennington, for extraordinary
heroism displayed at the time of the ter
rlble disaster to that ship in San Diego
bay, California, came as a surprise to
Otto D. Schmidt, whose home Is at Blair
and who la or of the eleven mentioned in
the list An interview with Mr. Schmidt,
who has been at Blair since he was mus
tered out last August, drew from him
only a few remarks In regard to the award
ing of the rewards to himself and com-rad-i.
The only merit that he could think
of over others of the crew was that when
the 'officer of the deck called for volun
teers to go below for their comrades, eleven
responded to the call. He has his hon
orable discharge with the words, "Sur
vivor of the Bennington" prided across
the face of It.
' Mr. Schmidt Is the only one of the eleven
that belongs to Nebraska. He was born
and raised In Blair. He was In the bath
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rrrro t vryixnrr or tt-atr. a tt" vr-A vnr -vr -has bfto votto
A MEDAL AND A MONET KEWAHU K R GALLANTRY ON THE BEN
N1NUTON AT THE TIME OF THB TtRJUBLtJ DUAsSTER IN THE HAR
BOR AT SAN P1EUO. CAI.
tioned It, he smiled and said, "Yes, were
It not for a trained organization In every
department of this great institution, I
would never get through; but I'll be through
In a minute, then I'll be glad to show you
around."
And iiure enough In a few minutes he
had marked everything on his desk and
sent It to Its respective department.
"Tfteie," said he, "that work will be done
abb ilutely right in every detail; I know
It. so I forget all abuut It and turn my
thoughts to otlitr tl.ir.gs busides ruuiiuu
matters."
Swear b the Malingers.
He was ngtit, as I ufterwaids learned.
Thout;ii but a young man, ever1 employe,
both-. In the oMce and factory some of
tlit:u inoru tiian twice his age, swears by
him.
I was struck with his quick off-hand,
yet polite, manner of givl:i his instruc
tions here and asking ter.'e, pointed ques
tions there, and sometimes It seemed to
me a marvel In the, way his mind would
Jump from one eztre'me to another, cover
ing the wide range of details in the manu
facturing as well as . selling departments
of the business. He has it all at the ends
of his fingers and tongue.
I afterwards asked many of the em
ployes how they liked their manager. "He's
all right; knows his business and nobody
fools him; treats us finer than silk and la
always up .to something to make things
better and easier for us. . Why shouldn't
we like him? He's all wool and a yard
wide and strictly square on every cor
ner." . .
' The Sure Hatch Itself.
But I must not write of the manager at
greater length. The Sure Htch, itself Is
what I prefer to tell about, and no doubt
It is that to which most interest attaches.
While I have seen many of these machines
in operation during the past five or six
years, I have never operated one, but waa
privileged to look through the company's
vast files of correspondence and read many
the Bennington Disaster
room at the time of the explosion and
crawled out through a small window, and
without clothes made his way to the deck
and blew the danger whistle, remaining
with his ship, helping to care for the in
jured and to bury the dead, and received
his discharge papers when his ship reached
San Francisco, after a term of service of
four and one-half years. He was one of
the five boys who made the start from
Blair to Join Uncle Sam's navy, enlisting
with the Omaha draft May U, 1901, and
was assigned to duty on the Pensacola
training ship at Goat island, San Fran
cisco. He was with' his ship at the scene
of the Panama trouble, which was the
nearest he came to being in actual naval
warfare. He has only good words for the
navy and his papers show that he can
enter the navy at any time.
Of the four companions who enlisted with
him from Blair. Donald Kelly and Charles
Evans are serving on the battleship Wis
consin at Manila, P I.; Parker Otterman
received his discharge from the Philadel
phia navy yard and Fred J. Taylor from
the Adams at 8a moan Islands October 1
and IS, 1906, and are at present at Blair.
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MAIN OFFICE, FACTORY AND WAREHOUSE OF SURE HATCH INCUBATOR
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of the tens of thousands of letters of rec
ommendation sent In by the users of, the
Sure Hatch, which I selected nt random
from the flies. To read that great mass
of correspondence, accumulated In one
year's business, would require months, so
I had to content myself with a process of
selection. I afterwards looked through the
Sure Hatch catalogue, and I must say the
letters and pictures there reproduced are
but fair samples of thousands more Just
like them in the company's flies.
I ran my hands over drawer after drawer
full of cards containing last year's orders
for machines. It was a thirty-drawer cabi
net that held them and most of the drawers
:fc mliitli,
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Entertaining Little Stories for
A Coasting; Experience.
HE hill was ready. The track, at
first traced by the accommodating
sleds and feet of a pioneer few,
gradually had .been packed and
polished until now it lay smooth,
straightaway, Inviting.
The hill was ready; so were you. Your
round, turban-like cap waa pulled firmly
upon your head and over your ears; your
red tippet (mother knit it) twice encircled
your neck, crossed your breast, and was
tied (by mother) behind In a double knot;
your red double mittens (mother knit
them and constantly darned them) were
on your hands; and your legs and feet
were In your stout copper-toed, red-topped
boots. And your cheeks (mother klb&ed
them) were red, too.
Twitched by its leading rope, followed
you, like a loyal dog, your sled a very
firm slod, than which none was ilnor.
"Bay. but she's slick, ain't she?" gloried
Hen, as you and he hurriedly drew In
sight of your goal. From all quarters
other boys, and girls as well, were con
verging, with gay chatter, upon this Mecca
of winter sport. Far and wide had gone
forth the word that Middleton's hill waa
"bully."
"Alnt she!" you replied enthusiastically.
With swoop and swerve and shrill cheer,
down scudded the sleds and bobs of the
earlier arrivals and the Bpectacle spurred
you to the crest.
Panting, you reached it.
"You go first," you said to Hen.
"Naw; you," said he.
"All right. I'd Just as lief," you re
sponded. Breast-high you raised your sled. Its rope
securely gathered in your hand.
"Clea-ear the track!" you shrieked.
"Clea-ear the track!" echoed doa-n the
hill from the mouths of solicitous friends.
You gave a little run. and down you
slammed, sled and all, but you uppermost,
a monerly exposition of "bellybuat." Over
the crest you darted. The slope was be
neath you, and now you were off, wllly
nllly. "Clear-ear the track!" again you shrieked
with your last gasp.
You had begun to fall like a rocket,
faster, faster, ever faster, through the
black-bordered lane. The wind blinded your
eyes, the wind stopped your breath, the
wind sang In your ears, like an orlfiamme,
streamed and strained your tippet ends,
and the snow crystals spun In your wake.
Dextrously applying your toes you steered
more by Intuition than by sight. You
darned around the curve; you strurk the
culvert and It flung you Into the air until
daylight showed between you and your
steed; ka-thump! you landed again and
presently over the level t you glided with
slowly decreasing speed until, the last
glossy inch covered, the uttermost mark
possible this time attained, you rose, with
eyes watery and face tingling, and stood
aside to watch Hen, who came apace in
your rear.
"Aw. that ain't fair! You're shovln'!
That don't count!" you asserted, as Hen,
In order to ejual your mark, evinced an
Inclination to propel with his hands, alli
gator fashion.
Hen sheepishly desisted and scrambled to
his feet.
"Crarky! That's a reg'lar old belly
bumper, ain't It?" he exclaimed Joyously.
He referred to the delicious culvert. You
assented. The culvert was a consummation
of bliss to which words even more expres
sive than Hen's aould not do Justice.
Up the slope. In the procession along Its
-edge you and be trudged, and down again.
In the procession along Its middle, you
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THE SHEET METAL DEPARTMENT IS A MAZE OF TINSMITHS' TOOL8.
were full of cards, others nearly so. Each
drawer Is made to hold 1,000 cards, and
when I was told there were over 20,000 or
der cards In the cabinet I could not doubt
it. Rather, I. should think on a count there
would be more, though I could not take
the time to do It. The cabinet record indi
cated 23,340. .
As these record cards are consulted every
day, and being indexed by an elaborate
system of subdivision and cross-indexing,
the indicator must have been right.
I looked over the records of the purchas
ing agent and stock keeper and held my
breath while doing so.
A train of thirty-fiva cars of ordinary
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flew. Over and over and over you did it,
and the snow filled sleeve and neck and
bootleg. Century Magazine.
An Unexpected Party
Little Warren Mansfield was never so
happy as -when his mother had a houseful
of company."
He liked to talk to people, to sing his
funny songs and to listen to their stories
of kittens and birds and ponies.
Visitors were specially welcome now that
Aunt Jessie was sick, for Aunt Jessie was
Warren's standby for stories when other
amusements failed.
Mother was preparing a luncheon for the
invalid, when Warren said:
"Don't you wish Mrs. Cowles would
come over here?" I
"Yes," mother answered, wondering If
shehad put enough salt In the beef tea.
"And wouldn't you like to have Mrs.
Popklns come, too?"
Somehow Warren always would twist H
Into P when he talked about the Hopkins
family across the street.
"Why. yes, deer, of course; but don't
bother now; mother's busy."
"Guess she'd like It If they'd all come."
the little boy concluded to himself, "only
she can't stop to think about It."
Three minutes afterward Warren was
ringing Mrs. Cowles' door bell.
"My motherd like to have you come
over." he said.
"AH right," the neighbor replied, think
ing as she untied her apron, "I wonder If
Jessie. Is worse."
She was smoothing her rumpled hair,
when the bell rang again. Warren still
stood at the door. '.'She wants you to oome
quick," he said.
"Dear me!" she said. "Tell her I'll be
right over.
Thn the little mischief went straight to
the next house, and the next, and the next,
and the next, delivering the same message.
And all the women dropped their work
and hastened to go to Mrs. Mansfield's to
help in her trouble.
Mr. Cowles saw him at Mrs. Hopkins'
door and she feared the sick aunt had
taken suddenly worse.
It was a merry party gathered In Mrs.
Mansfield's living room when Warren re
turned home.
"Aren't you glad I Invited so many
folks?" he said, running up to his mother.
'I knew you wanted 'em all. only you
hadn't time to ak 'em. Please somebody
tell me a tory !" Emma C. Dowd. In Our
Little Ones.
A nee Aernlnst the Tl-le.
Grace Ellison and her three little cousins
hhd been gathering mountain lau"l and
had walked farther lhan they realized.
Now they were all t'rod. ond the path bark
over the mountain looked steep and diffi
cult. At lis foot rlrrld the waters of the
Hudson river. Jfst row the tldn was low.
There n a tiny 'trip of rocky lieach
around the c'.lS and bryond th? mountain
was the village whore the four girls lived.
They knew that p"0!1' had walked around
the cliff at low tide, but It wus said to be
dangerous.
Nan Belden always was attracted by a
spice of danger.
"I'm going anyway," she cried. Jumping
up. "You can stay If you are afraid."
"We'll all go If you do," answered Bertie,
soberly, "but I think the tide has turned."
"Nonsense!" cried Nsn. But before they
clambered over those ugly rocks very far
they knew STie was right. It waa too lata
to go back, so they went on, scrambling
over the huge boulders.
The way was longer than they had
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COSfPANT AT CULT CENTER, NEB.
capacity would be required to haul the
lumber and sheet copper alone which Is
being used this season. Huge piles of the
finest California redwood and cork pine,
great stacks of asbestos mill board. In
sulating felts, sheet iron, kegs of nails,
boxes of solder, screws, lamp burners, ther
mometers and the many other items thatt
go to. make up the finished Sure Hatch.
Tons and tons of It, to say nothing of tUe
rows of barrels of paint, oil and varnishes
and boxes of glass that are for Immediate
use.
In going through the warehouse to the
factory I passed through long aisles, be
tween thousands and thousands of finished
Little People
thought. Every time they rounded a point
there was only another point ahead. Sud
denly' Nan cried:
"Oh, my foot's soaked!" A little wave
had splashed over It.
"Hurry, girls," said Bertie.' She caught
Grace's arm. '
They hurried, scrambling, their feet
soaked with the water that now washed
their ankles, their hands and knees scraped
by the rocks, and the village not yet in
sight.
Suddenly little Elsie screamed as a high
wave knocked her off her feet, and Nan
caught her Just in time. They pulled her
along, and reached the next point some
how, where they saw the beach and the
village. A few more struggles, and through
water nearly to their waists, they reached
the beach and were safe.
As they sat breathless on the sand com
forting Elsie, Nan looked down at their
wet skirts and exclaimed:
"That was the stillest thing we ever
did!"
And really, I believe It was.
Doctor Brown.
I am going to tell you a story about Dr.
Brown not a man doctor like the one
who comes with his bottles and his powders
to make you well when you are sick, but
a new kind that I don't believe you ever
heard of before. This story began in
house-cleaning time, when the carpets were
up and everybody was as busy as could
be. Ruth would have been busy, too, help
ing do all sorts of things if she had been
well, but she had risen that morning with
a sore throat; so. instead Of being at work
with the others she had to stay rpstalrs
alone with her playthings, and she was
about the lonesomest little girl you ever
saw.
Just after dinner there was a ring at the
doorbell, and In came a bright-faced young
woman carrying in her hand what do you
think? A tiny, fluffy, brown chicken for
Ruth! That ended the loneliness for that
day, for chickle stayed upstairs with her,
and the lonff hours fairly flew. She fed
litni bread crumbs and gave him a drink
from a toy saucer. When he grew sleepy
she rolled him up in a big, soft piece of
flannel and put him to bed in a shoe box.
When mother came up to say that supper
was ready she found a happy little girl,
who cried merrily, "Mother, Just believe
that my chicken has made me well, and I
think we'll have to name hltn Dr. Brown."
So now you know who Dr. Brown Is. He
hud not made. Ruth quite well that time,'
but he came often and, as mother mid,
"his bill didn't have to be paid." Louise
M. Otflevee, In Our Uule Ones.
"Loral Color."
David Bel.ico, p'.ajwrtghl and theatrical
manager, was a newrfu iper reporter for
some time. While so empicyed he put in a
few days with a gang of truants in cider
to get "color" for an article he had been
assigned to write. He fcund the hobos to
be a merry lot, with uu many stories as
the end nun of a minstrel show. 'One of
them told in his hearing of having been
given a mince pie by the young wife of a
farmer. Next day the tramp appeared at
thV farmhouse again and said: "Would you
be kind enough, ma'am, to give me the
recipe for that there mine pie what I had
here yesterduy?"
"Well, the idea?" cried the farmer's wife.
"Land sakes, man. what do you want that
recipe for?"
"To settle a bet." replied the tramp. "My
pardner says you use three cups of Portland
cement to one of molasses, but I claim It's
only two and a hajf."
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FLOOR WHERE FINISHED
MENT.
machines, ready for the market, which al
ready are going out at the rate of two car
loads per week. It seemed as If there were
enough Incubators and brooders stacked up
there to supply the whole country, yet
there was less than a third of a season's
business for the company.
la the Workshop.
I went Into the factory door where the
raw materials go In, through the greut
"saw rocm" they call It,' yet nearly every
kind of wood-working machines imaginable
were . there bench saws, grooving saws,
band saws, mortlsers, borers, turning
lathes, pclishlng machines and what not.
Thousands of feet of lumber every day
were being worked up and sept to the vari
ous assembling .departments. I went the
rounds or all of them. Over a hundred dif
ferent pairs of hands perform the labor In
making a Sure Hatch.
The sheet metal department was a perfect
maze of tinsmith's tools and machinery
copper tubes, tanks, sheetlron heating
drums, lamps, heaters I can't begin to
mention all of It. Through the painting
and finishing department, hundreds of ma
chines going through all the time, through
the packing and crating .department, every
where every man in every place, working
as If for dear life, yet withal a smile and a
cheery "Good morning" in answer to my
salutation.
Intelligence and Skill.
I was struck with the high degree of In
telligence displayed upon the features of
every employe I met, and with the skill and
dexterity with which the work was per
formed. I also, noted the entire absence of
child labor. . ..
Everything - was moving like clockwork.
Every dey the lumber for 126 Incubators
and seventy-five brooders comes in at one
door of the factory and 'In ten hours It
makes the rounds and comes out another
door, 125 Incubators and seventy-five brood
ers, finished and tested, and every one
made with the same precision as if but one
was being made on .contract. When I
Gossip and Stories
New Bedford's Blind Lawyer.
f" ' ALTHOUGH sightless since he was
I J I 7 years of age, William B. Perry
1 Is now the legal adviser of New
tjCPi?Sjjl Bedford, Mass., a municipality of
rrrvf nearly 80,000 Inhabitants. His abil
ity alone won him the office.
Mr. Perry was born In New Bedford In
1S68. When only 7 years old he lost his
sight as the result of the explosion of a
cannon cracker on the Fourth of July. His
parents sent him to the Perkins Institute
for the Blind in Boston, and upon his grad
uation he was the valedictorian of his
class.. He returned to the institute as a
teacher.
In the fall of 1889 he entered Amherst
college and was graduated with the class
of 1892. While in college! he led his class,
frequently securing a marking of 100 per
cent In his courses.
In his bar examination in 1807 Perry
was not quite at his best. Thinking that
the examination was to be oral, be did not
bring his typewriter, and so had to dic
tate to a younger brother not up In legal
technicalities. But despite this handicap
Perry passed the best examination of the
several hundred aspirants.
John Hay's Premonition.
' That John Hay, late secretary of state,
had a premonition of his death months be
fore he died, and that he was able to make
a Jest over the fact has been brought to
light by the publication of a letter written
by the diplomatist to his lifelong friend
and college mate. Colonel William L. Stone
of Mount Vernon, N. Y. The letter, which
appears In the current number of The
Shield, a magazine published in the Interest
of the Theta Delta Chi fraternity. Is dated
at Washington, November 3, 1904, and is
as follows:
"Mr Dear Stone: On account of my
being confined to my room with a slight
clod, the speeches went off without my
name; but I send you some as you request.
Don't talk about anything so ridiculous as
my being a candidate for the presidency.
I shall never hold any office after this; and
I expect to be comfortably dead by 190S.
Sincerely yours. JOHN HAY."
In commenting on the letter Colonel
Stone said: "I am Inclined to believe that
Mr. Hay had a premonition that his stay
with us wa short. I am Inclined to this
Another Nebraska
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MR. A NT) VIM. PR")! '. TOT rrfFTR frP TyOT'lSTlLT.?? KFH TVHft nwv'KTt
OBKVW TUJfi FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARI ?OF TulC1S:rl'T
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INCUBATORS ARE BOXED FOR SHIP
learned the low prices for which these
highly useful and pre-eminently successful
machines were sold, and that they were sold
with practically an unlimited trial period
and a Ave years' guarantee, I understood at
once why such creat care waa exercised la
their making, why only the best of me
chanics were employed and only the best
of materials were used.
The prices would admit of a small profit
for one handling, but that was all. Every
machine has to do Its work or the company
loses money on it In making it right. So
everything Is made right In the beginning.
Price of the Machine.
And In figuring over the Sure Hatch ma
terials and prices I learned that in my town '
In Illinois I could get one of them deliv
ered to me cheaper than I could make It
myself, allowing that I were an expert me
chanic. The great volume of business,
highly systematized In purchasing In huge
quantities at the right time, selling and dis
tributing does the business.
Yes, after seeing It, I vote the Sure Hatch
a great American success. The United
States Department of Agriculture, In Farm
era' Bulletin No. 236, uses Illustrations of It
in telling the poultry raisers of the country
how a good Incubator should be made. Over
the manager's desk hangs a little placard,
"Don't Orunt Do Your Stunt Do Right."
That's the keynote of the success.
The company's catalogue is a very com
plete Incubator, brooder and poultry raising
guide. It's a beauty and worth dollar to
everyone who has a chicken on hie prem
ises.
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Becoming a Household Word.
This catalogue, as well as all of the rest
of the company's advertising matter. Is sent
free to all who request It, and I only wish,
that every poultry raiser in this great
country would get one of these catalogues
and learn from it of some of the great
things I saw In Clay Center, which name,
now, together with that of the Sure Hatch,
are household words over the entire world
About Noted People
belief, not only through reading between
the lines of our correspondence for two
years, but by the above letter, which, under
the sense of humor which ever John Hay
bad, shows clearly how his mind, ran." . '
An American Exile.
Only a few weeks ago Theodore Tllton
celebrated his seventieth birthday anniver
sary at his residence on the Avenue Kle
ber. In Parts. As a rule, his natal anni
versaries are marked by gatherings of the
American literary set. Tllton recites a
poem or makes an address. This year the.
function was postponed and the report
went the rounds that the last had been
held. Mr. Tllton is, however, In fairly
good health. He keeps up his Journalistic,
work, though he does not care to have
it more particularly Identified. From the
day the Tllton-Beecher Jury disagreed he
has shunned the public gaze of his coun
trymen at home, though Americans are
said to read him oftener than they read
some other American correspondents re
siding in Europe. His contributions ap
pear under various names. It is reported
that he has prepared a full statement of
the whole difficulty between himself and
Henry Ward Beecher, which will be
brought out by a leading New York pub-,
llshlng house thirty days after his death.
A Marvelone Memory,
Louis N. Megargee, the writer, who died
a few days ago in Philadelphia, had' mar
velous tenacity of memory and power of
sustained effort. These qualities were ex
hibited at the time. Thomas A. Scott of the
Pennsylvania railroad died. Megargee was
then on the staff of the old Philadelphia
Times. Through some Inadvertence the
obituary notice had not been prepared In
advance Colonel A. K. McClure, editor of
the Times, was a close friend and associate
of Scott's, and at 4 o'clock In the afternoon
of the railroad president's death he ordered
that a complete biographical sketch be
written and 'that a full history of Mr.
Scott's life be presented, regardless of what
space it might occupy. The task was as
signed to Megargee. He began writing with
a pencil at 4:30 p. m., and by I o'clock the
next morning, without referring to a not
and depending entirely upon his memory
he had completed eight columns of an ana
lytlcal review of Scott's life.
Golden Wedding