USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > Hudson County to-day; its history, people, trades, commerce, institutions and industries > Part 11
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This ice when melted. makes drinking water purer than the best spring water on the market at about one-third the cost, as nine pounds of ice will make a gallon of water. Various manufacturers who require soft water for specific purposes also melt natural ice, as the water from melted ice is soft and is highly recommended in the sick room, where pure soft water is re- quired for the patient or convalescent. Many druggists use this melted ice instead of distilled water in making up their prescriptions because they realize the great advantage of it being living water, instead of dead, as is all distilled water.
The economical housewife no longer regards ice as a luxury, but looks upon it as a medium to aid in the reduction of the household expenses, as it enables her to purchase vegetables and fruits in larger quantities at reduced cost and keep them in condition by means of home refrigeration. The house- wife also realizes the fact that it is economical to have her ice chest suf- ficiently large to enable her to purchase ice in quantities of 100 pounds and over. This means fewer deliveries, less annoyance and larger storage capacity for fruits, vegetables, meats and the "left overs" from various meals.
Pamphlets covering the purity of ice by eminent bacteriologists and epi- demiologists such as Dr. Eugene H. Porter, health commissioner of New York : C. E. A. Winslow, associate professor of biology. College of New York :
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Dr. W. T. Sedgwick, professor of biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Edwin O. Jordan. Ph. D., professor of bacteriology, University of Chicago; John C. Sparks. B. S., water expert for the city of New York : M. J. Rosenau, professor of preventive medicine and hygiene. Harvard Medical School, Boston; Dr. Hibbert W. Hill, director of division of epi- demiology, Minnesota State Board of Health ; George C. Whipple, C. E .. pro- fessor of sanitary engineering, Harvard College; Edward Bartow, director Illinois State Water Survey, and other eminent scientists will be furnished on application.
Although ice has been used for all purposes to which it is now put from the earliest times of which we have any written record, it is true of it. as of other articles of common and familiar use, that few people are familiar with its structure and its physical, chemical and bacteriological nature. If there is ice enough to cool foods or beverages in warm weather, the public is satis- fied and leaves the inquiry into the history and physical characteristics of it to the scientists. Nevertheless, there are many interesting facts about ice which reveal it as one of the most remarkable products of nature.
One distinguishing peculiarity is that although cold contracts all other known substances, ice is an expansion of water caused by the action of low temperature. Water contracts as it cools until it reaches 39.1 degrees F., when it is at its greatest density, but from that temperature down to 32 degrees F., water expands, and when it turns into ice it occupies I, II more space than it did as water. Ice is a crystal, and of whatever matter a crystal may be formed, it is always true that the crystal represents the purest possible state of that material. Every act of crystallization is one of puri- fication. The same is true of ice, which is the purest form of the water on which the ice grows.
Although ice is described as a crystal, it is more accurate to refer to it as a union of crystals, because it is built up of an infinite number of crystal- lizations of particles of water. As the water in a pond or on a stream approaches the freezing point, here and there over its surface, there spring into being slender slivers of ice, and by watching closely it is possible to see one of these crystals join itself to another and others to them, until the whole surface of the water is covered. These crystals are practically pure water, for, as they form and as they unite to other crystals, they mechanically push aside any suspended matter in the water, whether dirt or sand or the salts held in solution in all natural water. The crystals even exclude from their mass, bacteria which are always present in every body of water. The well-known fact that the ice formed on the ocean is practically fresh, shows how salts in solution are excluded from the ice. So strong is the affinity of these crystals, one for the other, that to their union they admit no particle of matter other than water in its purest state. We know the facts of this union and this affinity which are proved by many investigations and from ordinary observation, but we do not know why they unite, nor why one crystal builds itself upon another.
It is this force of crystallization and this power of exclusion of all other matter which makes natural ice a product apparently designed by nature for the protection and preservation of food and for the benefit of mankind. Long investigations of hundreds of sources of ice supplies by many different authorities in the United States and abroad, prove conclusively that ice is trom 95 to 99% purer than the water on which it forms, always, and that this purity refers not alone to the absence of matter suspended or floating in the water, but to bacteria as well. Even from polluted streams, where large quantities of bacteria are found. the ice will contain such a very small per- centage of the number in the water as to make the reduction almost unbelievable. Sanitarians state that in view of this fact, if there is absolutely no other ice supply for a community than water more or less polluted. it would be permissible to use ice from such a source. They are safe in making that assertion because, so far in the history of the world, there has never been any disease traced to the use of natural ice.
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In the text books of a decade ago instances were cited by sanitarians where epidemics of typhoid were alleged to have been caused by ice, but recent investigations have led such an authority as Professor William T. Sedgwick of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Dr. Eugene H. Porter, for many years Health Commissioner of New York State, to declare that they have no faith in the allegations made against natural ice in the instances referred to, but are inclined to believe that the charges were the result of faulty conclusions from insufficient data. As Professor Sedgwick well says, "If ice were capable of causing disease, we would then have the great epidemics of typhoid in mid-summer when ice is most used, when, as a matter of fact, such epidemics occur in the late fall and in the early spring when practically no ice is used by a large proportion of the public." Other investigators, including the Hygienic Laboratory of the United States Public Health Service, agree in these conclusions.
Thus natural ice has a clear record from the days prior to the Christian era down to the present time. This is attested, in another and curious way, by the fact that although there are 134 words in the English language which are combined with the word ice, and although it is found in twelve other modern languages, not a single one of any of these words has anything to do with disease or disaster or with any utensils or precautions or methods needed for the purification of or protection from ice. In all the centuries that mankind has used ice and has been familiar with it, in no clime and under no circumstances has it been found necessary to coin a word ascribing to it any evil tendency or possibility.
Anty. Mons' Central Aintel and Ainfhranhans
A UG. MOOS' Central Hotel and Hofbrauhaus at 200 River street, corner Second street, Hoboken, is one of the most unique buildings for the entertainment of men to be found in the county. Mr. Moos started in the restaurant business sixteen years ago and eight years ago purchased a part of the property on which the Hofbrauhaus stands and built upon it, adding to it as patronage demanded.
His place soon attained fame in both the old and new world for its splendidly furnished and equipped rooms, and two years ago he added the Hofbrauhaus to his hotel business. It is unsurpassed for the brilliant socia- bility known to the German as "Gemuetlichkeit." The decorations are orig- inal and consist mainly of reproductions of the sketches of Germany's most famous artist, the late Baron Von Reznicek. Its cuisine is second to none in the metropolitan district and leading men of all professions patronize it.
The Central Hotel and Hofbrauhaus is located directly opposite the Hamburg-American and the North German Lloyd Steamship lines, is easily accessible from all local railroad lines and is within ten minutes of the theatrical. shopping, financial and business districts of New York.
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A. L. Findlay & On.
O A. L. Findlay & Co., pawnbrokers at 456 First street, Hoboken, be- longs the honor of bringing to the name of pawnbroker more dignity than has usually been associated with that class of business. They conduct pawnbroking on a purely business scale, recognizing the fact that patrons of these establishments like to be treated fairly and in the same man- ner as patrons of other commercial and industrial enterprises. It is this class of treatment that is accorded them at the hands of this progressive firm and because of it they are not made to feel that they have committed something disgraceful in being compelled to temporarily part with some personal pos- session to raise money for emergencies.
The manager and proprietor of this establishment is Andrew L. Findlay. He was born in Scotland and is now a naturalized citizen of the United States. He started in business in 1893 and was ten years in one place. He retired and for a year far inactive. For three and one-half years he was connected with another establishment and then re-established himself in his present location in 1909. He had a rather hard struggle to influence capital in a business of this kind, but finally succeeded in convincing men with money that a pawnbroker was not necessarily a moral Pariah.
Mr. Findlay has strong opinions regarding his business. He says it can be made as clean as any other business, providing the man who conducts it is clean himself. The business is governed by the law, and he believes that every pawnbroker, like himself, should live strictly up to the legal require- ments. Financed properly by the right people he believes pawnbroking is on a par with banking. The pawnbroker accommodates the poor, with proper security. The banker finances the rich, with proper security. Mr. Findlay says pawnbroking is not necessarily a business which takes advantage of the poor, but one which should accommodate those middle class people who have no financial standing and can get no bank accommodations. He says if salaried men who patronize loan sharks would study the advantages to be derived from dealing with honest pawnbrokers, they would be much better off financially.
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Brunsmirk Landry
OST remarkable in its scope has been the growth of the Brunswick Laundry on Germania Avenue, the recent improvements in this won- derful enterprise and its service being the erection of a two-story structure, 50x140 feet, on Tonnele Avenue, Jersey City, to be used as a shipping room and a garage for the large number of automobiles and electric motors by means of which Hudson, Essex and Bergen Counties are covered weekly. Together with the large two-story building on Germania Avenue, which is used for laundry purposes exclusively, it makes the Burnswick far and away the largest laundry in the State.
Formerly the Brunswick Laundry made its principal business that of washing and ironing shirts, collars, cuffs, etc., but the demand of its patrons for a more extensive service was promptly met. Now, not only the old laundry system is in vogue, but a specialty is made of rough dry family washing, and this at present constitutes the great bulk of the business done.
Manager Siemanski best explained the new idea in laundry work in a recent interview, in which he said the industrial development of the laundry business all over the country and the millions spent in catering to the demands of people who no longer wished to have their laundry done at home, made it necessary for such concerns to look well to their welfare; to protect the interests of old customers in order to retain their patronage. and to build up a reputation for reliability in order to secure new patronage. It is along these lines that the Brunswick Laundry has been built and maintained.
There was a time when there was just cause for friction between laundrymen and their patrons. This, however, was in the days when methods were crude and when laundries had not attained their present standing in the industrial world. While there are. doubtless, laundries in which the old system prevails, the Brunswick, in common with other modern laundries throughout the country, has passed beyond the primitive stage. Every effort here is made to satisfy customers; to do the family washing better than it could be done at home; to give laundry patrons more and better service than they ever had before, and to conduct the business with all the efficiency that the conduct of a great business demands.
Hygienic conditions exist at the Brunswick Laundry. In fact, the management believes that this is due to patrons, and, acting on this belief, a business of enormous magnitude, which bids fair to continue in its rapid and remarkable growth, has been built up at the Brunswick Laundry.
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EN. Fleckenstein's Sons
UDSON County can boast that it has the largest manufacturer of sausage and fresh bologna in the United States in the firm of Ed. Fleckenstein's Sons, doing business in the Hudson City section of Jersey City Heights. While the products are not nationally distributed, the firm has built up a local and statewide business in the little more than three years of its existence, which far and away exceeds anything of the kind ever before attempted in New Jersey.
This enterprising firm was organized May 13, 1911. It consists of Edward F. Fleckenstein. Albert F. Fleckenstein and William N. Flecken- stein. It is capitalized for $250,000. When organized it employed fifteen men : now there are 114 employes on the payroll, and the business is still growing by leaps and bounds.
Business originally began in a small factory on Griffith Street, Jersey City Heights. This factory has been enlarged to take in Nos. 112, 114. 116 and 118 Griffith Street. Another large factory has been erected at 75, 77. 79 and SI Hancock Avenue, Jersey City. The main office and retail branch of the company is at 328 Central Avenue, Jersey City, and it has branches at 585 South Tenth Street, Newark, and at 167 Anderson Place, Passaic. The factories turn out $1,000,000 worth of products annually.
This company is the largest consumer of bulls for bolognas in the East. Beef is bought in carload lots from the Western markets. A large per- centage of the bulls used in its business are imported direct from Canada, and there is some talk of entering the Argentina market as well. Casings are imported direct from Europe in enormous quantities.
Fifty-six route wagons are used in covering the trade throughout the State. One five-ton truck is used exclusively to transport bolognas and sausages to the company's Newark refrigerator. One three-ton truck goes to Passaic daily.
Those who have an idea that odds and ends of all kinds go into the makeup of sausages and bolognas would receive a liberal education in this particular by paying a visit to the factories of Ed. Fleckenstein's Sons. None but prime meats are accepted by the company for manufacture into its products. Every piece of meat is thoroughly inspected, and if there is the least sign of disease or decay it is unceremoniously thrown away. Of course, this is made necessary under the rigid system of United States inspection at the present time, but it has always been the policy of the Fleckenteins, as it was of their father before them, to place the purity and cleanliness of their products before profits which might accrue from the introduction of passable meats which close inspection would find unfit for human consumption.
Those who have seen the manufacture of such products under old-time systems in other places would be agreeably surprised to see the conditions under which the sausages and bolognas are manufactured here. Even the casings must be of the Lest. They are thoroughly washed and cleansed before they are used. The machines in which the meats and sausages are ground are thoroughly cleaned at short periods. Everything is as spick and span as in the best-appointed kitchens. Workmen must be cleant dressed and their hands thoroughly washed before beginning the day's work
Members of the firm are courteous alike to visitors and to their work- men. They impress upon their workmen the necessity of absolute clean
liness. They show them the value of self-respect, and make them under- stand the standard expected of Fleckenstein. The organization is splendid and complete. The men who make the daily distribution are men among men. In fact, every factor in the organization goes to impress upon the patron or the spectator the integrity and worth of the Fleckensteins and their products.
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C. F. Mueller Company
A MONG the diversified industries of Hudson County is the plant of the C. F. Mueller Company of 95 Boyd Avenue, Jersey City, which is devoted to the manufacture of macaroni, spaghetti, egg noodles and kindred products. This business is among the largest of its kind in the country, and there is turned out from the factory about 10,000,000 pounds of these popular foodstuffs annually. The company is a half million dollar concern, and it employs 150 people the year round.
This business was originally established in 1867 by C. F. Mueller. It had a small beginning, but through the excellence of its products it grew and the present company is the outcome. The business has been in the hands of the Mueller family from its inception.
AAmong the excellencies claimed for the products is absolute purity. They are made of the highest quality materials and no expense is spared if the quality of the goods can be improved. The products are made in a clean, well-lighted, modern and sanitary factory.
After manufacturing the products are packed in dust and moisture proof packages, and because of this they are always fresh, although 'e rapid sale of the goods alone would make it impossible to secure anything but fresh products at any time. The entire output is marketed under the firm name at the popular price of ten cents a package.
Best quality farina is used exclusively in the manufacture of the macaroni and spaghetti turned out here. while the highest standard of flour and eggs is used in the manufacture of egg noodles. Nothing is left to guess-work in the selection of ingredients and materials. Everything is scientifically tested, and if it does not come up to the Mueller standard it 1- immediately rejected. In a few months they expect to move in their new plant. located on the corner of Baldwin avenue and High street, Jersey City. N. J., which will give them an increased capacity of three times their present output.
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D. B. Elia
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B. ELI.A, who owns and conducts the smoking . pipe case factory at 388 Kerrigan Avenue, West Hoboken, is one man who has brought a novel and successful business to North Hudson. The character of the business is such that it is known frois coast to coast throughout the United States and it 15 probably the largest concern devoted exclusively to the manufacture of pipe cases in the country.
Mr. Elia employs fifty workmen at his place. As the business is but seven years old, it is easy to realize that with this force, it must have been successful. And Mi. Elia is very proud, and justly so, of the success he has made. This could not have been done had it not been that he was experienced in the line Before coming to West Ho- boken.
A visit to the factory of Mr. Elia is a revelation. He is constantly turn- ing out a large number and variety of cases called for by pipe manufacturers in all parts of the country. His specialty, of course, is in the cases for the higher class pipes, but he turns out no end of cases of all descriptions. In speaking of pipe cases, one must know that this includes cases for cigar and cigarette holders. As these, as well as pipes, vary greatly in size, shape and ornamentation, it is necessary to have a great number of patterns on hand and to be constantly manufacturing new patterns and variations of pattern to meet the demand of the trade. This is all done by a force of skilled workmen, for in the manufacture of patterns skilled workmen alone can get the desired results.
The manufacture of pipe cases is interesting. Certain kinds of wood must be used. This must be carved, warped and seasoned, by hand and ma- chinery, before it is ready for the leather which covers it on the outside and the plush with which it is lined inside. This leather and felt must be attached in such a manner as to make it appear that the case is made of leather and plush. There can be no loose ends, for this would spoil the beauty of the case and detract from the selling price of the pipe enclosed, no matter how good the pipe. As only the best pipes are sold in cases, it can be seen that the work must be done with a care and precision which it is not necessary to supply with many other lines of industry.
Withal, the manufacture of pipe cases is the work of an artist. The de- signs must follow the lines of the pipe closely and the pipe must fit in the case as snuggly as if each were but part of the other. This Mr. Elia has suc- ceeded in doing in his busy little factory and it is no wonder that his trade ex- tends from Maine to California and from Canada to the gulf of Mexico.
Mr. Elia has one hobby besides his business- his family. He is married and is the father of two children.
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Weehawken Dry Dork On.
HE Weehawken Dry Dock Company at the foot of Baldwin avenue, on the river front in Weehawken. is one of the most important of the in- dustries of the kind in the entire country, and it has vessels from the entire world stopping at its docks for repairs.
The business has been established for many years. It is constantly growing because of the excellence of the service rendered. Work left in charge here is promptly executed and in many cases promptness is a great factor. Quality of work, however, is not impaired by promptness of execution, and under no circumstances is any vessel docked here allowed to leave the dock until repairs are complete and she is in a perfectly seaworthy condition.
Of course, much of the work done is among the river vessels, especially those which ply between New York and Albany. These vessels are put to a much more severe strain than one wouldl suppose, and every winter they have to undergo a thorough overhauling at the hands of ship builders and repair men. The thoroughness of the work at the Weehawken Dry Docks has brought there much of this class of work.
It is really an interesting sight to watch the overhauling of vessels which go into drydock for this purpose. Carpenters, blacksmiths, caulkers, painters and builders of all kinds are required to locate and repair the faults upon which the lives of patrons of boating depend. Any fault that is left when a vessel is overhauled is likely to prove a fatal one at some future time and for this reason the most thorough work in examination and repair is required.
Any dry dock at the busy season is a hive of industry. The Weehawken Dry Dock is more than ordinarily so. A great force of men is required at all times, and kept constantly employed. At times there are day and night shifts required. The night shifts work under the rays of a powerful search light which makes the scene as light as day.
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William Schimper & Co.
A MONG the industrial concerns which have made Hudson County famous throughout the entire civilized world may be mentioned William Schimper & Co., manufacturers of silver-plated novelties. sterling silver and metal goods, the plant of which firm is located at 322-338 Ferry Street, Hoboken, and of which Robert R. Debacher is president.
This mammoth business, the largest of its kind in the country, and which constantly employs from 250 to 350 people, was established in 186; by the late George Schimper. Upon the death of George Schimper, William and Theodore Schimper continued the business until Theodore's death at which time William Schimper admitted Robert R. Debacher and John R. Mahlstedt to partnership. Upon the death of William Schimper Debacher and Mahlstedt purchased his interest in the concern from the widow and in 1902 incorporated the business under the laws of the State of New Jersey with a capital of $300.000. Two years ago Mr. Mahlstedt retired and sold his interest in the corporation to Mr. Debacher, who is now the owner of all but a few shares of the stock
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