The Story of a Pantry Shelf
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010
http://www.archive.org/details/storyofpantrysheOObutt
^\ .\ iniHvim i)f f)fi/ifry shelfes \^ frntn Maine to California, a comparatively few nationally famous products are consistently to be found.
The stories of these businesses that have won this uniformity of favor the country over constitute one of the epics of American enterprise.
The Story of a Pantry Shelf
An Outline History of Grocery Specialties
BUTTERICK
New York
Copyright, 1925 by The Butterick Publishing Company
An Evolution of Five Decades
When the American housewife of today stands before her well-stocked pantry shelf, she gives little thought to the very different picture that met her grandmother's eyes fifty years ago.
Fifty years ago sanitary, sealed packages had never been seen. "Down street'' at the grocery store a request for a pound of soda biscuits would have on occasion dislodged the cat from pacific slumber in the cracker-box. A sugar barrel open alongside was impartially hospitable to flies and dirt the whole day through. There was no white sugar; only mealy, soft, brown sugar, and it came only in barrels. Even oatmeal was hardly known; sometimes the wealthy had "Scotch Oats," but it was expensive. Vinegar and black molasses were trudged home in pail or demijohn.
Kitchen cabinets were unheard of; there were only cup- boards. And a ledge in the well or a damp cellar had to essay the cooling of foodstufifs now more efficiently protected by inviting white refrigerators.
In the homes of that day there were no furnaces. Instead "base-burners" and fireplaces did duty. Electric light and gas were unknown ; the homes of the better sort used wax can- dles. For the rest tallow "dips" were good enough, and were regularly made in the kitchen.
Cake-soap was a curiosity known only in the larger cities. For the most part, the American housewife made her own "soft soap" with the lye she produced from the wood ashes from stove and fireplace.
It has been a far cry from this to present-day gleaming kitchens with their snowy white tile, their gas and electric
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ranges and many utilities for labor saving. And what a con- trast with today's well stocked pantry shelves, lined with ser- ried rows of standard packaged products known throughout the land for their purity and excellence!
What has brought about this great change?
Principally there have been three factors —
the enterprise of American manufacturers
the power of advertising
the influence of the woman's periodical
In this book we have undertaken to gather the histories of some of these better-known products whose names are house- hold words today — to show you some aspects of the business enterprise that has built these great commercial successes. The stories are at once romantic and significant to every student of business methods.
These are not our stories — they are autobiographies of suc- cess. We have taken the privilege of an introductory presen- tation of the part that the Butterick Publications have borne in this great development. But after that we have brought our characters on the stage to tell you their own stories in their own way.
Then, like Baliefif in the Chauve-Souris, we stand aside and saying "ver' goot audjence," wave the performers to their task.
If
CONTENTS
Foreword: An Evolution of Five Decades
iNTRODUCTIOxN Foods
A Great National Influence for
The Stories of the Specialties:
American Kitchen Products Company
Armour and Company .
Beech-Nut Packing Company .
The William G. Bell Company
The Borden Company .
Joseph Burnett Company
Burnham & Morrill Company
California Fruit Growers' Exchange
California Walnut Growers' Association
Calumet Baking Powder Company
Campbell Soup Company
Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc.
Carnation Milk Products Company
Cheek-Neal Coffee Company .
The Clicquot Club Company .
The Coca Cola Company
Colgate & Company
J. & J. Colman, Ltd.
Cream of Wheat Company
Curtice Brothers Company
Diamond Crystal Salt Company
Dwinell-Wright Company
Fels & Co. ....
Fleischmann Company .
Florida Citrus Exchange
The Foulds Company .
Gilpin, Langdon & Company
Gold Dust Corporation
Gorton Pew Fisheries Company
Charles Gulden, Inc.
H. J. Heinz Company
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TuF Stories of the Specialties: (Continued)
The Hills Hrothers Company
Hires Company ....
The Jell-O Compan\
The Junket Folks
Charles B. Knox
Kraft Cheese Company
Francis H. Lej^^ett & Company
Libby, McNeil & Libby
Loose-Wiles Biscuit Compaii\
Minute Tapioca Company
Enoch Morgan's Sons Company
National Biscuit Company
National Coffee Roasters' Association
Peet Brothers Company
Pet Milk Company
Phenix Cheese Corporation
Pillsbury Flour Mills Company
Postum Cereal Company
Procter & Gamble
The Royal Baking Powder Company
The Rumford Company
The C. F. Sauer Company
The Skinner Manufacturing Company
Sun-Maid Raisin Growers of California
Swift (Sc Company
The William Underwood Company
G. Washington Coffee Refining Company
The Welch Grape Juice Company .
The Wheatena Company
Williamson Candy Company
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INTRODUCTION
A Great National Influence for Better Foods
Have IV e an American Dish f
There is not, strictly speaking, such a thing as American cooking.
There is French cooking and German cooking, and Italian cooking and Chinese cooking — at least to the extent that dishes cooked in the manner of each of these nations have distin- guished characteristics readily familiar to the knowing. But of American cooking we have none.
True, we have Southern cooking and New England cook- ing; but in respect to culinary practice generally, these United States are not united. Like The Great American Novel, The Great American Dish has remained steadfastly sectional.
There is, nevertheless, quite evidently under way a trend and a tendency to a type of cooking that is as distinctly Ameri- can as Colonial architecture. Ford cars and the movies.
The nucleus of this movement has been in the departments of home economics in our leading co-educational and state uni- versities and normal schools; and its propagation has been chiefly through the culinary and domestic science features in our leading women's magazines.
Appraising dietary values, testing and sifting cooking re- cipes, and methods of every kind, these schools have acted as a clearing house of existing information. Selecting the good and rejecting the bad, they have been steadily developing and perfecting a new cuisine that is now taking on a national character.
Martha Van Rexsselaer
Editor, Home Makers' Department , The Delineator
As director of the New York State College of Home Economics at Cor- nell University, Martha Van Rensse- laer has earned national and interna- tional eminence.
If^ith Miss Flora Rose, she served under Herbert Hoover on the State Food Commission during the war
and later became head of the Division of Food Conservation of the United States Food Administration.
Some idea of her standing may be obtained from the fact that she was not long ago named by the League of Women Voters as one of America's twelve greatest living women.
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And every year these schools and universities send out thousands upon tens of thousands of young women — who take back into their communities a new knowledge of home eco- nomics and new principles of better cooking; while our great national periodicals aid them in disseminating to the greater millions new ways of cooking and home-keeping.
Chief source and inspiration in the movement, leading in the originality and authority of its work is the New York State College of Home Economics of Cornell University, under the direction of Martha Van Rensselaer and Flora Rose.
Educating the Kitchen It is now twenty-five years since Martha Van Rensselaer started her class in home economics in the basement of one of the buildings at Cornell. Tradition has it that the only fur- niture was a table and two chairs. Of a certainty, the begin- nings were humble.
Today, however, there is an extensive plant, a large faculty and hundreds of students. Under the leadership of Miss Van Rensselaer and Miss Flora Rose, an authority on nutrition, this pioneer school has steadily grown and has exerted a great influence direct as well as indirect on the training of women throughout the country. Among those who attend the College of Home Economics are teachers, hospital and nursery direc- tors, dietitians, parents and home makers. And the studies include housing, housefurnishing and management, cooking and the science of nutrition, clothing, recreation and financial administration of the home, as well as child training.
A Great Influence Still Further Multiplied The news of these activities at Cornell — of the testing of new labor-saving equipment, of new cooking and housekeep- ing methods of various kinds — is carried to more than a mil- lion women each month through articles by Miss Van Rensse- laer and her staff at Cornell in The Delineator.
Miss Van Rensselaer, as Editor of the Home Makers' De- partment of The Delineator, is enabled to exert one of the
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great educational forces for higher culinary standards brought to bear on American women. Through The Delineator, Miss Van Rensselaer has multiplied a thousand-fold the effective- ness of her accomplishments at Cornell.
The material drawn upon for these articles has principally to do with cooking: the preparing of new recipes, new combi- nations of foods, new menus and the determining of nutritive values. The service itself, however, really extends beyond the menu to every problem of the kitchen and the table. Indeed, the Practice House, where students learn housekeeping in its every phase, even includes the complete care of a baby, adopted each year by Cornell for the benefit of these "moth- ers" who, under the direction of trained Home Economics women, feed, bathe, dress and tend an infant from the tender age of two weeks throughout the session.
What a deep influence these activities exert upon the living standards of America!
What a proud achievement for The Delineator through Miss Van Rensselaer's identitv with its editorial staff to assume
Class in Home Economics at (lornell University
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(c) Underwood & Undt-rwood.
Mrs. William Brown Meloney
Editor, Hie Delineator
From "PFho's Mho in America": Mem. stajf IVas/iinr/ton (D. C.) Post, 1899; Denver Evening Post. 1900; mem. U. S. Senate Press Gal- lerv and I'Fashington corr., 1900-1; staff N. Y. Sun, 1901-4; Editor IVoman's Magazine, 1914-20; also associate editor Everybody's, 1917-20 ; editor The Delineator, 1920-. Deco- rated, 1917 , Medaille de Charleroi for service in behalf of Belf/ian Children ; 1919, Ordre de la Heine Elisabeth for distinguished service to Belgian cause in United States; Chevalier
Eegion d'Honneur (France). Or- ganizer Marie Curie Radium Com. (for purchase of gramme of radium). Director The Child Foundation, Am. Child Health Assn.; founder and vice-president Better Homes in America; mem. Nat. Institute of So- cial Sciences, Nat. League business and Professional If^omen. . . .
Decorated: Medaille d'Honneur des Assurances Sociales, Armistice Day, 1924: Cold Medal for State Service (France), December, 1924; recognition of Better Homes work.
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the leadership of this remarkable movement! And what a source of satisfaction to Miss Van Rensselaer to realize that in The Di'/ifwafor she has a medium for spreading on so great a scale the influence of the fine work done under her direction at Cornell !
71ie Delineator — a Great
National Influence on Foods
It is generally recognized that The Delineator is one of the
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great women's periodicals of America. Its circulation is one of the largest and the character of its circulation among the finest.
What is not so generally recognized is that in respect to culi- nary and housekeeping influence, it is one of the most influen- tial of American periodicals.
In actual editorial lineage, in proportion of food features to total editorial contents, as well as in the quality of the features themselves. The Delineator's articles on home economics are first.
The Delineator — Predominantly A Service Publication The predominantly service character of The Delineator has behind it the support of history and tradition. The Delineator was the first American magazine to make a feature of the service article.
The Delineator commenced publication in 1866 and led the way with Godey's Lady Book and Harper's Bazar into the "elite" American homes of the day.
In those "Early Pullman" days when fashion was the sole editorial topic, The Delineator again was pioneer with the first "service article" in women's publications.
So that it has come about in a process of consistent evolution that through the years The Delineator has developed along the lines of service. It is fully in line with Delineator tradition that today in the ratio of its service to its entertainment fea- tures. The Delineator is easily the leader among national women's periodicals.
Time and uncommon gifts have combined in preparing Mrs. Meloney, Editor of The Delineator, for the responsi- bilities of her position. She is a wife, a mother and a writer, with a brilliant journalistic background.
An Allied Force of Added Influence: The Designer The Delineator and The Designer are considered by adver- tisers as a unit. But while they represent a single advertising unit and are used by many advertisers in combination, they are
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Mrs. Ciiristixk Fredkrick
Iidi/rjr, Home Makiiit/ Department , The Desujner
Mrs. Frederick enjoys a nation- iL'ide fame as a home economist. She is knoivn all over the country as a lecturer and a speaker: and has ad- dressed scores of icomen's cluhs, chambers of commerce and other business organizations.
She is, nevertlieless, a mother icith a family to care for, and so brings to
her work an arerageness in point of view that makes her work addition- ally helpful to every-day women.
At her home, which is known as A pplecroft Experiment Station, she maintains a practical home laboratory u'here 1 ,S00 different products, run- ninf/ from mechanical appliances to food stuffs, have been tested.
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of course two separate and distinct magazines whose origins were independent, whose growths have been and are competi- tive, whose editorial stafifs are separate, whose personalities are distinct and whose clienteles are non-duplicating.
The Designer, like The Delineator, is predominantly a service periodical. Its purpose is primarily to contribute to those interests of American women which have to do with the practical aspects of living; of making better homes to live in, of having finer clothes to wear, of enjoying better and more wholesome food to eat, of raising happier and healthier babies — in brief, the realities of women's existence.
The Designer has, however, a color and flavor of its own. Except for the fundamental aim of service which it shares with The Delineator, it is in all other respects strikingly indi- vidual, its departments, its fashion service and its fiction all taking on a personality which has earned for it in the past few years one of the most remarkable growths among women's magazines.
In the combined excellence and popularity of its fiction, indeed, it has earned a distinction that sets it quite apart. Dr. Martin Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis, for instance, which first appeared serially in The Designer has been acclaimed bv critics as one of the great novels of recent years — and it has been at the same time by all odds the best selling novel of the season, both in England and America.
But perhaps the most individual characteristic of The De- signer is its concern with household interests — with the deco- ration of the home, with its equipment with practical utilities ; and if one thing is to be mentioned above others, with the subject of foods.
Mrs. Christine Frederick and The Applecroft Experiment Station
In fact, Mrs. Christine Frederick, Editor of the Home Mak- ing Department of The Designer, enjoys a distinction and prestige as a home economist that makes her among the most prominent in her field of activity among all American women. At her home, which is known as The Applecroft Experiment
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Kitchen ill the
ILvpcrinicnt Station
More thcui r,Sou tests have been made in tlie A 1^ pie croft KitcJien
Station, and which is nationally famous, she makes practical tests of household equipment, investigates different kinds of products, and writes the results of her studies for a very broad audience. Since she is, moreover, a mother with a family and her home to care for, she is practical, sensible, helpful.
It has been a great tribute to the editorial efi'ectiveness of The Dcsiijner that in a period of less than three years it has
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nearly doubled its circulation, growing from a circulation of 276,676 in 1922 to a present circulation of 514,017.
The Butterick Combination The Butterick Combination, a term used by advertising men and only by advertising men to designate the combined circu- lations of The Delineator^ and the Designer, offers advertisers a circulation guarantee of 1,700,000 copies monthly, 95 per cent net paid.
In amount, it is one of the largest circulations available in the national market.
Graphic Chart showing three pear circiz/ation growth Oj Butterick Qmk nation, Jan uarj/ 1922 , December 1924, mc/asiue
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Mrs. Gahrikli^e Allard Griswom)
Editor, The Desu/ner
Few women are as well equipped to edit a great magazine like The Designer as Mrs. Griswold. She is a Xi'ife and home maker, and has a vital and understanding interest in the problems of her readers. She is also a practical business U'oman with wide experience in merchandising and editorial lines.
.Is a ivar ivorker in France, in tJie field and in executive positions, as a successful advertising iconian in Neiv York, and as Managing Editor of The Delineator, she has had unusual opportunity to gain a keen insight into women's problems, an under- standing of their needs and a deep sympathy with their interests.
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In quality of circulation, it enjoys a leadership in the very first rank of American periodicals.
In the nature of the culinary influence brought to bear, it is, through its remarkable editorial leadership, easily first.
And tributary as both magazines are to what is perhaps the greatest influence for an interest in better food standards on the part of American women, the advertiser is enabled through the use of The Butterick Combination to tie into the very heart and center of a movement that is making for nation-wide acceptance of really superior food products.
What Miss Van Rensselaer and her staff sponsor, what Mrs. Frederick tests and approves, what The Delineator and The Designer audiences adopt is sure of nation-wide acceptance and use. What they reject or ignore takes the very hardest road to the national market.
To Win the Marketing Cooperation of the Retail Grocer:
The Progressive Grocer How important is the retail grocer in the distribution of food products?
Is he a slot-machine — or an effective merchandising force that must be taken into consideration?
What influence has he today on the sale of advertised prod- ucts and what part does he play in making consumer adver- tising effective?
It is with the belief that the retail grocer has it within his power to extend the cooperation that will effectualize a con- sumer advertising campaign, that he exerts that last measure of constructive influence that is the margin between success and failure that Butterick presents The Progressive Grocer as the link between a national consumer campaign and fifty thousand of the most important grocery distributors in the United States.
The competition of brands of varying acceptability to the housewife has brought the retail situation to the point where the grocer today can be and is an important factor in determin- ing which of the several popular brands his customers shall use.
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Every issue of The Progresssive Grocer carries to 50,000 grocers stories that are helpful and al- ways of human interest.
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Shall he stock and push a particular brand? Since few are indispensable to his trade's good will, it remains with him for the most part to select those products which he believes to be superior and more readily saleable ; and since retail grocers are just like all other salesmen in that they sell best the things that they know most about, it is above all things necessary to com- municate to them the information and enthusiasm of which sales are made. If he believes your product to be standard., if he believes that you have created a market for it, a word from him will turn the scale almost every time.
The Progressive Grocer supplies the medium with which to earn the good will of fifty thousand of the most important grocers, jobbers and brokers in the national market. It is a human, practical counselor on the business problems that con- front the grocer every way. It is built pocket size and has attractive human interest covers and it tackles the dry subject of running a grocery store with a vim and a sparkle that lifts the grocery business out of the commonplace. It inspires the grocer to better methods and shows him by practical example how to accomplish them. It gives him instruction in better display, better accounting, tells him how to approach the sub- ject of turn-over from a practical point of view. It gives him sales ideas that have brought business to grocers everywhere. It gives him stories of successful grocers from one end of the country to the other and it tells him how they became success- ful. It gives him humorous anecdotes about the grocery busi- ness, amusing as it instructs. It gets down to the man behind the counter, the clerk. It reaches down, that is, to the last link in the selling chain between manufacturer and consumer.
In a word, it is worth the grocer's while and he likes it. * * * -» *
These, the three publications of the Butterick Publication Company, to help the food manufacturer on the shortest route to market. They represent a great advertising force.
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How Steero Was Steered to Success
The Growth of Steero in Popularity Has Beejj in Large Part Due to the Exploitation of New Uses: Originally a Bouillon Cube, It Now Enjoys Widespread Favor as a Flavoring
Before Steero Bouillon Cubes were introduced in the United States they were a household staple in a number of European countries. Already widely accepted by nations famed for their love of tasty, piquant foods, it was natural to suppose that this country would welcome Steero.
In 1909 the American rights were acquired by the Ameri- can Kitchen Products Company, and a carefully planned merchandising effort put Steero on dealers' shelves in many parts of the country. With national distribution assured the American Kitchen Products Company began to advertise in the weeklies and women's magazines. The idea of a tasty
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bouillon flavored with beef juices, vegetables and spices, which could be prepared in an instant, soon won the favor of the American housewife.
People made their first purchases of Steero Bouillon Cubes because with them bouillon was easy to prepare. One taste of bouillon made from the cubes showed them that in addition to being easv to prepare, Steero Bouillon was most pleasing to the palate. Thus, while the novelty of quick, easy preparation caused many people to give Steero a trial, it was the delight- ful, piquant flavor of the bouillon which built up the large volume of repeat sales and soon established Steero Bouillon Cubes as a profitable, (]uick-selling item for merchants all over the country.
In everv Steero advertisement appeared an offer to send free sample cubes. With every sample went a letter telling how to prepare Steero Bouillon and urging the recipient to keep a supplv of Steero Cubes always on hand, buying them from local merchants.
Not long after the introduction of Steero Bouillon Cubes in this country housewives discovered that in addition to their use as a delicious bouillon, the cubes, when dissolved in such dishes as soups, stews, omelets, sauces, salads and fish and meat dishes, gave a new, rich flavor to the food. This new use opened an even wider field, and the food-flavoring idea was presented in the advertising. Today, with every sample of Steero Bouillon Cubes and with every package of Steero goes a folder containing recipes of a few of the toothsome dishes whose flavor is enhanced by adding Steero Cubes.
The use of Steero Cubes as a flavoring grew to such pro- portions that there developed a real need for a Steero Cook Book. Today the Steero Cook Book is one of the most widely used of the cook books published by food manufacturers. The Steero book was very carefully prepared, many of the recipes having been compiled and tested by leading culinary experts. The b(jok is sold for ten cents, and is mentioned in Steero advertising. Every day, the thousands of copies of the Steero Cook Book now in the hands of housewives all over the coun- try are doing missionary work for Steero Bouillon Cubes, help-
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ing to build the constantly increasing sales of this popular product.
Another sales builder is an ingenious wall rack recently devised and supplied to dealers by the American Kitchen Products Company. It is a metal container which holds twelve packages of Steero Cubes. The packages are inserted at the top of the rack and removed at the bottom. Displayed on the dealer's wall, the Steero sales rack is a timelv reminder to everyone who enters the store.
The present popularity of Steero Bouillon Cubes is a good example of the results that can be achieved bv taking nothing for granted — by mapping out and following a consistently sound plan of merchandising, advertising and trade co- operation.
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The Eldorado That Was Not Gold
Philip D. Armour Fared Forth to the Gold Fields of California in the Rush of '49 — but He Found Gold in Carrying Food-Stuffs to the Tables of All America
Recollections of the early days of the packing industry are recollections of the indomitable power of men as individuals; power such as was an essential part of those pioneers of life and industry in the United States who survived the hardships with which they were constantly beset.
A perusal of the history of Armour and Company recalls the mental vision of the future necessities of the great Ameri- can republic, which sustained men in those arduous days when personal contact with their endeavors and eternal vigilance were the price of success.
For several years from 1849 there was a rush of the more
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hardy American spirits from the East to the gold fields of California and into the great Northwest. Among those west- ward bound was a farmer lad, Philip D. Armour, from New York. He went out with an idea that he, too, would dig gold, but upon arriving in the gold fields he discovered that the surest way to make money was by selling his services, so he builded sluices for those who tried to wash gold from the sand of their diggings, and soon, with a competence in his pocket, he started back, and all the way home the idea of service was germinating in his mind, and it occurred to him that there could be no more valuable service than that of provisioning that great host that was forever marching westward and that lesser host that was forever turning eastward, enriched or dis- appointed from its quest.
Milwaukee seemed the logical provisioning point at that time — 1863 — and there it may be said the real beginning of Armour and Company was made in a partnership between P. D. Armour and John Plankinton. But Mr. Armour's vision was too broad to be limited by that partnership; his visual- ized the vast plains of the western plateau and the Mississippi Valley, with their untold possibilities for the production of live stock, and he saw the ever-growing congestion of the cities of the East — and he realized the necessity of one section of the country for the other. It was to help bridge that great gap between the producer and the consumer that Armour and Company itself was founded in 1867 and located in Chicago.
Packing then was a very simple affair, when viewed from the vantage point of today. It was decidedly seasonal and consisted almost exclusively of pork packing. Slaughtering could only be done in the late fall and winter months, when the cold temperature of nature could be used to preserve the products. The season's harvest was slaughtered and packed in huge barrels, in mountainous piles on prairies near where the packing house now stands.
That conserved the agricultural production of the nation to a very great extent and it increased the provisioning possi- bilities of the consuming centers, which were, year by year,
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Mr. /■'. lidson White, President .Irmoiir & Company
engaging more briskly in manu- facturing. But still that was not enough. Some way must be found to make the business less dependent upon the whims of climate, and spurred on by Mr. Armour, an employee of the company named Joseph Nich- olson built, as an experiment, in 1874 a warehouse which was constructed somewhat along the lines of an ice box. It was the first cold-storage house known in the industry, according to the recollection of oldtimers and to available records. The successful operation at that house led to further ex- periments and, in 1878, William Davis, of Detroit, patented a refrigerator car which he offered to the packers. Armour and Company bought a limited number of those cars to begin, with the idea of transporting fresh meat from the point of slaughter to the point of consumption. It was with great dif- ficulty that the railway companies were persuaded to carry the cars on their trains, and they absolutely refused to con- struct similar cars for the use of the packers. The officials of one road, however, were prevailed upon to carry one car to Boston, if it were accompanied by the employees of Armour and Company and if Armour and Company would assume all risk attendant upon the transportation of that carload of meat.
The story of the first trip of that railway car is a romance in itself, not the least of the difficulties encountered being the necessity of cutting the eaves of the car to let it pass through the old Hoosac tunnel. But that one journey proved the practicability of transportation under refrigeration, and the development of the refrigerator car, as it is known today, rapidly followed. Concurrent with that development came artificial refrigeration and then the packing industry, as a
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year-around business, became a most important factor in the agricultural and industrial history of the world.
Cattle slaughter began on a widespread scale. The utiliza- tion of by-products, which since have come to mean so much to mankind in the alleviation of sufifering or in the providing of luxuries, was made possible.
No longer was the producer of live stock in Texas, Kansas, Iowa or Montana, or wherever he was located, dependent upon his local butcher for a market, but rather were the mar- ket places of the world laid open to him through the chan- nels of the packing house.
Scientists were engaged, and still are engaged, in eflforts to determine the most valuable uses of every particle of everv meat animal. Economists are employed to make it possible for the producer of live stock to receive the greatest returns for his material and to make it possible for the consumer to obtain meat at the lowest possible cost, and they all have progressed to the point where the packing industry, with its ally, the live stock industry, is the most valuable industry in the United States. That progress was not made without a fight — grim and stubborn. It has cost the minds of men and it has cost the lives of men. The energy of tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of men have made it seemingly so simple a matter for the machinist in Connecticut, or the millionaire in New York, to order bacon and eggs for his breakfast or steak or chops for dinner. In that progress is included the establishment of hundreds of branch houses of Armour and Company, scattered all over the United States; thousands of refrigerator cars serving them constantly, and a score of plants ceaselessly converting sheep, hogs and cattle into lamb, pork and beef. And back of it all are the minds, and the skill and labor of 60,000 human beings, bending every energy to make the company's service all that producer or consumer could desire.
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Where Flavor Rules the Roast
The Beech- Nut Idea — That Perfect Flavor in Foods ff^ill Find Its Pub- lic— Has Expanded a Country-side Venture into a $20,000,000 Nationally Famed Institution
The story of Beech-Nut is a typical romance of American business. It is the story of several country boys in Cana- joharie, New York, "all going in together," to make fine and wholesome foods.
They started with hams; then bacon. The idea of a bacon with distinctive flavor just seemed to come up naturally and grow up naturally. There was a 40-foot barn that looked like a good place to smoke bacon, so these Canajoharie boys started to smoke bacon there. No need to hurry about it. Lots of time. They took pride in their work. So their bacon
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was very thoroughly cured and smoked in the old genuine way, and pretty soon the people up and down the valley noticed the difference. Then they couldn't smoke enough of it for the folk that wanted it.
Of course, that marked the beginning of bigger things. But through all Beech-Nut history runs the same spirit of thor- oughness, the same loyalty to the idea of flavor. This is natu- ral, for the same Canajoharie people who founded the business are still in control. Bartlett Arkell, one of the original group, is Beech-Nut's "first and only president."
The company was incorporated in 1891 with a capital of $10,000. It was first known as the Imperial Packing Com- pany, but in 1898 this was superseded by the name "Beech- Nut Packing Company," which, in Mr. Arkell's opinion, provided a more fitting background of flavor. Meantime, sev- eral of the original group withdrew, for, though the products sold readily, the little company met many discouraging set- backs and its market was merely local. In 1900 the sales of the company amounted to $200,000. In 1924 they had in- creased at least 90 times.
The range of Beech-Nut products is surprisingly wide. Recognizing that there is a public demand for genuine quality in foods, the Beech-Nut motto has been, "Whenever we be- lieve we can make a product better than that product is being made elsewhere, we go ahead and make it."
So bacon was followed by peanut butter, and peanut butter by jams and jellies. Then came pork and beans, catsup, chili sauce, mustard, spaghetti, macaroni, marmalades, caramels, fruit drops, mints and chewing gum — and now coffee.
Obviously, Beech-Nut flavor is not a specific flavor. Rather, it is a standard of flavor^ equally applicable to all this family of foods and confections.
It starts way back with the natural foods. Only the best may pass the Beech-Nut Portals of Vigilance. Only the finest and hardest durum wheat is used in making the various maca- roni products. Peanuts are always No. i Spanish and Vir- ginia. Beans are No. i Michigan or New York State. Only one bacon side out of seven is accepted, on the average. These
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Mr. Bartlctt Arkcll, President Bccch-Xiit Packing Co.
Standards sufficiently indicate the quality of raw materials used in Beech-Nut products.
After the selection of mate- rials, the next two "ingredients of flavor" are skill and pa- tience. In the case of Beech- Nut Peanut Butter, for instance, the greatest skill is needed to in- sure a uniform flavor, not only in the blending, but in roasting. Color is the guide in roasting; hence the use of north light to judge the exact moment for dis- continuing the roast. Equal care contributes to the drying of macaroni and the coring and skinning of fruits for Beech-Nut Jellies.
Looking backward today, the growth of the Beech-Nut Packing Company is directly traceable to the original idea that perfect flavor in foods will find its public. Faith in this idea, steadfast faith, eventually won the day. When the com- pany was organized it was a pure food pioneer, far out in advance of many of the food-factory laws which are now taken for granted. So, in clinging to its ideals, the struggling young company was risking its very existence. But the same quality of vision which foresaw the present, with Beech-Nut products known in millions of homes from coast to coast and beyond the seas — this same vision was triumphant in its an- ticipation of governmental requirements in food plants, though far exceeding those requirements in its practice.
The present officers of the Beech-Nut Packing Company, associated with it for so many years, are : Bartlett Arkell, pres- ident; F. E. Barbour, vice-president; J. S. EUithorp, vice- president and treasurer; W. C. Arkell, vice-president and secretary.
34
The Spice of New England:
Bell's Poultry Seasoning
A Recipe of Sixty Years Ago Which by Consistent Publicity Has Gained a World-Wide Fame and Favor
The spice recipe that made New England turkey dinner and sausage famous for more than two hundred years. This origi- nal recipe we placed on the market nearly sixty years ago. Now it has ceased to be exclusively New England, because it is also a prime favorite with all the incoming peoples — from the Northern countries, British Isles, Norway, Sweden, Rus- sia; from the Mediterranean countries in the south, and all the way between. It combines with the cookery of all nations and lends zest and tang and appetite to dressing for fish, game, meat and poultry.
The William G. Bell Company was founded by Mr. Wil- liam G. Bell, whose name it bears and who for over fifty years was its general manager and director. Four generations of the Bell family have been employed in the manufacture of Bell's Spiced Seasoning and this has enabled the company to keep
35
the high standiird of the Seasoning through all the passing years.
For forty-six years the company occupied the buildings at 48-54 Commercial Street, Boston, and during that time Mr. Bell witnessed many changes in the surrounding businesses as well as in Iiis own. He was a progressive, energetic man and never hestitated or faltered in putting through a business deal which he felt was right, and the steady growth of BelTs Poul- try Seasoning from a few hundred pounds the first year to its present enormous output shows, in a measure, the skill, en- ergy and businesslike qualities of the man.
Mr. Bell was a charter member of the Boston Chamber of Commerce and was the first business man in the market dis- trict to use plate glass for his office and display windows, which simply showed another example of his progressiveness. In 1913 the company moved to larger quarters at 19-21 South Market Street.
In 1 9 14, when war was declared in Europe, shipments of the necessary choice herbs and spices from that country were curtailed and finally stopped altogether, but through the fore- sight of Mr. William G. Bell the company had sufficient stock on hand to carry them through two years, when other arrangements were made to supply the demand. So the sale of the Seasoning is steadily growing and its popularity ever increasing as the years roll by.
In 1870 Mrs. Underwood, the famous cook, served General Butler with dressing flavored with BelTs Spiced Poultry Sea- soning, and the General said: "A little more stuffing, please; this is fine, Mrs. Underwood.
Thirty-five years later (1901;) we read the following flat- tering report from Mrs. W. H. Watson, Yokohama, Japan: "I used your dressing for years in America. My mother used it, and she thought, as I do, that there is nothing quite so good. Curnow Company are our best grocers. I do wish you could induce them to buy it." In 1906 J. Curnow & Co., Ltd., Yokohama, Japan, wrote: "We have secured a supply of your dressing from Seattle and now have it on sale."
In May, 191 1, F. H. Crane, superintendent parlor, sleep-
36
ing and dining cars, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, wrote to Mr. Bell as follows: ''In reply to your let- ter of the 2 1 St inst., I would advise that we have been using Bell's Poultry Seasoning in our dining cars for a long time with good results."
You will note in what glowing terms the users of Bell's Poultry Seasoning speak of it, whether it be housewife, the chef in the ordinary restaurant or the high-salaried chef in our leading hotels; their opinion is unanimous. In 191 2 E. R. Grabow, president E. R. Grabow Company, managers of Hotel Empire, Hotel Tuileries, Boston; Hotel Litchfield and Myrtle Bank Hotel, Jamaica; New Ocean House, Swamp- scott, Massachusetts, wrote: "We take pleasure in endorsing Bell's Poultry Seasoning, which is the only one we use in all our hotels, and cheerfully recommend it to anyone not using it at the present time."
The satisfaction that Bell's Spiced Seasoning gives is as true today as it was in 1876, when J. B. Wistar, steward. Grand Central Hotels, New York City, wrote: "I have been overpersuaded to try other makes. In every instance, have been obliged to either return or throw them away and fall back on the old, reliable Bell's Poultry Seasoning."
During the year 1924 we received over five thousand calls for trial packages of our Poultry Seasoning, which we sent for ten cents, either in stamps or coin, as well as for copies of our recipe book by famous chefs and cooking school teachers. These calls came from all parts of the world, mostly from places where we have never been represented, this being due, in most part, to our national advertising.
Bell's Seasoning has a world-wide reputation, and when once used it is always used. France, Jugo-Slavia, India, Java and China yield their choicest herbs and spices to fur- nish the ingredients of Bell's Poultry Seasoning, and so pleas- ing is its flavor that it is used for countless other purposes in addition to the one for which it was originally prepared.
The present home of the company is 189 State Street, Bos- ton, Massachusetts.
New England tradition has always held that Thanksgiving
37
should mean roast turkeys and plenty of good seasoning. A very old and famous recipe was given to the public in pack- aged form almost sixty years ago, when Mr. William G. Bell founded the William G. Bell Company for the purpose of promoting the sale of the now famous Poultry Seasoning.
In davs gone by, the New England housewife was accus- tomed to take a pinch of this spice and a pinch of that, and results were not always uniform. BelTs Seasoning contains the finest spices — spices from Java, China and the Far East — all skillfully blended. Naturally, housewives welcomed this article, as it removed all guesswork from their cooking. Tt made delicious dressing a certainty.
The sale of BelTs Seasoning is now almost universal. For- eign countries buy it and hotels and restaurants everywhere use it in their cooking.
Advertising has played an important part in the success of this concern. A consistent policy of publicity has resulted in the national sale and distribution of BelTs Seasoning.
38
A Really National Food
Borden's Eagle Brand Condensed and Evaporated Milk Are Two Products That Have Found Their IV ay into Near- ly Every Family in the Country
It was pity — the source of more than one important invention — that first made Gail Borden resolve to find some way of preserving milk.
Returning from a trip to England in 1851, he was greatly distressed to see how hundreds of poor immigrants suffered — and their babies sickened and died — from lack of fresh milk on the long sea voyage. At that time the only way to provide milk at sea was to carry cows on the ship, but even then there was no ice for keeping the milk, no means of protecting it against contamination. Mr. Borden was quick to recognize the urgent need of putting this essential, but highly perishable, food in a safe form for people everywhere — in large cities, in
39
the wilderness, as well as at sea — and he determined to supply it.
The idea of preserving milk by boiling away its water — condensing it — came to him one day as he watched a steaming teakettle. When he first proposed preparing milk this way by evaporation and putting it up in sealed cans so it would keep indefinitely, people laughed at him — just as people have laughed at all the other inventors of history. But Gail Borden did not mind ridicule. Possibly he was used to it. He had already invented two concentrated foods to meet the demand for such foods for the "gold rushers" — pemmican and "meat biscuit" (for which he was awarded a medal at the London \\^)rld Fair in 1851).
He believed in his idea of preserving milk, as he had be- lieved in his other inventions, and with typical hardy pio- neer spirit started experiments at once in a small Shaker com- munity in New York State. He faced appalling discourage- ments and difliculties — lack of capital, lack of bacteriological knowledge, lack of sanitary methods among dairy farmers. He was almost the first person to realize the importance of cleanliness in milk and to take steps to secure it. The rules which he laid down to farmers in those days have now become laws — the basis of our present sanitary regulations.
After several years of experimenting, Borden finally suc- ceeded in perfecting a process for "producing concentrated milk by evaporation in vacuo . . . the same having no sugar or other foreign matter mixed with it." In 1856 — when he was 55 years old — he received a patent for this process, which is still the basis of the world's condensed milk industry.
The first condensary was set up at Wolcottville, Conn. — now the city of Torrington — and operated under the name Gail Borden & Co. But because sufficient money was not forthcoming to operate the factory the plant was abandoned.
The following year, 1857, a new plant was begun at Burr- ville, five miles north of the first factory. Here, in a little old mill, the first condensed milk was made and sold to the public. At this time Borden met Mr. Jeremiah Milbank, a keen business man with practically unlimited financial means
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Mr. Gail Borden Founder of Borden's Milk
at his disposal. Mr. Milbank became interested in the busi- ness and in 1858 the name of the company was changed to the New York Condensed Milk Co., and an office opened in the basement of 173 Canal Street, New York City.
Samples of their first prod- uct — unsweetened condensed milk — were first carried from house to house in New York in a handbag and later served from 40-quart cans on a pushcart at 25 cents a quart. The unsweet- ened product, however — evap- orated milk, as it is now called — was not developed to a point where it could be put up in sealed cans and marketed until the 1890s — some years after Gail Borden's death. The first product to be manufactured on a commercial basis and sold in sealed containers was the sweetened condensed milk.
In a short time a larger factory was needed and Borden moved to the village of Wassaic, N. Y., which was located on the railroad and ofifered better chances for expansion. This new condensary opened in June, 1861, just two months after the outbreak of the Civil War. The United States Govern- ment immediately commandeered their entire output of con- densed milk for use in the army and in hospitals.
In this way people learned to know the value of condensed milk and like it far more quickly than would ordinarily have happened. Its use spread rapidly and the business increased steadily during the fifty years following, with new plants open- ing in different parts of the country. In 1899 the company was reorganized under the name "Borden's Condensed Milk Company."
Then another war brought sudden and rapid expansion again — probably far beyond the wildest dreams of Gail Bor- den. The Civil War had made condensed milk a staple food.
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The ^^^)rld War worked wonders for the next Borden product — evaporated, or unsweetened condensed milk. Canned milk was needed in tremendous quantities, not only for the armies of the world, but among civilian populations as well, and especially in relief work among refugees in war-stricken countries. Sweetened condensed milk could not be made in a hurry to meet this sudden demand. The process is too deli- cate. Also sugar was at a premium. The result was an enor- mous development in evaporated — or unsweetened condensed milk. The output of evaporated milk grew from 700,000,000 pint cans a year at the beginning of the war to 1,900,000,000 cans at the end of the war period. There has of course been a natural reaction after the boom growth — the large part of which was export trade — but evaporated milk is firmly estab- lished as a staple household commodity, and its use in this country is becoming more widespread every year.
Today the business of canning milk ranks as one of the outstanding industries of the country. The Borden Company pioneer in the whole movement, is still the leader and largest manufacturer of milk products in the world.
In addition to Eagle Brand Condensed Milk and Evapo- rated Milk, the company now makes Skimilflakes (dry skim milk in flake form). Malted Milk and Confectionery.
It also produces and markets bottled milk on a large scale, this part of the business being handled by the Farm Products Division of the company.
More than thirty-five model condensaries and feeder sta- tions, dotted over the country in the heart of the best dairy sec- tions, are busy producing Borden's Milk. In addition, there are more than 150 country and city bottling plants, confec- tionery and malted milk plants.
Because of the great variety of its milk products, and its long established reputation for purity and quality, the Bor- den service today reaches almost every family in the country.
42
A Lady Asked for Vanilla
A Request of 78 Years Ago That Brought a New Product to America and Laid the Foundations of a Business That Today Is ff^orld-wide
In 1847 a lady who had lived some years in France entered the store of Joseph Burnett, the Boston chemist. She said she was very anxious to procure a vanilla flavor for her creams, sauces and desserts, such as she had been getting in Paris.
At that time the only extract of any kind in this country for flavoring purposes was a cheap extract of lemon. A few French chefs used the vanilla bean itself.
This was the clumsy, unsanitary and inconvenient way these chefs got their vanilla flavoring; they would purchase one or two vanilla beans, cut them up and put them in a linen bag, ready to use like a tea ball, to flavor whatever was required.
The results from this tedious, inexact method of extract- ing the flavor were of course very unsatisfactory. When the
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bag was first used it would give the delicious flavor of pure vanilla, but afterwards, when it became diluted, the taste was weak and unpalatable. It was never uniform in strength or flavor. It was always expensive because the full rich flavor could never be thoroughly extracted.
Mr. Burnett listened to the lady's description of the fla- voring she wanted. He bought a pound of the very best vanilla beans he could procure and extracted the rare, deli- cate flavor of which she spoke, and after long, careful experi- ments, when he was satisfied with its quality he made the first Vanilla Extract that was ever sold in this country.
A factory was rented at 27 Central Street, Boston, but as the business expanded larger quarters were necessary. In 1894, J*JSt before Joseph Burnett died, a new factory was opened at 36 India Street.
About this time the increasing interest in fancy cooking warranted the marketing of a pure color for coloring can- dies, frostings, etc. After extended experimenting in the labor- atory and kitchen, Burnett's Color Pastes were out on the market.
His sons, Harry and Robert, continued the manufactur- ing policy of their father, which was to make the very finest extracts that could be made and advertise the fact to the con- sumer. The wisdom of this policy can be discerned in the steadv growth of the sales, which in 1920 necessitated the building of a fine new factory at 437 D Street, Boston, equipped with all the latest machinery for manufacturing, packaging and handling the various products.
In 1919, after a careful market analysis, it was decided that fine spices could be handled to advantage, and so Burnett's Spices, the choicest grown in the tropics, were added to the extract line.
Today Joseph Burnett Company, which is still owned by the family of the founder, sells its products over the entire world.
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Sea-Food for Inlanders
"B^ M Pure Food Products Were Once Chiefly Famed for the Excellenceoj Sweet Corn and Succotash, Today the Demand for "B &^ M Sea-Foods from Coast to Coast Is Greater Than Can "Be Supplied
About 75 years ago — up in the State of Maine — a group of business men of wide vision and foresight, realizing the future possibilities in the development of the State's natural resources and advantages, established what is now known all over the country and in many foreign markets as the Burnham & Morrill Company, packers of B & M Pure Food Products. The industry was based upon the packing of a product for which the soil and climate of Maine are especially adapted — sweet corn ; and although there are now many competitors in the State, the Burnham & Morrill Company still main- tains its lead with a larger output and more canneries for this one product, in spite of the fact that this is only one branch of a business which is now much more extensive and includes many products. Such a development attests to the sound prin- ciples which have governed the management of the concern for three-quarters of a century.
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The Civil War afforded the new company an opportunity for rapid expansion and the next decade saw a constant striv- ing for improvement in methods and an extension to include^ other products. Sweet corn, upon which the business was founded, was first packed in Portland. Gradually, additional canneries were opened up through the famous "Maine Corn Belt," until there are now 17 plants used for the packing of this one product alone.
The excellence of Burnham & Morrill Company products was from the start recognized in a national and even a world market. The American Institute in New York in 1874 awarded the company its highest medal for the excellence of its Sweet Corn and Succotash; this was followed by an award at the United States Centennial Fair in Philadelphia in 1876, and two years later the company received an international honor — a gold medal awarded in Paris at the "Exposition Universelle Internationale." These, and numerous other awards to come later, are now the more significant as they were given at a time when such honors were a true attest to superiority.
Bv 1 87 1 Succotash and various other vegetables had been added to the list and the company was beginning experiments in the packing of shell fish, which resulted in the development of the well-known "Scarboro Beach" brand Clam Products and "Red Jacket" brand Deep Sea Lobster.
Immediate expansion followed — several factories were established along the Maine Coast, and more in Canada, where today the entire output of B & M Lobster is packed at a score of shops, while several new Maine Coast factories are devoted exclusively to the packing of Clam Products, prepared from those tender white shell clams which can be gathered only from the sandy inlets of the Maine Coast.
Today the demand for these B & M Sea Foods can in any year be but partially supplied. Orders are received far in excess of the available supply and have, each season, to be allotted upon a percentage basis.
The business had now been incorporated under the name it still bears and its activities were growing. Further experi-
46
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Mr. G. B. Morrill Burnham &■ Morrill Co.
mentation was being conducted, this time on the problem of canning a fish product which would make fresh fish available for the housewife regardless of where she lived or what the climate might be. Finally, there was developed what is today known universally as "B & M Fish Flakes," which solved this problem. It consists simply of pure, white meat of choicest Codfish and Haddock, thor- oughly cooked and boned, slightly seasoned, and packed in sanitary, parchment-lined
tins ready for instant use — and just as fresh as though only a few hours out of the clear, cold depths of the North Atlantic, as indeed it was when canned.
As soon as the suitability of the product for wide distri- bution was realized aggressive advertising was planned. Even by 1900 advertising had been done upon a limited scale in those markets enjoying the greatest distribution of B & M Products. Advertising had helped materially in establishing the position of Paris Sugar Corn. The great period of adver- tising expansion into national fields, however, came after 1903. Conservative at first and only after careful investigation, national advertising of B & M Fish Flakes was extended.
In 191 2 it was found necessary to erect a modern, sanitary plant on the outskirts of Portland for a Headquarters Factory. This plant has its own wharfage facilities and railroad sidings. It is located on the very ocean's edge, and standing out promi- nently by itself in a beautiful setting of velvety green lawns and sparkling blue water, is one of the industrial show places of the State, where many visitors each year admire the scrupulous cleanliness of kitchens and packing rooms, and where freshly uniformed employees work under ideal conditions affording an abundance of sunlight and fresh air.
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27,000,000 Boxes
An Expenditure of $6 ,000 ,000 in Advertising Over a Period of Eighteen Years Has Expanded the Market for California Citrus Fruits Four Times as Fast as Population Has Increased
America's appetite for citrus fruit required nearly 120,000 carloads to satisfy it last year. Each of the 120 million per- sons comprising the American market now consumes 58 oranges, 16 lemons and 5 grapefruit a year.
Of the present supply, California furnishes about two- thirds of the oranges, four-fifths of the lemons and but a small percentage of the grapefruit. These are large figures for a product classed as a rare luxury within the recent mem- ory of people of this generation.
Co-operative marketing and advertising are chiefly respon- sible for the remarkable growth in the citrus industry.
Although oranges were hrst planted by the Mission Fathers in the patios and gardens of the California missions at about
48
the time the United States itself was born, the industry had to await the development of railroad transportation to East- ern markets before it could assume any commercial signifi- cance. The railroad came to Southern California in 1877, and in that year the first carload shipment of oranges was made across the continent. Four years prior to that, in 1873, a California pioneer, Mrs. Eliza Tibbets, planted in River- side two trees of a new seedless variety sent to her by a relative connected with the United States Department of Agricul- ture at Washington.
This new variety was called the "Washington Navel" orange, and these two trees were destined to be the ancestors of the mighty industry which today is one of California's largest and most famous.
By 1885 commercial production of oranges in California had increased to 1,000 carloads annually, and the infant indus- try became large enough to have a marketing problem. With only 1,000 cars to market, a mass meeting of the growers, held in Los Angeles in 1885, recognized, by formal resolu- tion, the fact that unless some united action were taken for improved methods in the sale of their fruit, the industry would soon perish. That meeting marked the start of co- operative effort, although it was not until ten years later, in 1895, ^hat co-operative marketing was established as a perma- nent basis of operation.
The original co-operative organization included growers producing only 32 per cent of the California citrus crop. The growers' organization grew slowly but steadily until in 190c; It included 48 per cent of the total production. Acreage and production, meanwhile, had been greatly extended, but under the stabilizing influence of orderly marketing and widened distribution the industry generally had prospered, and fears of overproduction were left behind for a time.
It soon became apparent, however, that the basic consumer demand had to be increased, and in this situation the growers turned to advertising. The first test campaign on California oranges was made in 1907, with an appropriation of $6,000. This represented the first efifort made by growers themselves
49
to enlarge the consumer demand for their products, and many there were who doubted its wisdom.
But it worked, and the California Fruit Growers Exchange has advertised continuously ever since.
The "Sunkist Campaign," as it is familiarly known, is chiefly devoted to advertising a commodity rather than a brand. During the past twenty years citrus production in California has increased from eleven million to twenty-seven million boxes. Production has increased 135 per cent, while population has increased 36 per cent. The California crop has increased nearly four times as rapidly as the population, and there have been substantial additions to the total supply from other sources as well.
During the eighteen years of Sunkist advertising, a total investment of approximately six million dollars has been made. Gross sales during the same period have aggregated eight hundred millions. The advertising expenditure, there- fore, represents an investment averaging Y^ of i per cent of the gross sales. During the past five years, approximately i per cent of the gross sales has been invested in advertising, and the amount has never exceeded i>^ per cent.
The California Fruit Growers Exchange is a co-operative, non-profit organization of 11,000 growers. It has no capital and accumulates no dividends. But in the ownership of the name "Sunkist," which has been established with the trade and consuming public for many years, the growers collec- tively possess a tangible asset of great value and one which becomes the immediate heritage of each new grower who joins the Exchange.
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A History in a Nutshell
The California Walnut Growers' Associa- tion Has Quadrupled the Consumption of Walnuts and with a 4}^% Overhead and Selling' Cost Vastly hicreased the "Profits of Its M emb er- Grow ers
Prior to the formation of the California Walnut Growers Association, in 1912, there were a few local associations, made up of individual growers, doing business in the different wal- nut districts. Most growers, however, sold independently of even the locals. There was practically no standardization. Independent shippers and local associations had many brands, all competing with one another. Speculation was rife. In fact, the grower was rarely able to cash in on the few high markets that would occur, whereas he was almost sure to lose on the poor markets, which were the rule rather than the exception.
By 191 2 it was said that a point of overproduction had been reached in the growing of walnuts. In some districts acreage was being rapidly pulled out and planted to more profitable
51
fruits. There was a general feeling of pessimism among walnut growers in general. At that time most of the local associations joined together and formed the California Wal- nut Growers Association. The locals made an earnest effort to secure a larger number of members. They succeeded in getting a great majority of the walnut growers into the organ- ization. The function of the local associations is to receive walnuts from the local members and prepare them for ship- ment. The business of the central association is to take the w^alnuts when ready for shipment from the locals, distribute and sell them to the best advantage throughout the country, returning all moneys derived from sales to the local associa- tions, less actual sales and advertising expenses. The central association is controlled by a board, w^hich is made up of one representative from each local association.
Immediately after the California Walnut Growers Asso- ciation was organized steps were taken to improve the stan- dard requirements of the association's pack. Excessively high standards for such a pack were set up and a rigid inspec- tion system was installed in the locals by the central to see that the quality of walnuts was maintained. The many dif- ferent brand names were abandoned and "DIAMOND'' Brand was universally adopted. Sales to speculators and com- mercial packers were discontinued. Brokerage connections were made direct in the important markets throughout the United States. At first advertising was not resorted to, but almost immediately the industry began to prosper. Instead of removing groves, additional acreage was set out.
Within a few years it became evident additional sales pres- sure would be necessary in order to sell quickly the increasing tonnage. The pressure resorted to was advertising. From a small appropriation of $1,200 the amount spent for advertis- ing has now grown until in a normal year the advertising expenditure runs around from $150,000 to $200,000.
The central association was not satisfied with successfully selling each year's walnut crop. It takes decided interest in the production of better-grade walnuts and through guidance and working closely with the local associations they have
52
been able to bring about greatly improved methods of sorting, cleaning, bleaching and preparing for market in general, but even that was not considered enough. Close connections were made with the University of California, and through experi- ments conducted with their help vast improvements have been made on the cultural side of walnut growing.
"The proof of the pudding is the eating thereof," and the proof of a successful cooperative walnut association is the following:
The first year the association did business they handled a little over 5,000 tons. Today, in a normal growing season they will handle more than 20,000 tons. Besides growing in the number of tons handled the association has increased the percentage of growers who market their crops through its offices from 51 to 84. Speculation has been eliminated. The carryover of one season's crop into a succeeding year has been practically eliminated. The price secured for mem- bers' cull ivalnuts was ihis year greater than they were able to secure for their best grade of walnuts before the association was formed. The cost of doing business, including advertis- ing, executives' salaries, warehousing, service to growers and all other expenses is 4]/^ cents on the dollar. Growers also have the privilege of withdrawing, without any penalty, 30 days prior to the annual meeting of the association each season.
The three essentials of successful selling are the prime rea- sons for the association's great success. First, a quality pack of "DIAMOND" Walnuts. Second, an extremely efficient sales policy and management. And, third, the wise and judicious use of advertising.
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39,236,231 Advertisements
Persistent Advertisw^ of the ''Calumet Kid" in All Kinds of Media Ove?' Thirty-five Years Has Made Calumet Baking Powder One of the Great Nationally Known Brands
By WILLIAM SMEDLEY
WllEX W. M. Wright founded the Calumet Baking Powder Company — thirty-five years ago — he had in mind certain ideas. The first was to produce a quality baking powder; second, to sell it only at a fair profit, and third, a definite dealer policy involving sales of Calumet only through the retailer and wholesaler — no carrying of water on both shoul- ders— no private labels — no sales to mail order houses^no sales to peddlers — no "ifs" or "buts," only a plain, straight- forward, honest policy.
And here's the big thing — every policy has been carried out literally, and no man can work for Calumet who violates, directly or indirectly, these policies.
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Mr. Wright has lived to see the fulfillment of his ideals, to see Calumet grow from an idea to a nationally known prod- uct, and it is a great satisfaction to the whole organization to know that today the sale of Calumet Baking Powder is two and a half times larger than that of any other baking powder.
Mr. Wright is now enjoying the fruit of his labors and has placed the mantle of authority on the shoulders of his son, Mr. Warren Wright, who, as president of the company, is ful- filling every pledge made for Calumet.
Mr. Warren Wright is known as one of the best sales execu- tives in Chicago, for he believes in teamwork as a producer of business, and the Calumet organization is just one big fam- ily, working together to make the business GO — GROW — GLOW.
The real idea behind a can of Calumet is Service — not imaginary, but real service — service to the distributor and service to the consumer, plus satisfaction to the user and profit to the seller.
The first factory of the Calumet Company, in 1889, con- sisted of 400 square feet of floor space. Today there is a big plant on the West Side, a plant at East St. Louis, 111.; the material plant at Joliet, 111., covering six acres, with forty- three separate buildings and a floor space of more than a mil- lion square feet, and the home plant at Chicago, having a floor space of 160,000 square feet. So much for size.
Mr. K. K. Bell, the vice-president and general manager, is a live wire. He is the head of the Local Loyalty League, very largely supported by the Calumet Company. Its object is to build local communities, town spirit and the "Trade at Home" idea to the inhabitants. If he has any one particular hobby besides making Calumet the world's greatest baking powder, it is his love for children, which is one reason why so much of Calumet's advertising appropriation is spent for "Dolly Cook Books," "Children's Party Books," airships, school tablets, puzzles, savings banks, etc. He is far-sighted enough to realize that children are the coming housekeepers and that the child's good-will of today will be a big trade factor in the future.
55
Calumet has a well-et]uipped Home Economics Depart- ment, under the direct control of Helen Harrington Down- ing. Here is established a model home kitchen, here the vis- itors are shown how to economize energy and time. It has proven to be an inspiration to many thousands who visit it yearly. It is open to the public at all times — no frills or red tape to get in. Any grocer can arrange for his customers to visit it, and many do so. Here women's clubs, church societies and cooking classes from high schools and universities come to icarn something different about domestic economy.
In May, 1924, Calumet started to broadcast over a new broadcasting station, owned jointly by Calumet and the Rain- bow Gardens — WQJ, Chicago. This station broadcasts fine concerts, recipes, household hints, current events and espe- cially emphasizes the "Buy at Home" and "Patronize Your Local Dealer" policy.
Calumet advertising is known all over the land. It is lib- eral. It is widespread. It is so distributed as to help the local dealer make sales. Calumet uses more newspaper space than any other food manufacturer in the world. This space is used intelligently — daily papers, farm papers, posters, store signs, bulletin boards, etc., for a large portion of the Calumet publicity. Every community gets its share, which means that every dealer "gets his." The advertising is consistent; it never lets up. People are familiar with the "Calumet Kid," the trade mark of the company. The circulation of the various mediums carrying the message of Calumet reaches a total of 39,236,231 copies.
The Calumet organization is a human proposition. From president to oflice boy, the idea prevails that human service is the highest form of self-interest and that the man behind the counter is the company's big responsibility — to help him meet competition, to help him grow, to help him keep trade at home and to create a lasting friendship that will make and hold good-uill.
56
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The Story of Campbell's
How an Idea of Condensed Soup and a Product of Superior Quality Have Used 432,000,000 Pages of Advertising to Build O^te of the Great Successes of American Business
We blend the best with careful pains
In skillful combination, And every single can contains
Our business reputation.
So runs one of the familiar and happy little jingles that appear in the Campbell's Soups advertisements.
It states in its own breezy way the ideals in the mind of John T. Dorrance on his way home, some twenty-nine years ago, from the University of Gottingen, where he had obtained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, having specialized in chemistry, mathematics and physics. He was previously grad-
57
uated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Chemical Course.
In Europe Dr. Dorrance had been powerfully impressed with the popularity and the splendid food and health value of soup. In the big cities, in the hamlets and the rural dis- tricts, wherever he went, he observed that soup was really a staple article of the people's food. Thus the young chemist returned to America with the idea uppermost in his mind that in some way the United States could and should be made to appreciate the value of good soup. In Europe the soup pot is a family institution, but in America, where gas and electricity may be turned off and on in a moment, it is extravagant to keep the soup pot simmering, and long cooking is a fundamental for good soup.
He ate, drank and slept with this idea, but like many a Ph. D. just out of college Dr. Dorrance was blessed with far more education than money. In fact, money was just about the scarcest article of his equipment. His first need, therefore, was a job where he could have opportunity to develop his dream of making the country truly a nation of soup eaters. His uncle's factory was destined to give him this chance, for not long after his return from Europe he received a telegram from his uncle, a manufacturer of food products in Camden, to visit him at his factory, with the result that he entered the employ of Joseph Campbell Company as chemist. He was the first person possessing a technical training to join the organization.
\\'hen the young chemist proposed the installation of a laboratory and the setting up of the apparatus he had brought with him from Europe, it was considered too ambitious an undertaking. Accordingly, he was assigned to a remote corner of the building and allowed to do experimental work with his equipment, for which, as he today says, with a laugh, he has never been paid.
From this remote corner of a factory given over to the manufacture of more than two hundred different articles of food came an idea that was destined to eventually subordinate everything to the manufacture of soup — the method of con-
58
Dr. Joliii T. Dorrancc Founder of CaiiipbcU's SouJ^
densing soup by eliminating water to the extent of one-half of the volume. This made pos- sible the immense development of Campbell's Soups, as it ef- fected most important savings on the can, label and case, on storage space and on freight charges. Tinned soups, non- condensed, had been on the mar- ket for some years, but had not been able to overcome the prob- lem of excessive cost due to the bulky package.
As a student of economics, Dr. Dorrance recognized from
the very beginning the necessity of quantity production as the one sure means of reducing overhead charges, and obtaining the benefit of quantity price as well as quality selection in the purchasing of ingredients.
The vital importance of making soup of the highest quality was recognized from the outset. The United States needed to be taught to eat soup. Mediocre soup would have checked this growing habit, but Campbell's Soups have made converts among our people at an amazing rate, and only a true gospel can carry such conviction, however devoted the missionary. Despite Dr. Dorrance's thorough-going education and his ob- servations in Europe, he did not suffer from any false idea that he "knew it all." Consequently, in 1903, he returned to Europe to make a further study of soups. He acquired first- hand experience in the blending of soups by actually work- ing beside the best-known chefs in the kitchens of the great hotels and restaurants and the fashionable clubs in Paris, London, Berlin, Vienna and later on in New York. Those years marked the heyday of the epicure. Dining as a fine art was in its highest estate. It was an age of greater leisure when eating was a ceremony and food attained a special luxury. Dr. Dorrance's training in this period was invaluable to him in
59
the pursuit of his aim to make soups of splendid quality.
An advertising campaign, started more than twenty-five years ago, with the slight resources the Company then had, aimed at the education of the public in the use of soups. The space had to be small, the total bill for the first year a mere trifle compared with the present great annual advertising appropriation which has popularized the well known Red- and-W'hite label until it has become as universally a part of a grocer's stock as the counter is a part of his equipment. The rollicking little Campbell Kids are as well known to the Amer- ican people and as dear to the hearts of American children as Alice in Wonderland and Little Red Riding-Hood. Every year has seen a steady growth in the advertising and sales have mounted with amazing rapidity.
Today the great Campbell's kitchens have a capacity of millions of cans a day. Today CampbelTs are the leading magazine advertisers, with a grand total of 432,000,000 adver- tising messages printed every year. A full page every issue is the undeviating Campbell's rule. In almost every magazine on the Campbell's list attractive color is used to make the sales message even more appealing and the package even more familiar.
The success of this enterprise can be attributed to: first. Dr. Dorrance's conception of the idea of Condensed Soup; second, the perfection of the recipe, the quantity and quality of the ingredients; third, the technic in cooking and blend- ing; and fourth, scrupulous insistence on cleanliness and sani- tary surroundings.
In view of the Company's history, it is not surprising to learn that Dr. Dorrance has, as he says, "only three hobbies — mv wife, mv children and soup-making."
60
It Sparkled to Success
Some Grocery Specialties Have "Been Patiently, Even Laboriously, Built to Suc- cess Over a Period of Years: but Here Is One That Leapt to Triumph Over Nif{ht
"Business is business", says the modern go-getter as he hur- ries from lunch in a final sort of a way.
Yes, business IS an engrossing matter but so many of us let the money-making, bustling side of just business absorb us that the romance of an industry, a profession, a livelihood, is almost lost sight of — ^forgotten.
People who persist in "talking shop" become bores soon enough. There is decided interest however attached to "shop" when the talk is as colorful and romantic in the recounting as the one we tell here.
The customer who steps up to his Grocer and asks for a carton of "Canada Dry" little knows the complex nature of the beverage he is ordering. Nor does he think of the years
61
and years of tireless effort, the discouragement, the vast ex- pense which the perfection of his favorite Ginger Ale entailed.
Thirty-four years ago an enterprising Canadian sensed the fact that there was a call for a man's drink in a Ginger Ale — one which was well tempered, sparkling and a good mixer with other beverages. The demand really originated in the English Clubs of London, in the days when Victoria was Queen of England. These English epicures gave Mr. J. J. McLaughlin his idea.
A chemist and specialist in the manufacture of soft drinks, he had the facilities to start his experiments. His idea de- veloped into an ambition ... an obsession ... a hobby ... a life work.
No doubt many of his friends laughed behind his back when he persisted in closeting himself in his laboratory day in and day out — discarding this brand of Ginger, testing the pungency of another and then blending the chosen root with oils, essences, orange and lemon peels, herbs, barks and spices which he had searched the worlds' markets to experiment with.
Little knowledge was available to him from books due to the secrecy surrounding the compounding of a beverage which boasted of the slightest popularity.
Many a man would have given up. But not J. J. McLaugh- lin. Discouragement only strengthened his resolve. Finally, after weeks and months of exhaustive study and experiments, a final test satisfied him. On that day "Canada Dry" was created, was named, was offered to the public in the McLaugh- lin Soda Fountain. Mr. McLaughlin may then have realized he was entitled to a nitche in the Hall of Success.
The ingredients, coming from the seven seas were carefully extracted in a scientifically equipped laboratory — every proc- ess in its manufacture centered about sanitation, quality, uni- formity and absolute perfection. A few dozen bottles a day became inadequate. The production was soon doubled, tripled and multiplied by df)zens and dozens.
From Halifax to Toronto— from Toronto to Edmonton and Vancouver, "Canada Dry" was becoming known. By leaps
62
and bounds its popularity grew; its delicious, unforgettable flavor became known. In the Houses of Parliament at Ottawa and in the residence of the Governor General, "Canada Dry" was the order of the day.
The Royal Canadian Yacht Club accorded it a real favorite. Its patrons liked it as a Ginger Ale as well as a mixer with other beverages.
Americans visiting across the border returned with tales of "a real Ginger Ale" and told of drinking it with such relish that their friends were anxious to taste it, too, and inquired if it could not be purchased in this country.
The reply was always "No" until in 1921 the Canadian owners, whose farmula was guarded as carefully as the crown jewels, were persuaded to open a subsidiary office in New York.
That first week, without a single line of advertising, a car- load was sold. Almost over night "Canada Dry" became the sensation of the most exclusive clubs, hotels, restaurants and cafes in New York.
What a hit it made. In that same year, a separate plant was found essential to care for the demand in the U. S. A.
Two years later when operations at the new plant had pro- duced a surplus supply, the New York Newspapers carried the first advertising of "The Champagne of Ginger Ales".
The response was immediate, amazing, a tribute to the labors and perserverance of Mr. McLaughlin. Ninety days thereafter, orders reached New York from every section of the country. Grocer, druggist, confectioner and delicatessen vied with each other in getting an order of this famous old Ginger Ale for their customers. The owner of one of the Metropolitan hotels, a man in the public eye, wrote a personal letter to the firm requesting that "two more cases" be sent to his summer home in Maine.
Two globe trotters, ofif to Paris, embarked with three cases, knowing that even abroad such a Ginger Ale could not be purchased.
Today railroads, steamship lines on lake, river and ocean, ofifer " Canada Dry" on their menus. Its popularity has
6J
spread from the large cities to small villages, to the road stands along country byways where the thirsty autoist pauses tor a glass of cooling refreshment.
The American Plant — a modern, sanitary, sunlit plant — located at Hudson Upper, New York, is the finest of its kind in the world. Standard equipment and methods, hourly chemical and bacteriological tests, supervision and inspection, and constant research — everything humanly possible is done to maintain the quality of this famous Ginger Ale. The New York State Department of Health, one of the most efficient health organizations in the country, gave the "Canada Dry" Plant a one hundred per cent Bill of Health.
Happy, contented co-workers are truly imbued with the "Canada Dry" spirit, which pervades the entire organization — a spirit that "gets'' everyone from the President down, to work and win.
The advertising and selling plans are not the result of hur- ried conferences behind closed doors. Plans are developed slowly, but surely, and run the gamut of the entire organiza- tion for ideas and suggestions before final perfection. Thoro study and analysis, the consideration of the smallest detail, and hard common sense are fundamental to the development of all plans, which are tested out in representative markets before final use.
The age of miracles has passed, and to reach the leading position in the Ginger Ale World that "Canada Dry" occu- pies today, there must be some very substantial reasons which briefly can be outlined as follows:
A. An unbeatable, inimitable and incomparable product.
B. A directing, executive organization, whose efficiency has justified the position they have placed "Canada Dry" in the Soft Drink World in so short a period of time.
C. A Sales Force that is on its toes and knows its business from every angle.
D. A sincere desire to assist, in every way, our Jobbers and Retailers to solve their many problems.
64
"From Contented Cows"
The Story of One of the Great Adver- tising Slogans and of the Development of a Great American Business
A GOOD many years ago the man who founded Carnation Milk Products Company, and its president today, was driving a team of mules — mules which, by the way, he had bought with his own hard-saved youthful earnings — in a construction gang on the Santa Fe Railroad.
It was a rough, pioneer life and the food was rough, pio- neer food. The need for milk that w^ould keep was daily before the mind of the Scotch mule-driver, whose name was E. A. Stuart. He saw a market for canned milk there in the great West, and it occurred to him that he might be the man to supply that market.
His idea was not to bear fruit at that early date, but it per- sisted. When, a few years later, Mr. Stuart became the pro- prietor of a grocery in an adobe storeroom in El Paso, he was still thinking about canned milk. Likewise, as a wholesale grocer in Los Angeles, he held tenaciously to that dream.
65
Twenty-three years as a retail and wholesale groceryman may have postponed the founding of the Carnation Milk Products Company, but it gave the founder an invaluable fund of practical knowledge of the channels through which America's food products move. So, when Mr. Stuart, in 1899, took over a small, bankrupt condcnsary in Kent, Wash., he was equipped to sell as well as to produce.
The selling was desperately hard at first. Evaporated milk, preserved by sterlization, without the use of sugar, was practi- cally unknown, the chief supplv of canned milk in those days being of the sweetened kind. Thus, the natural difficulties which faced the struggling new' company were made more formidable by public ignorance of and indifference to the product which the company offered.
Unlabelled, in hand-made cans, the first milk from the condensary at Kent was sold by Mr. Stuart himself by sheer force of will-power. Orders for as few as half a dozen cans were gratefully accepted, and even these modest sales were only made possible by a guarantee to take back every can of milk uliich ditl not sell. . . .
Such were the beginnings of Carnation Milk. Then the nameless product was given a name, w'hich is known today wherever the English language is spoken. Markets began to expand, and before long it became one of the chief concerns of Mr. Stuart and the associates whom he gathered around him to develop new sources of supply for milk of a quality to satisfy Carnation standards.
One after another, new condensarics were opened in the richest dairving sections of the United States and Canada, until today there are thirty-eight model plants, each notable for cleanly, efficient and sanitary production. The now^ fa- mous Carnation Milk Farms were established at Carnation, Wash., near Seattle, and at Oconomowoc, Wis., and devoted to the scientific breeding of Holstein cattle, in order to pro- vide sires and dams of high milk-prf)ducing strain to raise the standards of the herds whicli supply milk to the Carna- tion condensaries.
Advertising was early recognized by Mr. Stuart as a pow-
66
Mr. E. A. Stiiarf, President Carnation Milk Prodticts Company
erful means for promoting and stabilizing the development of his business. As the Carnation market became national in scope, advertising on a national scale was directed to the solu- tion of the new selling problems which arose. Farther back than most of us can remember, the phrase "From Contented Cows" had become a household word in America. Since then, the force of advertising has been steadily and consistently ap- plied to raise the consumption of Carnation Milk to new and higher levels from year to year.
Just as constant study has been directed toward the im- provement of Carnation Milk and the methods by which it is produced and distributed, likewise the interpretation of the product through advertising has undergone changes which reflect careful analysis of the attitude of the consuming pub- lic. A recent physical improvement in Carnation advertis- ing has been the portrayal of the Carnation can set inside a milk bottle. This device has proved valuable as a visual inti- mation that Carnation is in every sense and for every pur- pose real milk and not a substitute. Through this and other means, Carnation advertising is gaining new users for "milk in a modern package," a product which seems destined to occupy a position of constantly growing importance in world food economy.
67
A Gentleman Rides on Horseback
Joel Cheek Once "Rode Through the Cumberland Valley with a Spare Shirt in One Side of His Saddlebag and Sales Samples in the Other — and Founded a Great National Business
Back in the '70s, a young man rode through the Cumberhmd Valley, in Kentucky and Tennessee, with a spare shirt in one side of his saddlebag and samples on the other.
Today, a genial, white-haired gentleman of 72, he is active head of a great national business, with plants scattered from coast to coast.
The storv of Joel Cheek is one of the real romances of the business world.
And it is far more. It is a romance of the old South. For with all his genius, Joel Cheek could not have succeeded so
68
greatly had he not been brought up in a land where good things to eat were ahnost a religion.
Up the Cumberland River, years ago, Joel Cheek travelled on the old side-wheeled steamers. On horseback he rode from village to village, selling coffee for a wholesale house in Nashville.
And all the time he was thinking of the flavors that his fellow^ Southerners knew and enjoyed — of the wonderful food prepared by their mammy cooks. Was it not possible, by skill- ful blending, to produce a coffee flavor which could match these achievements?
Here was the task to which he set himself. For years he studied and worked. Between trips he carried home samples of various coffees, blending and roasting them; testing, reject- ing; toiling late into the night; always searching for the ideal combination; persevering in spite of countless obstacles.
Finally he perfected it — a coffee blend so rich and mel- low that it delighted even the most critical people in that land of good living.
Among the many who soon became enthusiastic over Mr. Cheek's coffee was Mr. Black, manager of the Maxwell House, in Nashville. After a careful trial, he began serving it to his guests. From that time on, no other coffee was ever used by this fine old hotel, and Mr. Cheek named his blend, fittingly, "Maxwell House Coffee."
Throughout the South the Maxwell House itself became celebrated for its delicious food — and especially for its coffee. Wherever its guests went, they carried with them to their homes the fame of Joel Cheek's blend. And so, when, in association with Mr. J. W. Neal, Mr. Cheek built a large roasting plant in Nashville and began to market his coffee, the product was quick to meet success in the Nashville territory.
As the demand for Maxwell House spread farther west a new plant had to be opened in Houston to supply fresh coffee in the markets of the Southwest. But the Southeast, too, was buying Mr. Cheek's coffee in increasing quantities. And so, in 1 910, he erected another plant — at Jacksonville, Fla. Six
69
year later, to serve a still newer territory, a fourth plant was built in Richmond, Va. Thus tlie popularity of Maxwell House Cofifee was established throughout the entire South.
But Mr. Cheek, believing firmly in the quality of his blend, was confident that Max- well House Coffee could become a nation-wide drink. In 1921, backing it with a powerful ad- vertising campaign, he intro- duced Maxwell House into New York, building a roasting plant in Brooklyn. Although the product had to meet tre- mendous competition it became, within twenty-eight months, the best selling high-grade coffee in the New York market.
In 1924 a Cheek-Neal factory was built in Los Angeles, the sixth link in a nation-wide chain of giant cofifee roasting plants. \Vith the opening of this plant, in January, 1925, Maxwell House Coffee became a truly national institution. Possessed of an exceptional flavor and backed by the biggest advertising campaign ever put behind a cofTee, it has estab- lished itself from coast to coast.
Long ago, Joel Cheek went into business to supply his cof- fee blend to the people of America. Today, his sons and his associates, J. W. and J. R. Neal, working with him, he still directs personally the great organization that blends and roasts Maxwell House — America's largest selling high-grade cofifee.
Mr. Joel O. Check
rounder and Presidoit
ClieeL'-Xeal Coffee Company
70
A Drink of the Eskimo
Kid
Forty Years of Priceless Experience Have Made Clicquot Club Ginger Ale Popular from Coast to Coast. Here Is Told the Tale of the Many Trails This Pioneer Beverage Has Blazed
With so much stress being laid these days on health foods and calories and vitamins, the breakfast food for this and the fruit for that, who is going to come out loud and clear for the values in good, pure ginger ale? Yet all of us drink ginger ale. Most of us keep it in the house constantly, or can easily run around the corner to buy a couple of bottles for the impromptu card party. Billions of dollars are spent every year for soft drinks by us weary Americans. Most of this money is spent for ginger ale. More than 12,000 bottlers are making ginger ale for the American public. That means four and a generous fraction for every city and town in the country of 2,500 population.
71
Yet, with all this enormous consumption, what does the public know about the drinks it spends its pennies for? Who makes them? What are they made of? How are they made?
Naturally, among 12,000 brands of ginger ale there are wide variations in quality and purity. Anyone can buy ginger and sugar and fruit juices, blend them with carbonated water and call the result "ginger ale/' Fortunately, the forty years' history of one concern making ginger ale is the record of devo- tion to the aim of improving bottling practices and producing purer, more uniform beverages at a fairer cost. The Clicquot Club Company of Millis, Massachusetts, has held to this pur- pose consistently throughout its business history, believing that reliable products were a public obligation incurred by every bottler. Perhaps Clicquot Club's position as the world's largest ginger ale makers is the unconscious tribute of the public to so fair an enterprise.
Ginger ale first came to this country under foreign labels about the middle of the last century. It was a luxury of high price and enjovable only by people of means. When Lansing Millis, a retired Boston railway man, discovered a rather remarkable spring on his farm at East Medway, Massachu- setts, he had no reason at all to believe that he had taken the first step toward giving America its most popular beverage in 1925. That was in the early 8o's. Ginger ale was still a com- parative novelty, but Millis, being somewhat of an epicure, knew and liked this new British beverage. He had a small bottling plant on his farm whose regular work was the bottling of cider. But this new spring gave him an idea, and some experimentation led eventually to a remarkable American ginger ale — "fully as good as the imported" — so good in fact that his friends compared its bubbling clarity wMth Veuve Cliquot, the queen of French champagnes.
Apparentlv it is much the same w^ith ginger ales as with the proverbial mouse-trap. The word passed among Millis' club friends in town and, unsought, almost unwanted, an infant industry soon sat on Lansing Millis' doorstep — the business of making Clicquot Club Ginger Ale.
It was not long before commercial enterprise began, but,
72
In 1885, only a few months thereafter, Lansing Millis died and the comparatively negligible assets of The Clicquot Club Company were advertised as for sale. Probably the heirs and assigns of the late Lansing Millis were glad enough to pocket a few thousand dollars for a country spring-house, a small frame building holding a little bottling machinery, and such trademarks, good-will, et cetera as pertained to The Clicquot Club Company. Today the spring, the trade-name and the good-will are worth many millions of dollars — and, while the original frame building is gone, in its place is a sunlit, spotless, modern plant, a third of a mile long, whose latest addition — about 25% of its total capacity — is alone larger than any other complete ginger ale plant in the world.
When H. Earle Kimball assumed control of the Clicquot Club assets he was a boy out of college, but the keen heritage of an old Rhode Island ancestry had given him a judgment of values and an imagination that turned a gentleman farmer's hobby into a great national enterprise. If this were not true, how could he have realized that, next to credit, a young bot- tler's most important asset is a reliable water source?
The Clicquot water supply, arising from deep within the rock of New England at the head waters of the historic Charles River, was the back-log of Clicquot Club prosperity. This never-failing water source has never wavered in purity, so clear as it comes from the ground as to require no filtration. Yet it is always filtered and tested every thirty days for the sake of perfect safety. Many bottlers attempt to make ginger ales of equal quality from aerated city waters, but although Clicquot Club has been ofifered the option on the majority of America's most famous spring sites they have stuck to the original source, believing that they could never be quite so sure of the quality of their blend when made with any other water.
It has been the same with sugar, ginger and all the lesser ingredients of Clicquot Club. Its sugar is bought at a pre- mium in barrels to secure absolute purity. Clicquot Club buys none but the pick of the Jamaican ginger crop.
However, it has been admitted that anyone can mix these things that go into ginger ale and not make Clicquot Club.
73
It is the forty years of priceless experience that make Clicquot Club so uniformly good and popular from coast to coast. If the Clicquot Club policy had been just one of good ingredients, good ginger ales would probably not be made in America today, for in the early days of the Clicquot Club Company beverage extracts were mixed by guess, sani- tation was not a science, bottles were charged and capped by hand.
It was KimbalTs ambition to give the public a ginger ale as good as ginger ale could be, but at a price that would be fair wherever it was bought. Such an ambition meant volume. Volume meant economical manufacture, which in turn demanded better machinery and better bot- tling practices.
It is a significant fact that there has been scarcely a single important improvement in the manufacture of carbonated bev- erages that cannot be traced directly to the Clicquot Club plant at Millis. Clicquot installed the first automatic cap- ping machine. The great modern filling machines in every up-to-date bottler's plant were worked out by engineers who used the Clicquot plant as a laboratory. Clicquot Club has always been the originator of or the first to employ any device or practice that made better ginger ale, if possible at a lower cost to the public.
It goes without saying that publicity had its share in the building of this enormous business. The whimsical Clic(]uot Eskimo Kid has smiled from millions of magazine and news- paper pages for well nigh twenty years. He beams forth nightly from the largest electric sign in the world in Times Square, New "^'ork.
Ginger ale is the principal product of The Clicquot Club Company. Clic(]uot Club Regular is the same delightful blend that Farmer Millis made over forty years ago. Pale Dry is the subtle, delicate dry ginger ale which commemorates forty years of knowing how to make good drinks. Clicquot Club also makes a delicious Sarsaparilla and a Root and a Birch Beer. And the Clicquot Kid on every bottle is a guar- antee of the goodness inside.
74
2,400,000,000 Nickels
Coca Cola Once Was Mixed with a Kettle and a Ladle in the Kitchen of an Old Residence. Now Its Manufacture and Distribution Require One of the Great- est Commercial Chains i n A me r ic a
A SEARCH for perfection, begun in 1880, has resulted in the sale of 2,400,000,000 five-cent drinks of COCA COLA in one year.
Originated before modern chemisty was able to reproduce the tastes and colors that occur in nature by means of chemi- cal compounds, COCA COLA still remains an old-fashioned beverage, composed entirely of natural products.
Atlanta, Georgia, was the scene of the labors of Dr. J. S. Pemberton, the originator of COCA COLA. As a contrast to the thirteen modern factories, equipped with every device for preserving the purity and wholesomeness of COCA
75
COLA, he worked with a kettle and a hidle in the kitchen of an oKi residence.
On the corner below the house was a drug store, equipped with a soda fountain, one of the three fountains in the city at tliat time, thouj^h the number has increased to 389 now. After mixing a new combination in liis kettle, Dr. Pember- ton would rush down to the little drug store, mix his svrup with carbonated water and taste the drink.
In 1886 he made his final trial, his sense of taste assured him that he had reached perfection, his beverage was ready for the market. An associate, F. M. Robinson, suggested the name COCA COLA, and that year 26 gallons were sold. This ends the first chapter of the romance, the period of discovery.
The second chapter in the story of COCA COLA must describe the solution of a problem peculiarly modern — ■ distribution.
Though the taste was good, the product wholesome, its manufacture clean, and its results as a thirst-quencher excel- lent, there still remained the difficulty of spreading the bev- erage and the message from the old residence in Atlanta to every town and hamlet of the Ignited States and Canada and to 29 foreign countries.
For this purpose the original Coca Cola Company was organized as a close corporation in 1892. The originator had died and the destiny of COCA COLA was left in the hands of business men, better equipped than he perhaps to effect distribution. There had been no predecessor to show them how to market a soft drink. No pioneer had blazed the trail. Their methods were of necessity original.
The Coca Cola Company was one of the first companies in America to catch the vision of advertising — a means of tell- ing the world that you have a quality product — delicious and refreshing.
Beginning with an initial expenditure of $46.00, the adver- tising appropriation has grown until at the end of 1924 more than fortv million dollars had been spent advertising COCA COLA.'
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In response to demand, factories were built at Dallas and Chicago, then Los Angeles, New York, Cuba and Canada, until now 13 factories, 27 warehouses, 1,200 bottlers, 2,300 jobbers, 115,000 fountain dealers and 300,000 bottle dealers form the distribution chain of COCA COLA.
During the year 1919 the close corporation which was The Coca Cola Company was changed into a corporation com- posed of thousands of stockholders.
The direction of the vast COCA COLA business now rests in the hands of Robert W. Woodruff. Under his able guid- ance, the manufacturing process was perfected and a sales organization, commensurate with the advertising develop- ment, was built. No small job, this, to cover the United States, Canada and Cuba with the actual beverage, the mes- sage inviting each passerby to partake and the service to the retailer afforded by the monthly visits of our salesmen. This task required the genius of organization.
The search for perfection brought success. The 26 gallons have increased to 700,000 times that amount. The romance of discovery was followed by the intelligent application of modern business methods, and the result is 6,000,000 nickels a day spent for COCA COLA.
Possessing the first essential, quality product, confident in the ability of its leader, assured by the cumulative efifect of 39 years of advertising and the knowledge of steadily increas- ing sales, The Coca Cola Company looks forward to the fu- ture, realizing that popular demand has made of its product an essential.
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118 Years of Prestige and Progress
The Name and Reputatio7i of Col <y ate &f Co . ^r^ Amo7ig th e Best and Most Favor- ably Known of American Enterprises, Here Is the Story from Its Be^innin^.
Ax American Institution Selling Soap in Every Civilized Country of the World — 1925.
When a smiling grocer fills his customer's order for Octa- gon Soap or Fab his cash register tingles merrily and the grocer methodically goes on about his business. But behind each sale of Colgate soap there is a story — a story that dates back to the days before the Revolutionary War — a story of hardships, struggles and difficulties which were finally over- come by perseverance, honesty and skill.
On January 25, 1783, a fine baby boy entered the home of Robert Colgate. This baby was christened William, and
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in due time was to leave his mark on the Tablet of Time as the founder of the house of Colgate & Company.
In 1798 this same William, at the age of 15, was com- pelled to jump into the breach to help support his family, which in that year received a crushing blow in the loss by faulty title of their Harford County, Maryland, farm. This farm represented the family's life savings and the blow came as a bolt of lighting out of the blue sky.
To help his family recover, William secured employment with a Baltimore soapmaker. For two years he stuck to this Baltimore job, learning how to make soap, and we are told was industrious, faithful and highly efficient. Baltimore then, as it still is, was a delightful city in which to live and work, but William Colgate got a notion that New York would offer him a larger opportunity for advancement. So, at the age of 18, he boarded a stage coach for New York. On the morn- ing following his arrival, he presented himself at the offices of John Slidell & Co., 50 Broadway, the largest tallow chan- dlers of the city, applied for a job, secured one and demon- strated that he was master of his trade.
Young men who are masters of every end of their busi- ness are merchants in embryo, and William was no exception. He would build a name, too, with which to conjure and so, in 1806, being then aged 23, struck out for himself. At No. 6 Dutch Street he rented a two-story brick building, in which he installed the necessary manufacturing equipment. Here he modestly began laying the foundation of a business, which for 1 18 years, from the small beginning there and then made, has been growing apace with the nation and with the fame, pres- tige and reputation of American industry.
On this first morning of his business career in the summer of 1806 he opened his modest little shop at seven in the morn- ing. He waited anxiously all day for the first customer to arrive. Finally, toward what normally would have been clos- ing time, an elderly gentleman entered, looked curiously around, examined the meagre display of soaps critically and bought a two-pound bar. Thus the beginning of Colgate & Co. and Colgate service.
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Mr. irHliiDit Colgalc I'OHiidcr of Colgate c'r Co.
In 1806, of course, the soap business bore slight resemblance to the great industry of today. For more than three-fourths of the soap used in those days was made at home.
William Colgate faced the problem of competing with the prejudice of the ages and tlic skill of each housewife as a soap- maker. To do this tactfully without hurting the pride of the ladies in their own talent re- quired discretion, imagination and a keen understanding of hu- man nature.
Mr. Colgate faced his task with a will and started making soap by improved methods. He standardized its shape and began making toilet articles that every woman with refined taste and appreciation of merit would instantly sense as supe- rior to the home-made varieties. And so the business grew.
To meet the continually expanding demand he had to en- large his equipment substantially and soon built the world's biggest kettle, in which he could boil a 45,000-pound batch of soap. Today the Colgate factories have 25 giant kettles, ten with a capacity of 700,000 pounds each and one of them almost 1,000,000 pounds, for making their various soaps.
In 1910 the entire Colgate organization was moved from the original Dutch Street address to Jersey City, only show and sales rooms being retained in New York for the benefit of the trade. Today this Jersey City plant occupies several acres and branch plants have been established in Canada, France, and Jeffersonville, Ind.
Perfumes, toilet articles and soaps made by Colgate & Co. are sold in every civilized country of the world, and the name and reputation of Colgate & Co. today is all that Wil- liam Colgate would have had it, a true reflection of the high ideals and ideas of its early founder.
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From Lincolnshire to the Wide-World
What the Salads of the World Owe to the Mustard Fields of Lincolnshire and the Enterprise of Jeremiah Coleman
In 1854 Jeremiah Colman purchased a small windmill not far from the mustard fields of Lincolnshire and the fens of England and began the milling and blending of mustard. This was the beginning of J. and J. Colman, Limited, now the largest mustard business in the world.
The business prospered and before the difficulties of transportation made it necessary to move to a more advan- tageous location. The city of Norwich, England, was selected because it was in the heart of the finest mustard-growing dis- trict in the world. Norwich is today the home of Colman's Mustard.
From manufacturing mustard for the small local markets the business continued to grow until Colman's was the leading
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mustard in England. It was then exported first to New Zea- land, Australia and South Africa, and later to Canada and the United States. Today Colman's Mustard is sold in every country in the world.
The Carrow Works of J. and J. Colman, Ltd., in Nor- wich is of tremendous size. The great factories occupy over 32 acres of land and employ well over 3,000 men and women. Four trainloads of Colman's Mustard leave the factories every working day.
The original Jeremiah Colman gradually took into part- nership with him three nephews. The family has from the beginning always taken an active part in the direction of the business. Today six of the seven members of the Board of Directors are Colmans.
Not only have the Colmans been connected with the firm since it started but the families of the employees as well. Many of them come of families who have worked for the company for generations.
And for generations, too, the yeoman-farmers of the coun- tryside in Lincolnshire have made mustard raising their life's concern. Today many of them who sell their seed to Col- man's come of families who raised and sold Lincolnshire seed to the same firm 120 years ago. They take great pride in the fact that the mustard they raise is the finest in the world.
Colman's Mustard is the careful and scientific blending of the flour of yellow and black mustard seeds. They are first threshed and milled and then separated to remove the outer husks. The yellow and black flour is sifted separately and then accurately blended.
Mustard is very difficult to manufacture because the seed is very small and the flour contains an exceedingly high per- centage of oil. It is particularly difficult to manufacture on a small scale because it is hard to keep the quality of the product uniform. Even though made in tremendous quantities, Col- man's Mustard is constantly tested to insure its quality. The men who do this testing have had years of experience and are able to keep the mustard absolutely uniform in quality.
While Colman's Mustard is used in every country in the
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world, the amounts consumed vary greatly in different coun- tries. It is estimated that the per capita consumption of mus- tard in the United States is only one-twelfth of that in England and Australia.
The Colman advertising in the United States is now show- ing the American people how they may use mustard in more ways. The national advertising, on a larger scale than ever be- fore, is featuring tempting salads and other dishes to which Colman's Mustard adds an enli- vened flavor. A comparatively few years ago J. and J. Colman intro- duced a mustard relish in England called Savora. It at once became popular there, and when taken to the leading coun- tries of Europe there also soon became widely used. In France, especially, the chefs of all the prominent hotels and restaurants find it indispensable in the preparation of many of their famous dishes. Savora is today the favorite relish of the greatest European chefs. Everywhere, too, the familiar Savora bottle appears on the tables and restaurants for patrons to use.
Savora is rapidly developing a world-wide market, side by side with Colman's Mustard. The last link in the chain is the United States, where, even though very recently intro- duced, it already has become a popular dish.
The Old Windmill Where, in 180U,
Jeremiah Colman First Made
Mustard
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Why ''Rastus Grins"
His Smili/jo- Face 'Bespeaks to All the l^ orld and His Family the Superior Excel- lence and Purity of One of the First and Best Breakfast Cereals^ ''Cream of Wheat''
In Grand Forks, North Dakota, in 1895, there was a small flour milling concern called the North Dakota Milling Com- pany. While they manufactured a high-grade flour, the busi- ness had not been unduly prosperous since the panic of 1893 and the officers were looking for means to increase their earn- ing capacity. In this search they found that the product now universally known as "Cream of Wheat" made a very deli- cious breakfast cereal. Not only was it a delicious cereal, but they found it made delicious desserts, puddings, etc. And with all this, it had the wonderful properties of a high en- ergy value combined with extreme ease of digestion. These properties made it especially valuable as a food for all the family — for infants, children and grownups alike.
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Mr. Emery Mapcs Cream of ITIicat Compnny
In view of this information on the product, the officers of the milling company felt they had the groundwork for a real business — and so Cream of Wheat was originated.
The first Cream of Wheat packages were cut by hand from cardboard. The first packing boxes were made from old lum- ber about the mill. For the la- bel, Mr. Emery Mapes, an offi- cer of the company and the man who afterward directed the advertising for the company, picked out a rough cut of a negro's head, which he found among some old ne\\'spaper cuts in the office.
Fifty cases of thirty-six packages each comprised the first shipment of Cream of Wheat. This was consigned to the company's sales representatives in New York. The agents were requested to do their best to market this first lot. By noon of the day the shipment reached New York a wire order for an additional fifty cases was received by the company. By night an additional wire, ordering a car, was received.
The business soon outgrew the capacity of the mill in Grand Forks and the plant was moved to Minneapolis. Started in a small way in Minneapolis in 1897, the business rapidly outgrew first one and then another plant. Finally, in 1903, the company built its present plant in Minneapolis. Mr. Mapes was not satisfied with his original negro cut for the Cream of Wheat package, and was on the lookout for a better figure. On one of his trips to Chicago he dropped into Kohlsaat's restaurant for a meal. His waiter was a genial, smiling negro, whose face attracted Mr. Mapes. An ofTer of $5.00 for a photograph was readily accepted. The photograph was made, and that photograph has been the basis of all the Cream of Wheat chefs which have appeared since
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then on the millions of Cream of Wheat packages and on the advertisements of the company down to the present time.
Originally, the packing was done hy hand. Now this is all done by automatic machinery. The product is never touched bv human hands from the time the raw material is delivered to the plant until it reaches the consumer's kitchen.
From a local distribution, through consistent advertising in the national magazines, the business of the company has grown to be world wide and "Cream of Wheat" to be a household word throughout English-speaking countries.
Always has there been the same careful selection of only the best hard wheat for the product; always the same pains- taking determination to thoroughly purify and sterilize and pack Cream of Wheat, so that its quality can be depended upon by the housewife wherever she buys it. These efforts have been rewarded by an ever-increasing sale of Cream of Wheat and confidence in the product on the part of the con- suming public.
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80 Food Delicacies That Bear Blue Labels
The Blue Label Line Enables Us to En- joy All the Year Round at a Reasonable Price Nearly All the Most Popular Products of Farm and Orchard
The history of Curtice Brothers Company is an interesting phase of the story of the canning industry in the United States — an industry which, since its beginning in this country in 1855, has become an economic necessity, with an output last year of over one hundred million cases.
Curtice Brothers Company, with its well-known line of Blue Label Canned Foods, has enjoyed the patronage of the discriminating buying public since 1858.
The main plant is located at Rochester, N. Y., situated in the fertile Genesee Valley, which is recognized generally as producing fruits and vegetables of superior flavor and
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quality. This has enabled the company to obtain not only the finest of raw materials but also to put them up in cans and jars the same day they leave the farms and orchards, which preserves to a remarkable degree the fresh flavor and tender- ness. This policy has been strictly adhered to in locating the four other plants which make up the Blue Label organization.
The inception of the company is an interesting story. Origi- nally, the two Curtice brothers and their mother ran a gro- cery store, and one day, through some combination of cir- cumstances, found themselves with a big supply of fresh toma- toes which they could not sell and which at that time, with its absence of refrigeration facilities, promised to be a total loss.
The two Curtice boys, however, had become interested in the then new canning process, and after some experimenta- tion, succeeded in putting up the tomatoes in glass jars. The product so took hold that the grocery business was soon super- seded by a growing list of canned vegetables and fruits.
It is an interesting coincidence, too, that the tomato prod- uct with which the business was founded is at present in the form of Blue Label Ketchup, the most popular item of a line which now consists of over eighty varieties of canned vege- tables, fruits, preserves, syrups and similar food delicacies which enable the consumer to enjoy, all year round at a reason- able cost, the products of the farm and orchard.
Since 1858 many changes and improvements have taken place, of course, in canning methods and equipment, but the original policy of maintaing uniform high quality and home- kitchen care in preparation remains the same.
Blue Label Canned Foods wTre among the first of the nationally advertised products, and throughout all these years have been kept before the public in magazines and other media.
The present organization is just as thoroughly sold on the importance of advertising, backed up by aggressive sales work, as it realizes that next to producing a quality product these are the two fact(jrs which have made Blue Label Foods well and favorably known throughout the United States and in foreign countries as well.
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What Matters the Price
of Salt?
The Alberger Process of Making Salt Costs More — but Food Manufacturers and General Public Alike Have Learned the Wo rt h - JVh He n ess of Q u a lity Sa It
The story of the Diamond Crystal Salt Company is not the story of one man. It is, rather, the story of the hopes, the discouragements and the ultimate success of a group of men who were trying to do a commonplace thing uncommonly well.
Salt was manufactured in Michigan first by the lumber- men, who used slabs and sawdust for the fuel and cooperage necessary to evaporate the brine and contain the salt. Salt made in this way was impure and cheap, being a by-product.
In 1886 Mr. J. L. Alberger, of Bufifalo, N. Y., "interested
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a number of St. Clair citizens in a new process of making salt. A company was formed and Albergcr's process was put into operation. A small wooden building contained the entire equipment, which could produce only 75 barrels of salt a day.
Not until 10 years after its inception did the company be- come a paying proposition. Through those first 10 years it was engaged in a continuous struggle for existence.
It had been expected that the process invented by Alber- ger would be more economical. It was soon discovered, how- ever, that it was more expensive than any other process of making salt. But it made a higher grade, purer salt, with an unusual fiake grain, and on this fact the company decided to build.
The consumer had so long been accustomed to regard salt as "just salt" that he was slow to appreciate the advantages of these fundamental differences. But when the baker, butter- maker, meat packer and canner were shown, beyond all ques- tion, that high-grade salt improved their products they be- came interested.
But it was slow work. The usual discouragements attendant on new enterprises were working overtime. A disastrous fire destroyed the plant. The volume of orders coming in at that time, however, justified the directors in rebuilding. Panics and financial troubles came, were weathered and came again.
It t(Jok faith and pluck and perseverance on the part of the directors, but in the end they conquered. Today there are few places in the United States where Diamond Crystal and Shaker Salt are not well known. Many of the leading food manufacturers in the country are using Diamond Crys- tal to season their products. Its name has been spread by the consistent use of nearly every well-established form of advertising.
The little wooden building, with a capacity of 75 barrels of salt a day, has given place to a magnificent plant of brick, steel and cement, which can produce 4,500 barrels of high- grade salt every 24 hours, besides a vast tonnage of the
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cheaper commercial grades. It stands today a splendid mon- ument to the foresight and business acumen of the officers and directors who carried the company through its discouraging early years.
The plant of today is a very complete unit. It contains a cooper shop, which turns out all the barrels necessary to contain the salt. The moisture-proof Shaker cartons are also made in the plant to insure the high quality necessary to pro- tect the salt. A corps of chemists is continually busy testing the brines and the salt to insure the consistent purity of Dia- mond Crystal.
As the business has grown the company has established branch offices throughout the country. At the present time a large corps of salesmen work out of St. Clair, Boston, New York, Chicago, Dallas, Altanta, San Francisco, Toronto and Minneapolis.
It is a far cry from the little plant doing a small local busi- ness to the large organization that now has its representatives in every corner of this country and whose products are also used by people of foreign lands.
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From Plantation to Cup
A Business Evolution of Over Three- Quarters of a Century That Has Brought About a Complete Service — for Buying, Roasting, Packaging and Distributing a Superior Coffee
The business of the Dwinell-Wright Company began over three-quarters of a century ago. It was founded about 18+5 by Mr. James F. Dwinell, who established a small coffee business on one of Boston's many crooked streets under the firm name of Dwinell & Company.
A policy of "The best and nothing but the best" was adopted and consistently maintained, a very difficult matter at that time, the now familiar sealed and trade-marked pack- age not having been developed.
Mr. George C. Wright, the first President of the Dwinell- Wright Company was one of the pioneers of the business, — Mr. Dwinell and Mr. Hayward having started in separate companies a few years earlier, — about 1849. Afterwards they came together. Mr. Hayward retired in 1892, and on Mr.
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DwinelTs death in 1898 a Massachusetts Corporation was formed under the title, Dwinell-Wright Company.
Boston has always been the home of the expert coffee tester and blender, and Mr. George C. Wright was looked to as being one of the most expert, being gifted with that sixth sense necessary in selecting and blending the various types of coffee berry so as to produce that elusive flavor and smoothness so eagerly sought in coffee, the worlds' most popular drink.
It was the custom at this time for the coffee buyer to pur- chase and judge his green coffee solely by the appearance of the berry. Mr. Wright first introduced an innovation in this hit-or-miss manner of buying by using an old-fashioned corn popper, with which he roasted a small sample of each lot of green coffee submitted for examination. At that time, this aroused a good deal of good-natured ridicule and banter, but today there are very few coffee merchants who do not test each lot of coffee by actually cupping and tasting a small sample of each lot submitted. The corn popper method would hardly be fast enough for the company's present requirements and has been partly superseded by a battery of six small roasters driven by a motor with small electrical grinding mills.
Three generations of Wrights, George C. Wright, the founder, George S. Wright, the present active President, and Warren M. Wright, a member of the Board of Directors, in an uninterrupted period of over seventy-five years, have de- veloped the science of coffee selection and blending to an extremely high degree. Today the users of White House Coffee enjoy the benefits of this ripe experience.
Not only has the stability of the Company been assured by the personal and intensive application of the founders of the business, but such men as Holland, Miller, Crampton, Perry, Bacon, Dickerman, Shaw, Baker and Sale have grown up with and have been identified in the business for more than twenty-five years each. Their loyal and enthusiastic support has been a great factor in the success of the business.
In the early history of the Company, the two partners did all of the manual work of blending and roasting in addition to carrying the responsibility of business detail. Sales were
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confined largely to local markets, for rapid distribution as we know it today was not thought of.
Development of the railroad, the telephone and telegraph broadened their field ; they installed one of the first telephones used in this country, and in 1878 their name was listed among the sixty-seven printed in the first telephone directory ever issued. The daily output grew steadily in volume. Addi- tional help was added, the partners then devoting all their time and energy to general management and finance.
The rapidly growing business taxed their ingenuity in seek- ing and devising new processes and methods where quality, if possible, could be improved upon and production speeded up to meet the rapidly growing demand.
About this time, it was determined to market their highest grade cofifee in sealed packages. This was a radical move.
Introducing the package was a test of the firms' popularity and reputation, because it meant the purchase of cofifec ''sight unseen," the buyer having faith in the firm's policy of "The best and nothing but the best."
The type of package used was the best obtainable at that time, and though it has since been changed as mechanical in- genuity has made better packages possible, it is interesting that the familiar blue, white and gold label showing a picture of the White House has always been retained.
Success was instantaneous, and from this beginning the "White House" package grew more and more popular until today a force of over seventy salesmen serve more than twenty-five thousand dealers throughout the United States and Canada who sell "White House" brand with confidence, knowing that over three-quarters of a century of experience in the preparation of quality coffee is reflected in the Dwinell- Wright Company's "White House" trade-mark.
The popularity of the new package made larger quarters imperative. In 1904, a large modern building, equipped for the preparing and handling of coflee and tea exclusively, was erected at 31 1-3 19 Summer Street. In 1923, a five story spa- cious warehouse, 50 x 150, was erected close to the factory for general storage purposes. Every worth-while appliance and
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device which would aid in the sanitary preparation of coffee and tea was installed, the finished plant being a model of its kind. Surely a history and achievement to be proud of.
The selection by the Dwinell-Wright Company of the double-sealed package was the result of the most careful in- vestigation and tests, and machinery manufactured by the Pneumatic Scale Corporation, Ltd., was installed to make and fill the package automatically and inexpensively.
These machines operate in a manner "almost human". In fact, human fingers could not begin to follow the deft and rapid way each carton is picked from a stack by a long knife or finger, placing it on a block.
Small rollers then apply glue to the flaps that make the bottom of the carton, and automatic fingers fold them in place. Two thousand pounds pressure are applied to press the glued flaps together, making sure that a positively tight seal is made.
After the bottoms are sealed, the moisture-resisting bag is placed in the carton. The bag is made automatically, a piece of specially prepared paper the proper size being cut out from a large roll is formed round a block, then plunged into the carton.
Next comes the weighing and filling. Chutes carry the coffee from the floor above to weighing machines fitted with two hoppers, the lined carton passing under the first hopper which drops about three-quarters of the desired weight of coffee. The partly filled carton is then jiggled about, for all the world looking as though it were dancing with joy at re- ceiving such a pleasant filling. At the second hopper just enough coffee is released into the carton to make exactly the weight required, no more, no less.
The filled package is now sealed at the top, the paper lining being folded in with the top flaps of the carton, to insure the double protective seal, and held in a series of moving belts to make sure the adhesive is set and the package tight.
No human hand has touched the coffee during the process. The entire operation of packing being wholly automatic in- sures White House Coffee reaching the consumer in a per- fectly sanitary condition.
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Of Excellence and Enthusiasm
Two Gf'eat Forces for Success That Have United to Promote Sales for Fels-Naptha. Here, IVritten by Doctor Goldbaunij is the Selling Message That Fels-Naptha Has Sent Ringing Across the Country
A GENEKATIOX ago the women of America learned that a new product had been perfected to make their housework easier. A new kind of soap had been invented which was to mark the greatest advance in washing clothes and cleaning the home since lye and fats were first combined for cleansing.
This welcome household aid was the result of combining naphtha — that particularly useful dirt loosener — with splen- did soap. Taking the name of its maker, in connection with its most distinctive feature, this product was called Fels- Naptha.
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Women were quick to appreciate it. They found that where they formerly had to rub, rub, rub to get clothes clean, at the expense of their backs and their fabrics — Fels-Naptha did most of the work by gentle soaking. They saw that the naphtha made the dirt let go without harm to the most deli- cate fabric, and the soapy water promptly flushed the dirt away, leaving deep, sweet, wholesome cleanliness.
To its extra help is added convenience in using, for Fels- Naptha does its unusual work in water of any temperature. Women accustomed to boiling clothes can continue to do so, for with Fels-Naptha the clothes come clean quicker. They can use Fels-Naptha with cool or lukewarm water, and its extra help is plainly seen and felt.
Thus Fels-Naptha not only makes clothes clean thor- oughly and safely, but it does the work easier and quicker. It gives extra washing and cleaning helps that women cannot get in any other form. It is absolutely unique — different from any other soap or any other form of soap. Why shouldn't Fels-Naptha give extra help?
Fels-Naptha is more than soap. It is more than soap naphtha. It is the Fels-Naptha combination of splendid soap and naphtha that enables the Golden Bar to give extra help to many a work-tired mother or homemaker.
Since Fels-Naptha first brought lighter work for house- wives many soaps of one kind or another have come — and many of them have gone, but in all these years, with all the progress that has been made in household arts, millions of housewives throughout America know that nothing can take the place of Fels-Naptha.
This is particularly significant, when you consider the mul- titude of soaps and soap preparations on the market, each claiming their particular point of merit and clamoring con- tinually for the patronage of the housewife.
Fels-Naptha's extra help is not confined to washing clothes. Wherever soap and water is used for cleaning in the home Fels-Naptha carries its extra help and makes the task of clean- ing lighter — from brightening painted woodwork, cleaning bathtubs, taking spots from rugs and draperies to washing
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dishes and bringing sunshine cleanliness into every corner of the home.
Always Fels-Naptha's tA7;7/ help means safe, wholesome cleanliness — more easily and quickly obtained than with just soap in any form.
This cxttd help of Fels-Naptha is, therefore, the basis of appeal to soap users everywhere. It is the fundamental differ- ence between Fels-Naptha and every other soap. It is Fels- Naptha's distinctive virtue.
There are other good soaps, of course — as far as they go. Fels-Naptha is splendid soap that goes farther — it successfully combines naphtha with it. Two useful dirt looseners work- ing together hand-in-hand — instead of alone.
This is the ringing message that goes into the homes of America's homemakers every month through the Delineator- Designer and America's other leading magazines, telling the millions who do not know^ what the millions who know Fels- Naptha have already found out.
It is giving the housewife a definite reason for making a choice. It is sending the housewives of every community to their dealers to ask definitely for Fels-Naptha by name. It convinces them of Fels-Naptha's extra help and makes them determined to have it.
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Behold — the Humble Yeast
Of the Modest Little Package That Has Leavened Billio7is of Loaves of Bread for Millions of Housewives — aiid Now Is Spreading a New Message of Health to Americans
In 1866 a young man in Vienna named Charles Fleisch- mann received a letter from his sister in New York, inviting him to come across the ocean to see her married. Young Fleischmann probably didn't think twice before accepting that invitation, for hadn't all the young men heard about the won- ders across the sea?
So, Charles Fleischmann came to America. He did not stay long this time; but he liked what he saw so much that he determined to come back — to a home this time, with all his goods and hopes.
Two years later, in 1868, Charles again saw friendly Manhattan. Destiny sent him on; he turned his face west-
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ward, followed the old pioneer route down the Ohio and set- tled— very permanently — in the good town of Cincinnati.
Charles Fleischmann had an idea. An idea to base his life on. The pioneer spirit that is in all great business men was in him. He would not build railroads, he would not build banks — he would build yeast.
He knew bakers and baking — since childhood he had known them. And in Austria he had especially studied that essential ingredient of bread, the yeast. The bakers them- selves made the yeast (or got it from the breweries) — in con- venient liquid form — of variable strength — uncertain — unreliable.
Charles Fleischmann determined to make a much better yeast — of uniform freshness, quality and efficiency — in a new convenient form. He determined to cultivate the "wild" yeast strains, improve the little yeast plant by selection until it would be a universally recognized product of quality.
The years have shown how this young man succeeded.
In 1868 he made and sold the first cake of standardized fresh yeast used by an American baker. In 1870 he organized the Gaff-Fleischmann Company, which began operations at Riverside, near Cincinnati. It was an uphill fight at first. Crude hand presses were used. Cooling devices were abso- lutely unknown; temperatures could not be controlled. It was a far cry to the great testing laboratories, the immense batteries of vats and refrigerators, the big, swift machines of any one of the Fleischmann factories of today.
The first crude yeast plant burned down in 1871. When it was rebuilt cutting machines were installed and the yeast was wrapped in foil, in pound packages for the baker and in smaller cakes for the housewife. Growth was rapid from the beginning. Today there are eleven Fleischmann factories in the United States and Canada. The Peekskill plant is the largest — the largest yeast factory in the world.
In the early '80s Mr. Fleischmann took over the Gafi^ in- terests and changed the name of the firm to the Fleischmann Company. Charles Fleischmann died in 1897. ^" ^9^5 ^^^ Fleischmann Company was reorganized with Julius Fleisch-
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Mr. Joseph Wilshire, President The rieisclimann Co.
mann as president. Julius was succeeded at his death, in 1925, by Joseph Wilshire.
From almost the very begin- ning the Fleischmann Company has been active in advertising. At first much educational work was necessary. When Fleisch- mann's Yeast was first market- ed, naturally the baker was sat- isfied with the "slop yeast" he had always used. So, all the way through, the Fleischmann Company determined to sell the idea of better bread. Baking laboratories were installed, ex- perts employed ; experimental work in breadmaking was be- gun. The Fleischmann Company finds it profitable to help the baker without stint.
The first advertising aimed at the consumer was the cam- paign at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. Here were staged a number of practical baking demonstra- tions of Vienna bread and rolls. These were followed by an extensive house-to-house canvass to win the interest of the housewife. Women quickly saw that the new, clean, fresh yeast gave better results, and their demand, both for the yeast and the bread made with it, had much to do with putting the business on its firm basis.
Since this time the Fleischmann Company has been tire- less in advocating better bread — and more bread. One of its most ambitious pieces of propaganda has been the familiar "Eat more bread" campaigns. Much helpful literature has been broadcast under Fleischmann auspices. And there is that interesting Fleischmann institution, the training school for bakers.
Perhaps the most striking phase of the Fleischmann busi- ness is one of recent development — for it is one that has struck the public imagination: Yeast-for-health. Of course, yeast
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has been eaten for healtli for centuries. Physicians have long recognized its value. It is an old corrective for skin troubles. In Europe, especially, it was used also for constipation, stomach disorders and riui-ciown condition. But it is only recently, follow int^ notable scientific discoveries and the con- sequent growth of general popular interest in right eating, that veast has come into its own as a food.
It was only after the most careful preparation, after long experimentation by scientists and medical men that the Fleischmann Company ventured into the new field. But with a mass of data at hand and medical opinion friendly, it was decided to begin consumer advertising in new^spapers and magazines in the spring of 1920. Yeast as a food for health was an overwhelming success from the beginning. Grateful users spread the news. It was this enthusiasm that facilitateti the work. Now^ the experience of those who have eaten yeast is the basis for the advertising copy; the appeal is intensely human; the consumer tells his own story. The four familiar ailments which the product benefits are well-nigh universal; and Fleischmann's "^'east-for-Health has become a household word.
Much of the credit for the success of both Yeast for bak- ing and \'east-for-Health should go to the Fleischmann dis- tributing service — to the 2,000 men who supply yeast to 300,000 grocers, 30,000 bakers and some thousands of soda fountains and cafeterias — the men whose devotion in time of crisis — storm or flood — has made h^leischmann service famous.
Two other products, Diamalt and Arkady, for the better quality of baker's bread, have been added to the Fleischmann line.
The place that Meisclimann's Yeast has made for itself in American life with the baker, the grocer, the housewife and more recently with the general public is a noteworthy tribute to the power of an idea followed out logically and to the rightness of progressive American business methods.
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7,000 Co-Operating Fruit Growers
More Than Half the Citrus Fruit of Florida Is Marketed Through the Florida Citrus Exchange^ IVhich Sells More Than $50,000,000 fVorth of Fruit Every Year
The history of the Florida Citrus Exchange is an interest- ing one, closely related to the development of the industry which the organization serves and intimately connected with the progress of central and south Florida.
Previous to the big freeze of 1895, Florida's citrus indus- try was chiefly centered in the northern tier of the counties which constitute the present citrus belt. Marion County was probably the largest producer of oranges at that time. Only a negligible quantity of grapefruit was grown.
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In the season or two preceding the 1895 freeze, Florida's citrus production approached five million boxes annually. Marketing methods were of a haphazard and unscientific character. As the crop increased, returns to growers became less and less satisfactory. There was much talk of overpro- duction. Grove owners gradually became convinced that they must organize to provide a more orderly system of sell- ing their output.
It was finally decided to form a selling agency that would be controlled by the growers. This w^as completed at a con- vention of 300 delegates, representing 3,000 growers, held at Orlando, April 24, 1894. The Florida Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association was the name chosen. Its headquarters were at Ocala, and the active executive ofBcer was Myron E. Gillett. While not strictly cooperative in character, and some- what crude in its methods judged by present-day standards, this organization was rapidly coming to the front when the freeze happened in 1895 and so reduced citrus production that for several years marketing problems ceased to trouble Florida growers.
Early in the present century production had begun to assume considerable proportions once more. The area of citrus production had been rapidly pushed southward. Grape- fruit, as well as oranges, were beginning to be regarded as a commercial crop. Soon Florida's output in citrus reached such volume as to indicate five million boxes or more a year in a short time. Marketing methods had been but slightly improved and remained in a highly disorganized basis, afford- ing growers little protection and failing to provide adequate means for the proper distribution of the increasing yields. The reviving citrus industry was threatened wqth dissolution, due to the fact it was getting on an unprofitable basis.
Meanwhile, California had entered the citrus field. Mar- keting difficulties had threatened the citrus industry of that State in a most serious manner. The more aggressive of the grow'ers had got together and, taking their cue from the earlier effort in Florida, decided upon a cooperative organiza- tion. There were any number of ups and downs in the move-
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ment, but finally it gained strength and out of it grew the Cali- fornia Fruit Growers Exchange, commonly regarded as the oldest of the seasoned cooperatives. It was the natural thing for Florida growers, confronted by a situation threatening the existence of their business, to look to California for inspira- tion and example.
Dr. F. W. Inman, of Florence Villa, Polk County, took the lead in the movement to organize Florida growers. Gath- ering about him a group of like-minded men, he consistently, insistently and persistently advocated the idea of cooperative marketing. Finally he persuaded several dozen of his asso- ciates to join him in a trip to California, where weeks were spent in study of the California Fruit Growers Exchange. Returning to Florida, Dr. Inman and his supporters formed the Florida Citrus Exchange, the charter and by-laws closely following the California model.
The Florida Citrus Exchange first got down to business in the shipping season of 1909-10. Dr. Inman had been elected president and M. E. Gillett general manager. A much larger crop of grapefruit and oranges than had ever been produced before had to be moved. The formative steps of the movement had taken more time than was anticipated, and the Florida Citrus Exchange was thrown into active operation really be- fore it was able to perform. Climatic conditions of an abnor- mal character gave a crop of fruit that was difiicult to handle. The net results of the first year's effort were far from pleas- ing to most growers, and many of them were immediately "ofif" the Exchange for the future.
Disappointed, but not discouraged. Dr. Inman and most of the leaders of the movement stood by the ship. In the years that followed there were a number of changes made in the management at various times. During the ten years which Dr. J. H. Ross served as president and C. E. Stewart, Jr., as business manager, the Florida Citrus Exchange showed its best growth, increasing its volume from 25 to 35 per cent of the crop and building up a loyal membership.
During the summer of 1924 the Florida Citrus Exchange experienced another reorganization, adding a number of new
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members to its ranks and increasing its crop holding to some- thing just a little less than 50 per cent of the total Florida pro- duction. Dr. Ross retired as president on the anniversary of his eightieth birthday and \\as succeeded by L. C. Edwards, prominent grower, who still retains that office.
The membership of the Florida Citrus Exchange now num- bers 7,000 cooporative growers, who own and control 123 associated packing houses in every section of Florida's citrus belt. Its headquarters are established at Tampa, from which it operates a well-organized sales department, with paid repre- sentatives in every leading citrus fruit market of the country to sell its trade-marked Sealdsweet and other brands of fruit. Its sales business averages nearly $50,000,000 a year.
Floritia now markets more than 20,000,000 boxes of citrus fruit a year, and the growers get better prices than they did fifteen years ago, when they produced but five million boxes. The Florida Citrus Exchange has scored many accomplish- ments in its work of stabilizing that State's fruit industry, though with Florida's production still increasing it still has plenty of work to do in that direction. That Florida growers appreciate the need for cooperative marketing is evidenced by the fact that they are joining the Florida Citrus Exchange in greater numbers each day.
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The Fascinating Story of Foulds
The Story of the Making and Marketing of the Foulds' Line — Macaroni, Spaghetti, Noodles, Vermicelli and Other Wheat Products and the Famous Kitchen Bouquet
The Foulds Milling Company was organized in Cincin- nati, Ohio, in 1884. The manufacture of macaroni products was started in 1890. The Foulds Milling Company was com- bined with the National Macaroni Company of Libertyville, Illinois, in 1905. The Foulds plant at Libertyville has been developed and extended until today it is one of the most mod- ern macaroni factories in the United States.
Mr. F. W. Foulds, the founder of the Foulds' Brand, has often been called by those familiar with the macaroni situa- tion the "Pioneer of the Industry," as it was through Mr. Foulds ability to foresee the possibilities offered in the Amer- ican market for quality macaroni plus a sanitary package and
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the wonderful health-giving qualities macaroni offer as a food that the Foulds' Brand became famous.
Back in the '80s macaroni was little known to the Ameri- can housewife. It was principally manufactured and con- sumed by foreign trade, mostly of Italian origin. The prod- ucts oflfered for American consumption were very question- able. Pure food laws were not eflective and anyone buying macaroni or spaghetti was liable to get so-called "imported" goods at a high price, with a fancy label, whereas the goods, in many instances, were made in some small factory under most unsanitary conditions in one of our American cities.
These conditions were responsible for the rapid growth of the Foulds' Brand, which is packed in a sanitary package and advertised as an American food for American people, made under the most sanitary conditions. The advertising slo- gans first adopted were "Cleanly Made by Americans" and "Flavory, Firm and Tender." Year after year, the sales of Foulds' have increased almost without interruption, the mar- ket being created through the merit of the goods, progressive merchandising policy and consumer advertising.
Perhaps no feature of the development of the Foulds' business was more important than the cooperation offered Mr. Foulds by the Department of Agriculture and the cooperation of the Northwest farmer in encouraging the growth of durum wheat, a hard spring wheat introduced into this country some years ago from southern Russia, particularly adapted for the manufacture of macaroni products. This company, for sev- eral years, ofifered a beautiful loving cup to the farmer who raised the best crop of durum wheat.
In 1923 the Foulds Company was formed by the consoli- dation of the following companies: The Foulds Milling Co., Chicago and Libertyville; Warner Macaroni Co., Syracuse, N. Y. ; Woodcock Macaroni Co., Rochester, N. Y. ; Palisade Manufacturing Co., manufacturers of Kitchen Bouquet, Ho- bcjken, X. J., and just recently the acquisition of the Cone C(jmpany of America, making the well-known Havacone ice cream cone, which gives another product closely allied with the macaroni industry.
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The merchandising position on Foulds' Brand has been continually strengthened. The national advertising campaign has been increased for 1925, and the feature will be color pages in the Delineator and Designer.
After a thorough investigation and research activities, a wonderful cooker has been developed and patented by The Foulds Company. It is a pure aluminum cooker, colander and self-strainer. This utensil is ideal for cooking Macaroni, Spaghetti and Egg Noodles and many vegetables ; in fact, any food cooked in boiling water. It cooks without stirring, stick- ing or burning. When the housewife uses the Foulds' Cooker there need be no fear of scalded hands while draining hot water in which foods have been cooked. The inner vessel is just lifted and the water completely drains into the outer ket- tle. The Cooker is not on sale in stores, except by grocers in connection with Foulds' Macaroni Products. The value is $3.75. The Foulds Company offers it for $1.89 and a sales slip showing that four packages of Foulds' Macaroni Products have been purchased from a retail grocer.
The Foulds Company also publishes a cook book which gives many attractive recipes for their products. In addition to the regular lines of macaroni goods in packages, such as Long Macaroni, Elbow Macaroni, Spaghetti, Egg Noodles (Broad or Fine), Vermicelli and Alphabets, under the Foulds' Brand, Canned Spaghetti is also marketed under the brand name of Foulds' Ready-Cooked Spaghetti.
A special folder is also distributed to housewives in con- nection with Kitchen Bouquet. This product, which has been on the market for forty years, is a flavoring and coloring for soups, gravies and for use in connection with cooking meats, stews and various food combinations. It is used in hotels and restaurants as well as in the home. Kitchen Bouquet is adver- tised steadily in most of the leading women's magazines.
In the Foulds' factory every possible care is exercised to secure cleanliness and perfect sanitation. Our National Food Laws are observed in letter and in spirit and the precautions taken are in advance of any legal requirements.
Semolina, which is the Italian word for cream of wheat,
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may vary considerably in its value as raw material from which macaroni is to be made. Realizing this, The Foulds Milling Conipanv years ago gaye up the idea of manufacturing their own semolina. It has been conclusively demonstrated that only those semolina mills that are of sufficient size to maintain a competent force of wheat testers and Hour analysts are capa- ble of furnishing a uniformly good semolina product through- out the year. These mills study the quality of wheat that has come from each source of supply and store the best wheat, so that throughout the period between wheat crops they are able to keep their semolina up to the high standard of quality demanded by such manufacturers as Foulds'.
The manufacturing process begins with a careful sifting of the semolina to insure absolute cleanliness of the raw mate- rial. The semolina is mixed with water and the dough is then dumped from the mixer into a kneader. At the end of the kneading period the dough is formed into macaroni and spa- ghetti. This is done by forcing the dough, under hydraulic pressure, through a cylinder with a flat circular bronze die or mold at the bottom of the cylinder.
In the process of the development of the Foulds' Prod- ucts several methods of drying have been tried and discarded in favor of the Italian method of hanging the macaroni and spaghetti strands on sticks very similar to broom sticks in size and length. Some manufacturers pile the macaroni strands cut to package length on trays. This was formerly done in the Foulds plant, but the stick method of drying fits in better with the manufacture of high quality macaroni, because it is possible to dry the macaroni more uniformly and in straighter form.
Foulds' modern drying system, which takes forty-eight hours, has been determined by long experience. The relative humidity is properly regulated so that the air which fans over the product has a definite temperature and humidity which automatically changes as moisture is given up from the macaroni to the air. Twelve hours are allowed for the macaroni to cool, and it is then cut into proper lengths for packing in packages. Every package is carefully weighed
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and the wrapping and sealing of the packages is done by automatic machinery. The anaylsis of Foulds' Macaroni is as follows:
Moisture Protein Fat Carbohydrates Ash
10.3 13.4 .9 74.1 1.3
MOISTURE or water is present in all forms of food. It forms 6o/,' of the weight of the body of the average man, being a component part of all tissues.
PROTEIN is familiar to us in the lean and gristle of meat, the white of eggs and the gluten of wheat. It forms about 1 8% by weight of the body of the average man. In its several combinations is the most impor- tant constituent of our food, as it makes the bone, muscle and other tissues.
FAT is chiefly found in animal foods, as meats, fish, butter, etc. It forms about 15^^ by weight of the body of an average man.
CARBOHYDRATES include such compounds as starch, dif- ferent kinds of sugar, the fibre of plants and cellu- lose. It is found chiefly in vegetable foods, like cereal, grains and potatoes. It forms only a small portion of body tissue — less than i^y. Starches and sugars are important food ingredients, because they form an abundant source of energy and are easily digested. They may be, and often are, transformed into fat in the body.
ASH or MINERAL MATTER, while it yields little or no energy, is indispensable to the body and forms only 5% or 6% of the body. It is chiefly in the bones and teeth, but is present also in the other tissues and in solution in the various other fluids. When food or body material is burned or digested the mineral con- stituents remain as ash. The above analysis will serve to illustrate very definitely
the high food value of Foulds' Macaroni — made from durum
wheat semolina, which produces a translucent and almost
transparent product of a rich golden color that requires no
artificial coloring in the manufacturing.
Ill
.>ij
Sentinel of Clean Kitchens
Gilpin, Langdo7i &' Company Began 80 Years Ago in the ff^holesale Drug Business — But Today They Sell Their Gi^eat Insecticide, Black Flag, Through Jobbers All Across the Country
Three years before this country was engaged in war with Mexico — in 1845 — the firm of Gilpin, Langdon & Company had its beginning in a modest little building in Baltimore, Md. In those early days of crinolins and beavers, Bernard Gilpin, grandfather of D. N. Gilpin, founded the wholesale drug business of Gilpin, Bailey & Canby.
The story of Gilpin, Langdon & Company, manufacturers of Black Flag insecticides in powder and liquid forms, is a record of a firm adapting itself to meet business changes.
Primarily, the firm engaged in drug jobbing. Soon it
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branched out, manufacturing pharmaceuticals and grinding crude vegetable drugs for percolation.
In this field Gilpin, Langdon & Company were pioneers. It had been customary, prior to that time, for the druggist's apprentice boy to spend his spare minutes laboriously crushing and beating drugs in a large mortar that was the symbol of every pharmacist. Realizing that changes were inevitable, Gilpin, Langdon & Company developed to meet them.
As every pharmacist knows, the same milling operations are not suited for all types of drugs; some kinds are more friable than others, some contain more resin and oil, some are hard and fibrous, while others are easily reduced.
To meet these varied conditions, special milling apparatus was constructed. So successful was Gilpin, Langdon & Com- pany in each step that it took that soon its products were recog- nized as standard in nearly every pharmaceutical and medical school in the country.
It was during the experiments along these lines that Black Flag was produced. By a new method, chemists for Gilpin, Langdon succeeded in pulverizing insect flowers to a state never before obtained. In short, Pyrethrum — the base of Black Flag products — was rendered impalpable — so fine that it can be used to clog the tiny pores of insects. And as insects breathe through their pores, the result is certain and quick death.
About 1880 it was decided to market this powder on what was then considered an extensive scale. Two problems con- fronted the manufacturers, the first to find a proper container and the second to have assurance that the insecticidal quali- ties would not be destroyed with age or exposure. For that reason, glass bottles — a radical departure from the general loose handling — were used. In packing in bottles, Gilpin, Langdon realized they could guarantee Black Flag to reach the consumer in all its original strength.
The result was that Black Flag enjoyed an extensive sale, increasing each year. Other powders, such as Dalmation and Persian Insect, sold in bulk form, continued to lose favor, until today they are rarely heard of.
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Prior to the introduction of Black Flag, several changes were made in the firm. Thomas Y. Canby retired in 1864, but the tirm name was retained until 1886, at which time H. B. Gilpin and T. P. Langdon were admitted to partnership. Then the name became Gilpin, Langdon and Company. In 1900 Mr. Langdon retired. A year later the business was incorporated, with H. B. Gilpin as president.
Meanwhile, Black I^lag sales increased so consistently that it was found advisable to separate the jobbing and manu- facturing businesses. The former now operates distinctly, having no connection with Gilpin, Langdon & Company.
In 191 2 Mr. D. N. Gilpin became active in the organiza- tion. The words 'Tnsect Powder'' were dropped from the name of the product, and extensive advertising campaigns were planneti and executed.
But meantime certain changes were taking place in the retail drug business which afifected the manufacturer. There was an ever-growing tendency on the part of pharmacists to save themselves labor and apparatus by purchasing mixtures, fluid extracts and syrups ready prepared.
Gilpin, Langdon & Company adjusted itself to this con- dition graduallv. With the enactment of the national prohibi- tion law, the drug business received its most telling blow. Governmental regulation surrounding the purchase and use of alcohol wrought decided changes in the business, each of which affected the manufacturer.
Gilpin, Langdon & Company accordingly discontinued the ground drug business in July, 1922. The elimination, how- ever, brought increased ability to concentrate on Black Flag. In 1924 Liquid Black Flag was introduced and a special build- ing and equipment built for its production.
Gilpin, Langdon & Company distributes its products through jobbers in the drug, grocery and hardware lines, not selling direct except to chain stores operating more than ten units. It maintains resident salesmen in the larger and more strategical cities of the country. Recently it extended its busi- ness into the Southwest and West Coast, with sales agents in Texas for the former and California for the latter.
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The Busy Gold Dust
Twins
Of Two Little Lighteiters of Toil IVho Have Spread Rase into Millions of Kitchens — and of Fairy Soap^ Which Has Brightened Still Others
In 1868 Nathaniel K. Fairbank, the founder of N. K. Fair- bank & Co., was interested in refining lard at Chicago. Later he manufactured lard compound and Cottolene.
Eighteen years later the company began to manufacture Gold Dust Washing Powder, which has steadily grown in popularity until today it is the best-known product of its kind in the world.
The original trade-mark design, showing two little negroes sitting in a tub of water, was intended for use on a laundry soap wrapper, but when the washing powder was placed on the market the design was associated with the name Gold
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Dust. A little later on, the design was changed to the one now in use, showing the little fellows sitting on a pile of gold coins.
After about 20 years, the twins were put "into action" in much of the advertising, and their vigorous efiforts and cun- ning antics doing cleaning stunts soon endeared these little chaps to the general public. And today the pair of radio artists known as the Gold Dust Twins, whose entertainment is broadcast every Tuesday evening from Station WEAF, are popularly referred to by radio fans as "Goldy" and "Dusty."
It may be of interest to note that when the advertising policy was changed to feature uses of Gold Dust, illustrated bv utensils sparkling with cleanliness, sales steadily increased, and while the Twins are never omitted from any illustration they are now shown only incidentally.
Gold Dust may be considered practically a staple grocery item, and it doubtless has a distribution of as nearly 100% as any article in the trade. There is scarcely a hamlet in the country where Gold Dust cannot be found, and the claim of "more uses and more users than any other soap powder on earth'' is fully justified.
The sale of Gold Dust is not confined to grocery stores alone, but to delicatessens, paint and hardware stores, etc., and large quantities are bought by mills and garages for the use of their workers for cleaning the grease and dirt from their hands. The first mission of Gold Dust is to dissolve grease, and it lightens housework all the year round, hence it has a steady demand, but spring cleaning time is the period of top sales. The slogan "Let the Gold Dust Twins Do Your Work" is probably known to more people than any other advertising slogan in the country.
A new Gold Dust product has been placed on the market in the past year — Gold Dust Scouring Powder. This was done in response to continued requests for Gold Dust in a shaker- top can. The company went a step further and added a scour- ing ingredient. This new "sudsy" Scouring Powder is "differ- ent" and is rapidly making and holding new friends.
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Fairy Soap, also an old Fairbank brand, has been on the market for forty years, and here again the happy selection of a trade mark, the little Fairy girl sitting on a cake of soap, and the phrase, "Have You a Little Fairy in Your Home?" have helped to pave its way to popularity.
The high grade of ingredients — all of a quality known as "edible" — and the handy shape of the oval cake created a de- mand for this popular-priced soap which has grown sub- stantially with the years. Here again, in response to numerous requests from those who preferred the generous oval cake for bath use but who wanted a smaller size for toilet use, a dainty new cake is now available for the washstand at the small price of five cents a cake.
Where, in former years, the business of the Fairbanks Company included both edible and soap products, when the company was reorganized, something over a year ago, under the new name — Gold Dust Corporation — the manufacture of salad and cooking oils and shortening was discontinued and efforts have been confined to soap products alone. Various brands of laundry soap also are manufactured for domestic and export trade.
The advertising appropriations of the company have always been substantial, and for many years they have been num- bered among national advertisers, spending in the neighbor- hood of a million dollars a year.
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From a Liking for Fish
Because Slade Gorton Liked Fish, He Started in Gloucester a Fish Business That Today Furnishes a Full Line of Sea Foods to All the United States
If it had not happened that Slade Gorton was unusually fond of the taste of fish one of the most interesting histories in American industry might never have been written.
Mr. (iorton was a cotton-mill man. For years he had been in charge of a mill in Rhode Island. In the year 1862 he moved to the New England seashore town of Rockport to take up a similar position.
Now, Rockport is close by the town of Gloucester, and Gloucester is, as you may know, America's oldest fishing port. It was settled in 1623 by a company that came from England especially to engage in the fishing industry, attracted by the abundance of cod and other fish in the waters around Cape Ann and other New England shores.
Because of his natural liking for fish, and because every-
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body in and near Gloucester is interested in some measure in fishing, Slade Gorton, shortly after his arrival in Rockport, decided to take a modest try at the fish business. His begin- ning consisted in buying a few barrels at a time of salt mack- erel and repacking them in small packages to sell to his friends back in Rhode Island. This work he did at home, in his cellar, after working hours.
His "flyer" in the fish business, such as it was, proved a success, so it is not surprising that Gorton soon decided to go at it on a larger scale. So he tried buying whole catches of mackerel on speculation, the mackerel market being more or less a fluctuating one. This gave him experience that proved both valuable and profitable. It proved so valuable, in fact, that, later on, about the year 1870, he decided to give up his work in the cotton mill and go into the fish business exclusively.
Codfish was, as it is now, the "staple" of the Gloucester trade. So Gorton organized a small company in Gloucester, in what is known as the Fort, to prepare and sell salt cod. It was so small that in the beginning its list of employees, be- sides Mr. Gorton, numbered exactly one.
But Gorton had the faculty of looking ahead. He saw that his market was distinctly at a distance from his source of supply, so after a while he began to employ salesmen to travel, at gradually increasing distances from Gloucester, to sell his product. And the business grew and grew, until, in the '80s, it had increased to considerable proportions, though it still was a small business in comparison with other Glouces- ter companies at that time. But it was a distinct beginning of a very successful enterprise.
As time went by, Mr. Gorton's two sons, Nat and Tom, en- tered the business. There was also another young man who, at the age of fifteen, started to work for the company as a fish skinner. Probably Tom Carroll never dreamed at that time that he might later become the head of the largest fish- eries company in America.
When Slade Gorton died, in 1892, it was upon these three young men that the task of carrying on the business was left.
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The Gorton boys were salesmen, and very good ones. Tom Carroll was what today we call an executive. Furthermore, he knew the fish-packing business. Under this new regime, the business received a tremendous impulse and increased tre- mendously in size within a few years.
It was about this time that the putting up of food products in attractive packages was first becoming popular. Observ- ing this trend, these young men saw a future for fish products put up in attractive packages.
Up to that time, seventy-five to eighty per cent of the cod- fish shipped from Gloucester was what is known to the trade as "whole fish," namely, fish salted and dried but still con- taining the bones and with the skin left on. The balance of the fish shipped was a choicer grade from which the skins but not the bones had been removed. This grade was packed in boxes of forty to sixty pounds.
When the new Gorton organization decided to specialize on a package product, they decided, first of all, to send out an absolutely boneless codfish in home -size packages of one pound, the package to bear an attractive lithographed label and the fish to be of the highest grade obtainable. This idea developed into one of the greatest successes in the history of the fish business. But it didn't develop all at once. In fact, the first results weren't at all encouraging. The first order was for one box — twenty-four packages. And it was prob- ably a year before the sales averaged higher than one box per day.
So new sales methods had to be developed, with the result that gradually a fair-sized distribution was reached. But as distribution increased the problem of helping the retailer make prompt disposal of the product became stronger.
The idea was basically a good one. The product was an un- usually good one. But the public had not yet grasped the labor-saving idea that Gorton's boneless codfish in one-pound packages offered. Then it was that the idea of advertising first entered the situation.
After considerable planning and discussion, the company decided on an appropriation of $2,000 for a year's advertising.
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This advertising was to put over the labor-saving idea in Gor- ton's Codfish — No Bones. It was confined at the time largely to outdoor signs. Many of these original boards located along New England railway lines still tell the Gorton story to speeding travelers.
Everybody knows what happens when advertising that is basically right begins. The quality of the product becomes a thing to be guarded carefully and increased efficiency in sales- manship greatly developed. Under the direction at the fac- tory of Thomas J. Carroll and on the road by the Gorton brothers, the business soon grew by leaps and bounds. The flavor, the convenience and the general excellence of Gorton's Codfish — No Bones began to be more and more widely known. And as its users increased and its good-will spread, Mr. Car- roll realized what a valuable asset this list of friends consti- tuted. So he began to originate other products to sell to this market, and so the family of Gorton's Fish Products began growing.
It is interesting to note how the working out of the con- venience idea again produced an innovation as great as when the bulk of the demand was turned from whole codfish to semi-prepared codfish in home-size packages. In the fall of 1919, after many months of experimenting and general prepa- ration, what is perhaps the last word in making the house- wife's task easy appeared. It is Gorton's Ready-to-Fry Cod- fish Cakes, which have since become one of the most success- ful sellers in the grocery trade.
Gorton's Ready-to-Fry is a codfish cake that requires noth- ing but frying. It consists of codfish and potato, thoroughly cooked, the fish all picked, the potatoes mashed and the whole mixed and blended in just the right proportion to make a de- licious fish cake, according to the good old New England recipe. There is absolutely nothing to do but shape into cakes and put them in the frying pan.
In the grocery trade today almost everyone knows the phe- nomenal success of this product. Its sales have increased tre- mendously, year by year, and it is one of the most celebrated repeat products in the grocery line.
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With these two codfish successes building a large list of friendly users, it was easy for Mr. Carroll and his associates to establish other Gorton products. Among these are Gor- ton's Fish Flake, fish broken up into small pieces for conve- nient usai^e in croi]ucttcs, creamed hsh, etc. Another popu- lar deyelopment was Gorton's Salad Fish, prepared especially for salad use, a product that has in many homes replaced crab llakes in making salad. Another and more recent Gorton suc- cess is Haddock Chowder, a real New England fish chowder, ready to serve with the addition of milk and heat. Salt mackerel in cans is another popular Gorton product. Deep Sea Roe, Clam Chowder, in Manhattan style as well as New England style; Finnan Haddie in dainty glass jars, and many other specialties today round out a complete line of Gorton deep-sea products, which even includes delicacies packed spe- cially for export markets, such as Gorton's Fiskcbollcr, the native style fish balls of Norway.
The Gorton line is not confined exclusively to food prod- ucts either. Much of the valuable material which might otherwise be waste is converted into useful things. The cod- fish skins, for example, being converted into liquid glue, meet- ing the great need for an absolutely pure, dependable glue for household and professional purposes. Gorton's Liquid Glue is already making an excellent reputation for itself. Other of these useful by-products include fertilizer made from fish bones and waste.
The success of the original Gorton's Codfish -No Bones was not made over night, but so substantially sound was the product that when the power of advertising began to be really felt the business grew with amazing swiftness. More ships, more docking and drying facilities had to be added. And this continued at a greatly accelerating rate of speed, so that from being one of the smallest industries in Gloucester the company, before long, became the leading fishing company not only in Gloucester but in all New England. And it did not stop there, for today the Gorton Pew Fisheries Company, Limited, are America's leaders in the fishing industry.
Thomas f. CarroU, the b(jy who joined the company at fif-
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teen and who rose through every department of the business until he became manager, is today the president of the com- pany. It is to Mr. Carroll that the many steps of progress and innovation in the fish-packing industry may be attributed. It was he whose wisdom and experience steered the company through the stormy wartime period, the days when every big industry became a target, and the bigger the company the bigger the target.
During the last twenty-five years the fishing industry has seen great changes in its methods. As an example, the vessel equipment is interesting. Twenty-five years ago, a fishing boat of the best kind cost, ready for sea, perhaps $12,000. Today the average cost of a boat of similar size would be $45,000. Some Gorton boats are valued as high as $56,000. This increase in cost is largely due to the increased cost of materials and labor. But perhaps the biggest item is the equipping of such vessels with engines.
Today every Gorton vessel is within a comparatively short distance of its home port — as far as time is concerned. For it is no longer at the mercy of the winds. A catch of fish can be brought in at the height of its freshness, instead of possibly having to be delayed by calm seas. The net result of this is increased catches and improved quality. And it is this im- proved— and constantly iiuproving — quality of the Gorton products that has made Gorton a name famous for sea foods throughout the United States and even abroad.
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A Heritage of Sixty
Years
A Tradition of Quality in Gulden Products Has Been Handed Down Through a Single Family Over the Span of Three Generations
The history of Gulden's Mustard is the story of a business which has been continuously in the hands of one family since its founding, many years ago. There has been a personal pride in maintaining a standard of quality and excellence which has not been confined merely to the commercial, dollar- and-cents viewpoint. Probably this has been the outstanding reason for the leadership in the mustard field which Gulden has held for more than half a century.
The business was established in 1864 by Mr. Charles Gul- den. His son, Mr. Frank Gulden, is now at the head of the company. The Gulden plant has been located at the same place since 1883. At this location, 46-48-50-52 Elizabeth
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Street, New York City, it occupies four entire buildings. Here you will find the latest machinery, giant tanks, store- rooms filled with hundreds of sacks of mustard seeds, hun- dreds of employees — everything needed to insure a product whose flavor and purity will never vary.
If any one word can sum up the impression that the Gulden factory makes upon a visitor it is "cleanliness." This is the keynote of the entire establishment. An innumerable quan- tity of mustard seeds are cleaned and ground. Raw mate- rials are constantly being received — box after box of finished products is shipped. Hundreds of operations are necessary, employees go about their various tasks, etc. Yet it would be difficult to find a private home that could surpass the Gulden factory in its atmosphere and condition of cleanliness. One little fact illustrates this. Not a single week passes without the four buildings being thoroughly cleansed and washed from roof to cellar several times.
To persons unacquainted with its history, or the far-flung corners of the world whence its ingredients come, a bottle of mustard may be a commonplace object. But it has a romance and an interesting storv. The little mustard seed is a veritable storehouse of benevolent properties. Unlike pepper, mustard does not irritate the stomach or intestines. On the contrary, the tongue and olfactory nerves react vigorously to it, and the stomach gives it welcome.
But, as is the case with a great manv articles of food, there is a big difference in the quality of different grades or varie- ties of mustard seeds. So the greatest care is taken by the makers of Gulden's Mustard to obtain only the seeds which have the finest flavor. The seeds that go into Gulden's Mus- tard are carefully selected, coming from England, Italy and Southern California, where the cultivation of mustard seeds is given special attention and where soil and growing condi- tions are particularly favorable.
After the divers varieties of mustard seeds have been re- ceived at the Gulden factory, they are stored away in dry, airy warehouse floors, there to age and mature under the most fa- vorable conditions. Before these seeds are used, they are thor-
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(Highly cleaned and sifted twice, so that every particle of dust and foreign matter is removed. The various kinds of mustard seeds and spices are mixed ac- cording to the secret Gulden formula by expert blenders. Many of these blenders have been in the Gulden employ for a number of years and have };reat skill. The vinegar which is added to improve the flavor has been aged and mellowed for .1/,-. ci.arics c.uhicu ^cveu ycars. The mixture is
I-oumicr of Guhh-n's Mnslard grOUUd tO a SmOOth, VclvCty tCX-
ture by a revolving stone.
In the last operation, on their way to the grocers' shelves, Gulden's Mustard passes through hard rubber pipes (not metal) to the filling machines and is placed in clean, sani- tary bottles. The capping machine attaches the airtight caps. Endless belts then carry the finished product past white-clad girls, who place the bottles in the cartons. These cartons are conveyed also on endless belts to the shipping room, where they are sealed and made ready for transit. No detail, no matter how trivial, is overlooked; nothing is left undone to improve the flavor and insure the purity of the product.
A little more than a year ago a new member was added to the Gulden family. Gulden's Saladressing Mustard was in- troduced— a mild mustard made especially for delicate fla- vored foods and for persons who prefer a less pungent mus- tard. It has found a ready reception and is particularly pop- ular in thousands of homes for use on salads. The reception which it was accorded is further evidence of the high regard that the name "Gulden's" possesses in American homes.
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The Fame of 57
•
Heinz Products Have Made the Nu- merals 57 Among the Most Famous Com- bination of Digits In the World — Through the Combined Purity and Excellence of the Products and the Power of Advertising
In 1869 H. J. Heinz planted a small plot in horseradish. With the assistance of two women and a boy, he grated and bottled the root. He tested the product with a critical tongue. He examined the package with a critical eye. He pronounced Heinz Horse-Radish the best that could be produced, and the first of the famous 57 Varieties of pure foods was placed on the market.
Two years later so many people had come to like the prod- utcs of H. J. Heinz Company that the business was moved from Sharpsburg, where it began, to quarters in the central
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part of Pittsburgh. But this section of the city did not pro- vide adequate space for the rapidly growing business, and the main plant was moved to the north bank of the Allegheny River, within the corporate limits of Pittsburgh.
Death claimed the founder in 1919, but the fundamental principles he established still dominate the activities of H. J. Heinz Company in its international operations. Howard Heinz, a son of the founder, is now the directing head.
Today the main plant occupies a group of buildings with fifty acres of floor space. There are twenty-five branch fac- tories in the United States, Canada, England and Spain.
The thought that led Mr. Heinz to raise the raw material for his first product still governs. As far as possible, Heinz Company owns and controls its products from the seed to the prepared food container. Tomatoes, pickles and other prod- uce must be prepared and packed within a few hours after they leave the garden, to make the best and purest foods. Only ripe tomatoes arc used and within twenty-four hours after they are picked from the vine they are converted into Ketchup, Chili Sauce and other products. Heinz gardens are located where the best raw materials grow, and in these districts fac- tories are located.
Heinz factories, linked with Heinz gardens, dot the United States from coast to coast, reach up into Canada and over into England and Spain. The Spanish factory prepares the olives and olive oil from the harvest of Spain's best groves.
The company absorbs the product of 150,000 acres each vear, and approximately 150,000 people are engaged in plant- ing and harvesting the crops and preparing the food for the consumer.
With an international producing system, Heinz Company maintains a world-wide sales organization. It has seventy sales offices and warehouses, its salesmen travel the Occident and the Orient, and its representatives are active in every com- mercial center.
Heinz Company operates its own printing plant, bottle factory, can-making factory, box factory, tank factory, car- repair shop and freight and tank car lines.
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In the building of Heinz business there have been many outstanding incidents. One in which the public was vitally concerned was the company's battle for pure food laws. The first requirement in Heinz plants — even in the making of the first horseradish — has always been purity. The day came when the company took the lead in demanding laws which would protect the public from the use of preservatives, coloring mat- ter and substitutes and adultera- tions in the preparation of
foods. The founder stamped the first bottle of Heinz Horse- Radish as a pure food product of the highest quality, and since their origin the remainder of the 57 Varieties have been kept up to those standards.
Heinz Company was a pioneer in welfare work, and its relations with its employees led to a celebration, a few months ago, of fifty-five years of mutual good-will and understanding. This celebration took place on the day the employees unveiled a memorial to the founder of the business. Primary consider- ation is given to the welfare of employees, for in Heinz organ- ization heart-power is considered greater than man-power.
"From the gardens of the world to the tables of the world" — this is a brief description of the business that has been built up from the start in the little horseradish patch in Sharpsburg.
Mr. Hoicard Heinz, President H. J. Heine Company
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America Taps the Orient for Sweets
Hills Brothei's Have Brought the Date and the Cocoanut to America and IVith Their Advertising Enterprise Broadened Their Market into the Millions
One morning in the early fall of the year 1871 the doors of a small building on Fulton Street, New York City, were opened by a new tenant for the first time. To the older occupants of the district, and to the trade that came there to buy, he prob- ably seemed far too young and too inexperienced for the highly speculative business in which he was setting forth. But that young man was John Hills and although he was only 24 years old and although business was in the process of readjustment after a long war and times were not easy for new ventures his business in foreign dried fruits, domestic lemons, oranges,
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Spanish grapes, foreign nuts, peanuts, etc., began to grow.
John Hills was small of stature, had a sharp eye and quic' step, was brimming with courage and never let an oppor- tunity pass to earn an honest dollar. To the trade he soon became afifectionately known as ''The Little Boss." His friends loved him and his competitors both feared and admired him.
It is difficult to get a true picture of how business was done in those early days. Practically all imported goods were carried in sailing vessels; there was no cable communication with Europe; telephones and typewriters were unknown, and even railroad transportation was slow and uncertain. But Hills was a tireless worker and depended largely upon his own energies for success. During the '70s and '80s he devel- oped the green fruit end of his business extensively, but with the development of the Florida and California orchards the demand for imported green fruits fell ofif and, in consequence, the dried fruit end of the business came forward.
In 1893 the corporation known as The Hills Brothers Com- pany was organized by John Hills and his brother William. John Hills was its first president and continued in active con- trol of the policies of the business until his death in 1902. The Hills Brothers Company, as a corporation, decided to manu- facture at least a part of its own products, and in the spring of 1893 foundations were laid for the first factory building at Brooklyn, N. Y. That first factory structure was a crude, three-story affair, without elevators or power of any kind and only a few gas lights. The only means of getting any- thing in or out of the building was a hand windlass. Today this same site holds a great factory plant, thoroughly modern in every respect. The buildings contain about 300,000 square feet of floor space, and all machinery and equipment are of the most modern type. There is a cold-storage plant, power plants and laboratories devoted to chemical and bacteriologi- cal control, research and chemical engineering. There are rest rooms, dining rooms and dispensaries for the hundreds of employees.
Citron was the first product manufactured in the original plant, and in the course of a year large quantities of citron,
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Mr. I.uiius A'. luistinait. I'l-csidoit Tlic Hills Brothers Co.
lemon and orange peel were lurned out. This business occu- pied the entire building and grew so rapidly that it was soon necessary to add two more stories to the building, two ele- vators and a boiler house.
About 1895 the packing of cleaned currants in cartons was undertaken, as the package busi- ness was then beginning in earnest. At this time, too, wrapped dates in one and two pound packages were added, but these simply were wrapped in paper and tied with a string. Five years later the manufacture of cocoanut began, and as more floor space was needed another building was leased.
As the date business progressed it was decided in the '90s to establish a branch office at Basrah, Mesopotamia, so as to make it no longer necessary to depend upon London job- bers for supplies of dates. Mr. Frank H. White, the present vice-president of the company, went there for this purpose and started an organization for shipping direct to the United States, which is in effect today. Great was the excitement among the fruit trade of New York w^hen that first direct steamer, laden with dates, steamed into the harbor. Now, every fall, large steamers are chartered by the company and dates are brought direct from Basrah to Brooklyn. Beit Hills, known in Mesopotamia as the House of Hills, on the Shatt-el-Arab, watches over the date interests of the company. It was during this period, also, that arrangements were made to have the company's own representative in Smyrna to pack figs. Ever since then Aram Hamparzum has packed the best of the Smyrna fig crop under the now well-known Camel Brand. Along with these developments, the relations between the company and other foreign representatives have been con- tinually fostered and firmly cemented. \n Spain, Italy, France,
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Greece, Brazil and the West Indian ports the growth of the company's purchasing power has been fully consistent with the progress made in home territory.
It was in 1900, also, that the business reached such propor- tions that a branch organization was established in Chicago to facilitate the distribution of goods to the great Middle Western territory. Two years later, when John Hills died, there followed a crisis that was to this business almost what the Civil War was to the United States. It was hit by a slough of general depression; there was an easing up in the enforce- ment of the established policies; uncertainties as to imports crept in and the entire structure was soon in a precarious state.
Then came a new period of the business covering such devel- opments in both selling and manufacturing that the financial standing of the company reached a high mark in a short period of years. Mr. L. R. Eastman became president of the company. Mr. Eastman was a successful lawyer in Boston, who had married one of the daughters of John Hills and who had been urged by the largest stockholders in the company to come to its aid.
Improvements were gradually made, both in the manu- facturing and selling of the products. The distinct advan- tages of package goods over bulk were more clearly realized and the decision to market carton dates under the Dromedary Brand by an aggressive advertising campaign were changes that called for new sales policies. In 1910 the first publicity campaign was launched and Dromedary was introduced to the world as a standard of business integrity and high quality, which, in those days of changing brands and price wars, was unusual. That year $16,000 was spent in advertising and 12,000 cases of Dromedary Dates were sold. From that time on, the date end of the business has grown rapidly, with the volume still mounting higher year after year. In 191 2 a branch office was opened in Pittsburgh, and it was about this time that a new specialty was added called Dromedary Cocoa- nut. The fact that package cocoanut entered an intensively competitive field made an entirely new problem of it. The cocoanut business was being generally conducted on the pre-
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mium plan, with free deals of all kinds to dealers; but this accepted method of merchandising did not conform to The Hills Brothers Company's principles. Package cocoanut, therefore, was sold according to the same policies that had made package dates a success.
Succeeding years saw other branch offices established and three important additions to the specialty line. A method of slicing citron, lemon and orange peel was evolved and these products were placed on the market, sliced and candied, in convenient-sized packages, with the consequent elimination of shrinkage, waste and unnecessary handling. Smyrna Figs, made deliciously tender by processing in a light syrup, w^re offered to the public in cans. Then came an interest in the potentialities of the canned grapefruit industry, which resulted in the organization of The Hills Brothers Company of Flor- ida, operating a modern packing plant at Clearwater, Florida, where great progress has been made in canning the nation's breakfast fruit.
An interesting development in the company policy in recent years has been the establishment of a personnel department under the direction of an assistant factory superintendent. The management felt for many years that a study of human rela- tions is as important to the growth of an industrial organiza- tion as the study of factory processes. To this end an exhaus- tive study has been made of all factors entering into the rela- tions of employees with the company, in the hope that such a study would reveal those ways by which each employee might be helped to grow and prosper in its service. A well- knit production unit has resulted, with perhaps a higher level of individual efficiency and well-being than is common in this country today.
The entire organization is imbued with a spirit of service obligation to the consuming public. It seriously assumes its share of the responsibilites of solving the problem of the ex- cessive cost of distribution, and is constantly studying and experimenting with distributive processes.
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From Sweet Fern, Sassafras and Teaberries
The Origin of the Famous Hires Root- Beer Pf^as a Farmer's IVife's Mixture of Roots y Barks, Herbs and Berries for Which Charles E. Hires Developed in 1922 a Market of 700,000,000 Glasses
In December, 1869, after serving an apprenticeship and clerkship in a retail drug store for six years, Charles E. Hires established this business when he opened a retail drug store at Sixth and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, Pa. He had studied at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and the Jefferson Hospital and had made a special study of the medicinal and food value of roots, barks, plants, herbs, etc. He soon began to put up various flavoring extracts, which he sold to other druggists through wholesale drug houses, and this took him out of the retail drug line into the manufacturing business. While vacationing on a New Jersey farm, the farmer's wife
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served a drink which she made from sweet fern, sassafras and teaberries, gathered locally. This he liked so much that on returning to his store after his vacation he made many experi- ments with various mixtures of roots, barks, herbs and ber- ries in order to make as well-balanced and healthful a mix- ture as possible and at the same time one that would please the taste. He also consulted several physicians and food spe- cialists. When he was satisfied that he had found the combi- nation of roots, barks, etc., that would make both a healthful and pleasing drink he decided to pack and market his product under the name of Hires rootbeer. Originally, this was put up in a small yellow package of the ground-up roots, barks, herbs and berries which sold to the consumer for 25 cents. It was necessary then for the housewife to steep these ground-up roots, barks, herbs and berries in boiling water in order to make rootbeer. Within a few years, however, Mr. Hires realized that there would be a much larger sale for his product if the housewife could be saved the work of boiling and strain- ing, so this part of the process he decided to do in his own factory. Thereafter, the buyer had the choice of buying the yellow package of roots, barks, herbs and berries or a three- ounce bottle of the juices of the same materials. The product was packed in both "dry" and liquid form until recent years.
In first making rootbeer extract Mr. Hires had in mind a product for household use, to be made up with yeast and sugar and so carbonated. Later, when soda fountains became more and more common, a special solution was put up in pint bot- tles for soda fountain use. There soon developed a demand for a finished, ready-to-use fountain syrup to be served in places where the proprietor did not have time or equipment to make up his own syrup from the solution. In 1904 we decided to pack a finished, ready-to-use fountain syrup. With this new product, thousands of new customers were made, such as cigar stores, pool rooms, parks, 5 and 10 cent stores, etc.
In 1877 Mr. Hires started to advertise his product in the Philadelphia newspapers, using five-line, single-column ad- vertisements. Hangers were put up in the stores. During the '80s he had used larger space in the newspapers, and on several
136
occasions had taken full-page advertisements, but these adver- tisements did not break the regular newspaper columns but consisted of closely typed reading matter. In 1889 he per- suaded Mr. Childs, the editor of the Ledger, to break the columns of his newspaper for a full-page advertisement. This was the first full-page advertisement that appeared in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, as it had always been the cus- tom not to break columns. The effect on a public, used to advertisements for the most part in the form of small printed notices, was sensational. Later in the '80s newspapers in other cities were used and also a number of women's magazines and farm papers. Supplementing this general publicity, window displays, hangers, stickers and such novelties as whistles, pen- cils, etc., were used. Nearly every year has seen an increase in the advertising appropriation, and from a sale the first year of 115,200 glasses of rootbeer Mr. Hires has seen his business grow to a sale of about 700,000,000 glasses in 1922.
When Mr. Hires gave up his retail drug store to become a manufacturer he had very definite ideals up to which he resolved to live and conduct his business, with a sure faith that high ideals and hard work would bring success, and a success that would not just mean wealth but that much finer and worthwhile success which brings with it the joy and satisfaction of a clear conscience and honorable service. He resolved, therefore, that everything that he made should be as well made as he knew how to make it and that everything that he did should be as well done as he knew how to do it. He made candy, he made soap, and he made other things, and each was made of the finest materials that he could buy. When he decided to make a beverage he went to the greatest pains to make sure that it should be the purest and most wholesome product possible. This required expensive material, but he did not stop at expense, because he was sure that eventually the best would win recognition. In his beverages he never used chemicals or artificial flavoring oils or artificial sweetening, never anything but the finest roots, barks, herbs and berries and pure cane sugar, and as his product was in the beginning so it is today — the best that science and money can make it.
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As in a Crystal Ball —
The Cjystal Gazer Looking into the Translucent Depths of a Dish of ''America's Most Famous Dessert" Mi^ht See the Natives of Five Conti- nents Striving for His Pleasure
It was Mr. Orator F. Woodward, of Le Roy, New York, who, in 1896, conceived the idea that there was a field for ready prepared gelatine desserts. Mr. Woodward developed his idea by manufacturing, through simple methods at first, a jelly powder that could easily be used by the housewife, and one which was reasonable enough in price to be within the reach of all classes. This product, which at first was marketed locally and which has since become one of America's leading food products, was given the name of Jell-O.
While Jell-O had its origin in a kitchen of Western New "^'ork State, it appears that Peter Cooper carried on somewhat similar experiments as early as 1845. In that year, indeed, he filed specifications in the United States Patent Office for "making a transparent concentrated or solidified jelly, con- taining all the ingredients fitting it for table use in a portable
138
form and requiring only the addition of a prescribed quantity of hot water to dissolve it, when it may be poured into glasses or molds and when cold will be fit for use."
And so, if you have grown to take as a matter of course this dessert that has become common to so many tables, you may be surprised to know that no less a figure than Peter Cooper, inventor, philanthropist, founder of Cooper Union, construc- tor of the first steam locomotive in America, the man who helped lay the first Atlantic cable and who was a candidate for the Presidency of the United States, devoted considerable of his time and inventive effort to the kind of food product that was destined, years afterward, to reach it final develop- ment in Jell-O.
The prime object of Mr. Woodward and his associates has always been to produce a product of high quality, regardless of the cost of manufacture. Nothing has ever been spared in making Jell-O ioo% quality. The materials used in the manufacture of Jell-O are carefully selected and come from chosen markets in every corner of the world.
The next time you find a mold of Jell-O on your table, if you will peer into its transparent depths like a crystal gazer you may see this well-known dessert in a new and romantic light. If you will look intently, you will discover hordes of brown-skinned, tropical natives, cultivating, cutting and refin- ing sugar cane under the pleasant tropical sun, and a great white fleet of ships coming up through the Caribbean Sea and up through the Atlantic Ocean, bearing the tons of sugar that go into Jell-O.
Looking closer, you will discover miles of French vine- yards, with ruddy-faced, sabot-shod peasants working with pruning knives and baskets in the fields that produce the tar- taric acid that gives its tang to Jell-O. You will observe Sicily's sun-drenched orange and lemon groves, Brazil's choco- late lands, and America's incomparable raspberry patches, strawberry fields and cherry orchards all contribute their share to the natural fruit flavors that permeate this wholesome des- sert. You will see the sails and funnels along French, Dutch and British seacoasts of ships bringing the gelatine to which
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Jell-O owes its ability to assume, quickly and appetizingly, any shape or moki that your fancy may prefer. And you will see the curious oxcarts of Canary and Cape Verde, and cara- vans crossing India, bearing rare raw materials that impart the brilliant, edible coloring to the dessert that holds the appe- tite of many millions.
During the comparatively short period of 28 years, the Jell-() Company, Inc., has grown from an infant institution to an international organization. It has gradually progressed from the tiny kitchen to a world industry.
The demand for the product, which at first was supplied by hand-made and old-fashioned methods, has grown by leaps and bounds, until today as many as 54,000 dozen packages of Jell-O are often sent from Jell-O's clean and sanitary home in a single day. Last year more than 100,000,000 packages of Jell-O were eaten in the United States.
Unlike most of the household products that have attained a widespread popular acceptance, Jell-O, which has been con- sistently advertised as "America's Most Famous Dessert," has not gained its popularity as a result of the application of the usual merchandising pressure that musters large numbers of dealers and through its dealers forces its goods upon the con- sumer. In the case