Non Fiction Book Reviews #199

THE GOOD PROVIDER:

H. J. HEINZ AND HIS 57 VARIETIES

by Robert C. Alberts

On December 4, 1843, John Henry Heinz and Anna Schmitt, recent arrivals from Germany, got married. On October 11, 1844 Henry John Heinz, the first of nine children, was born. In Birmingham, Pennsylvania John Heinz bought or built a kiln and set himself up in the brick making business and later as a brick contractor and builder. At the age of eight all the children were required to work in the family garden. Henry, before and after school hours, worked in the garden, in his father's brick yard, on the canal towpath leading horses, and, for a time, for a local farmer picking potatoes. When the family garden produced a surplus, Henry would peddle the surplus to other households. At twelve he enlarged his garden to three-and-a-half acres, bought a horse and a cart, and included local merchants among his customers. At fourteen he graduated and joined his father as an assistant in the brick yard and took a course in bookkeeping. During this time he continued his produce business. In the year he turned seventeen, his produce business grossed the substantial sum of $2,400. He specialty was bottled horseradish that he bottled in clear glass bottles and peddled it to housewives, then to grocers and the managers of hotel kitchens. With his superior product they sold quickly. Henry that a superior product properly packaged and promoted will find a ready market. He also realized that housewives are willing to pay someone else to take over a share of their more tedious kitchen work. At twenty-one, Henry used his savings to buy a half interest in his father's brick business. By installing heating flues and drying apparatus Henry was able to have the plant operate through the cold months and built up inventory for the spring rush. He made a profit of $1,000. In 1869 H. J. Heinz turned twenty-five and joined in founding a company to grow and bottle food. He made a tour of stores in the booming Pennsylvania oil regions and returned with a carpetbag full of orders. From the first the orders had been substantial and continued to greatly increase. The partners added products to the Anchor Brand: celery sauce and pickled cucumbers in 1871; sauerkraut and vinegar a year or two later. In 1872 the company was renamed Heinz, Noble & Company. By 1875 the company was one of the country's leading producers of a product that had largely been imported from Europe. Then in May 1875 came a national bank panic and by December Heinz & Noble filed for voluntary bankruptcy. The Heinz family lost everything. Henry lost his trade, money, friends, and reputation. On February 14, 1876, the F & J Heinz Company was launched with a capital of $3,000. Frederick Heinz was Henry's cousin and John Heinz was his brother. Henry was paid a salary of $125 a month. Hard work followed with the goal to have in four years, by 1880, for F & J Heinz Company to have good credit as ever Heinz & Noble had. On the first anniversary of his new start the company had a profit of $2,000, much better than expected. Clearly F & J Heinz Company was going to survive, and probably was going to grow and prosper. The depression that had plagued Henry during the troubled times finally lifted. Henry was paying off his debts and helping those who stayed loyal to him. In 1886, the Heinz family went on vacation to Europe. Henry made business calls promoting Heinz products and making sales. Back at home Henry bought the shares of the company from Frederick and John and on November 1, 1888 the name of the firm became H. J. Heinz Company. In 1890 came the building of Heinz's complex of buildings putting the offices and factories together. Some seventeen buildings eventually went up combining beauty and efficiency. Turning fifty Henry took a five-and-a-half month journey through Egypt and Western Europe combining business with pleasure. At the World's Colombian Exposition in Chicago the Heinz Company had an exhibit of all their products. Along with free samples of food also given out was a green gutta-percha pickle one and one quarter inches long, bearing the name of "Heinz" and equipped with a hook to serve as a charm on a watch chain. The company gave away one million Heinz pickle charms at the fair. Historians of advertising call the Heinz pickle chain "one of the most famous giveaways in merchandising history." Heinz was the first industrialist to invite the public to tour Heinz factories. Visitors were given Heinz pickle pins for visiting along with free samples of food. Some scores of millions of pins were given out. The plant tours were a perfect form of product advertising. In 1892 H. J. Heinz spent $10,000 in advertising and within a dozen years he was spending many times that amount. Heinz had a electric outdoor sign put up in New York City in 1902. By 1905, advertisements for Heinz products began appearing in England and Europe. Not only did Henry Heinz believe in quality and value for the consumers, but he also believed that his employees deserved fair treatment and a clean and safe place in which to work. In less than one third of a century Heinz had built one of the country's largest and most profitable businesses. He was manufacturing more than two hundred products. a group of eastern investors attempted to purchase the company from H. J. Heinz but he was not interested in selling it. For years Henry Heinz had pushed for his fellow food processors to clean up their act and was one of the biggest supporters of the Pure Food and Drug Act. By the time of his sixty-third Heinz was one of the most respected men in the world. In the years 1911 - 1913, he kept very busy as an industrialist, world traveler, art patron, and religious leader. At sixty-six he took his first airplane ride and enjoyed it. Henry was spending more time traveling allowing his son to run the company. In 1915, H. J. Heinz turned seventy and was still keeping himself busy. Although World War One stopped his world traveling he continued traveling throughout the United States. On May 9, 1919 Heinz was at his office when he decided to help some workmen lay bricks. He developed a cold which turned into double lobar pneunomia. On May 14, 1919 H. J. Heinz died. Heinz believed that the products he made should be pure and unadulterated and that employees deserved clean and pleasant working conditions. He campaigned for the Pure Food and Drug Act which was passed in 1906. Not only did H. J. Heinz change the eating habits of millions, but he also changed how food is processed. An excellent biography of a remarkable and honest man.

TANDY:

T. H. HAMILTON AND THE FOUNDING OF PICCADILLY CAFETERIAS

by Fran Bennett

Tandy Hannibal Hamilton was born in 1897, in the Indian Territories of Oklahoma. His father had been a federal marshal for Judge Isaac Parker, of Fort Smith, Arkansas. When Tandy was eight-years-old, his father was shot in the back and killed by an outlaw while attending baseball game. Tandy's mother remarried and he and his brothers worked to help with the family's expenses. He picked cotton on the family plot and then picked cotton on other farms for 75 cents a day. At age fifteen, Tandy left home and traveled to McAllister, Oklahoma. There he joined his half-brother in a job rounding up loose horses and cattle within the city limits. Tandy hoboed for awhile, riding the rails, and then moved to Wichita, Kansas. At the age of sixteen, he got his first restaurant job peeling potatoes. He worked eleven hours a day, seven days a week and found the restaurant work so fascinating that he decided he wanted to become a cook. For the next five years, Tandy pursued his restaurant career in Wichita. He progressed from potato peeler to a second cook's position, to line cooking. Before he left Wichita Andy was named a chef at one of the city's better restaurants. In 1918, America was at war and Tandy, then twenty-one, joined the Army. He got four months of cook's training and was then shipped to France, where he additional training. After World War One, Tandy returned to Oklahoma and got married. he and his wife moved to Wichita Falls, Texas, to get in on the Texas oil boom. He got a position as a sous chef at the luxurious Kemp Hotel. From the head chef at the Kemp Hotel, Tandy learned the finer points of cooking. In 1923 the Hamiltons' moved to Kansas City where Tandy discovered a cafeteria organization and system that he thought would provide the key to his future success. This organization was the Forum Cafeterias. It was a chain of about fifteen Midwestern cafeteria headquartered in Kansas City. Tandy joined the Forum Cafeterias and within four years of being with Forum, he was promoted through the ranks into management. From 1927 until 1934, Tandy moved from one management position to another until he became general manager for the chain and worked out of the headquarters in Kansas City. After promotion to headquarters, Tandy spent the next two years concentrating on learning as many different management skills as he could. In 1941 Tandy realized that he had gone as far in Forum as far as he could go and decided that he wanted to build his own cafeteria chain. During his time in Forum management Tandy took correspondence courses and was a heavy reader. In 1944, he met Tom Costas. Costas had a cafeteria and coffee shop in Baton Rouge and they were for sale. At the age of forty-seven, T. H. Hamilton was ready to leave the security of a big job and pursue his dream of forty cafeterias under his ownership/management. Tandy and his wife move down to Baton Rouge and took over the operation of the Piccadilly cafeteria. He and his staff began to upgrade the operation which was greatly complicated by a wartime economy replete with shortages and rationing, including food. The Hamiltons had work hours of dusk to dusk, and occasionally much later. Within a few months, he was ready to start the expansion of the cafeteria chain. First opened was a small cafe, Tandy's Eat Shop, located across the street from the Piccadilly. It offered temporary employment to some of the key people he hired until the cafeteria expansion plans could get underway. Also, the cafe located across the street protected the cafeteria from competition. Tandy's Eat Shop was sold when the cafeteria acquisition began. Tandy went on the road looking for cafeteria properties to buy looking for sites on streets with heavy downtown traffic. By 1950 the cafeteria business was prospering and expansion plans were on target. The keys to success was highest quality, liberal portions, and fair prices. To do this standardized recipes were essential. All the early Piccadilly recipes were developed and tested by Tandy and his staff in Baton Rouge. Tandy and his staff developed Standard Recipe Costing which meant that all the recipes included a careful calculation of cost-per-serving. It was the only way to ensure quality and control food costs at the same time. Whenever Tandy visited a cafeteria, he checked to make sure that the quality of the food was high, and it went from the counter to the customer that way. This was the secret to the Piccadilly success. The 1950s was a period of rapid growth. In 1956 , Piccadilly opened its first suburban cafeteria in Houston. At first Tandy was hesitant to go into suburban shopping centers, but he soon realized that the suburbs were where the cafeteria business would grow. This decision was crucial to the future of Piccadilly. By the end of 1959, cafeterias were open in shopping centers in Texas, Tennessee, and Louisiana. But the real growth came in the booming sixties! From 1960 through 1969, an additional twenty-five Piccadilly Cafeterias were opened. In 1969, J. C. Penny came in, checked out the Piccadilly operation, and made an offer to purchase the entire chain, then consisting of thirty-six cafeterias, for $30 million. The Piccadilly family turned down the offer. In 1971, T. H. Hamilton's dream came true. From the very beginning, his goal was to open forty cafeterias. On November 26, 1971, twenty-seven years after the first opening, the fortieth Piccadilly Cafeteria was opened. At the age of seventy-five T. H. Hamilton stepped down as president of the company and assumed the title of Chairman of the Board. Tandy continued traveling every other week to Piccadillys. When in Baton Rouge, he would come to the office every day. On June 29, 1976, Tandy's wife died. Tandy remarried and continued being involved with Piccadilly. T. H. Hamilton lived to be eight-four-years-old. He died on October 18, 1981. At the time of his death T. H. Hamilton was described as "the Walt Disney of the food business." A fascinating story of a man who saw his dream come true.

THE CEREAL TYCOON:

HENRY PARSONS CROWELL, FOUNDER OF THE QUAKER OATS COMPANY

by Joe Musser

On January 27, 1857, Henry Parson Crowell was born to Luther and Anna Crowell in Cleveland, Ohio. Luther was a prosperous shoe manufacture who had suffered from tuberculosis since his childhood. By the time he was forty, Luther's illness grew much worse and was bedridden nearly all the time. Henry, then nine, tried to help look after his father. On November 20, 1864, Luther Crowell died. Henry had learned to read and write from his mother and from his Uncle Joel he learned about history, politics and current events. From the two he learned the importance of education. In 1867, at the age of twelve, Henry took a job in the shoe business that his father had founded, now run by Luther's former partner. He learned the business quickly and, like his father, embraced new technologies and contributed suggestions for new methods and procedures for improving the manufacturing and marketing of shoes. From age thirteen to age seventeen he attended Greylock Institute. At the age of seventeen he developed a lingering cough and had to drop out of school. By the time henry was nineteen his tuberculosis left him bedridden and to survive he traveled to Colorado. In Denver Henry met a friend, George Cleveland, who was also there for his health. Together they experienced the outdoor life. For the next two years Henry and George explored California on horseback which toughened them up/ In 1878, Henry bough 1,280 acres near Fargo and was able to sell it at a profit and bought seventeen thousand acres in South Dakota. In spring of 1879, he stocked his ranch with 300 healthy mares and a majestic stallion. Farmers from all around were impressed by the huge draft horses and Henry was able to sell the ranch and all its contents at a profit. He returned to Cleveland and bought a small grain mill called the Quaker Mill. At twenty-six Henry was aware of the new technology for processing oats for mass market consumption. With that he would change the eating habits of an entire nation with his Quaker oats and make the mill profitable. What was needed was a method for creating a market for and the merchandising of the oats to the market. After improving production at the mill he thought about merchandising the rolled oats. Henry came up with the idea of packing them in clean, attractive and colorful boxes for individual sales. The new package caught on as once and it brought the housewife back for more Quaker Oats. He then approached some twenty other millers and suggested that they form a voluntary association of companies, with a single trade name, pricing, and marketing. Twenty millers joined Henry Crowell's association and Quaker Oats popularity grew.One hold out to the association was the old German miller Ferdinand Schumacher who disliked change no matter how useful it was. When Schumacher did join the association he butted heads with Henry Crowell. Henry worked hard funning the Consolidated Cereal Company, but had other interests. One was the lamp stove patent he bought and started a new company Cleveland Foundry Company and built and sold the Perfection Stove. Three years later, the Consolidated Cereal Company was reorganized as a single, viable company called American Cereal Company. Even during the depression of 1893, American Cereal's Quaker Oats proved to be a depression-proof commodity. but when Henry suggested that Quaker Oats should be advertised trouble came. Although Schumacher and other older stockholders were opposed to the concept of advertising. But Henry won out and soon freight cars with crates of Quaker Oats became rolling billboards, advertisements showed up in newspapers, metal signs and promotional items soon appeared. These proved to be successful which included the sanitary and colorful packing, and the quality of the oats. Years after year sales went through the roof but Schumacher schemed to oust Henry Crowell. In 1897 Schumacher succeeded. But Henry fought back and regained control of American Cereal Company. Ferdinand Schumacher was forced to retire. Under Crowell Quaker Oats entered Great Britain and then moved to other foreign markets. The Quaker Oats brand was a success on the global level. The American Cereal Company was reorganized and became the Quaker Oats Company. By 1908, the Quaker trademark was known by more people in more countries than any other brand or any kind of goods in the entire world. His advertising was a model for the industry and became the standard for other new businesses. At forty-three Henry Crowell was a corporate giant. In 1901, Perfection Stove Company partnered with Standard Oil Company on a venture to combine the stove with Standard kerosene. Henry's wealth increased even more. When commercial radio stations came, Henry made sure that all Quaker Oats products were advertised on the hot and growing medium. His methods of merchandising cereal and other products, and establishing efficient distribution methods changed the purchasing habits of millions. Other companies copied these methods and new markets flourished. The 1920s were good for the Quaker Oats Company as were the years of the Great Depression. During World War II Perfection Stove Company, which had expanded into manufacturing water heaters, space heaters and furnaces, was recruited by the government to make camp stoves and other military equipment. In 1942, eighty-five-year-old Henry Crowell stepped down as chairman of the board of Quaker Oats and was elected chairman emeritus. For nearly seventy years, he had been a successful businessman. On October 22, 1943, Henry Parsons Crowell's heart stopped. In his lifetime he had changed the eating habits and purchasing habits of millions. He also changed how consumer goods are packaged and advertised. A very fascinating read.

SWEET SUCCESS:

O. D. McKEE, AMERICA'S SNACK CAKE KING

by C. A. (Bill) Oliphant

O. D. McKee was born on January 12, 1905 in a farmhouse near Dixon, Mississippi. Three weeks later his mother, Melissa Foy, died of pneumonia. His father, Pinkney, at the memorial service asked for someone to take care of his infant son. Finis E. and Sarah Ann McKee said they would take care of the child and named him Oather Dorris. On May 9, 1905 the McKees' adopted him and he became Oather Dorris McKee. After graduation from college he began to use his initials. When O. D. entered grade school he discovered that he had difficulty reading. The teachers treated him like he was an idiot and told him so in front of classmates.He was very smart, loved mathematics and was a skilled woodworker. Although he went forward with his life he didn't overcome his reading problem. When O. D. McKee was seventy-two he discovered he suffered from dyslexia. Because of the disability O. D. worked harder than anybody else and this started in his childhood. At fourteen, Finis put him in charge of a crew at the sawmill he owned. O. D. also became the trainer of the mules that pulled the lumber wagons. In 1915 Finis and the family became Seventh-day adventists and Finis decided to open a Christian school. At sixteen O. D. took a job for two months in the summer to sell religious books door-to-door and found that not only was he a successful salesman, he enjoyed doing it. In subsequent summers, he sold enough to earn college scholarships, not only for himself but also for his brother, A. D.. In 1922 Finis sold all his businesses and all his property and moved the family to Talowah. His goal was to build an Adventist academy. By 1930, after eight years of failure, Finis lost everything. Finis McKee died in 1936 at seventy-nine years of age. In September, 1924, O. D. and his brother A. D. traveled to Chattanooga, Tennessee to attend Southern Junior College. With the help of his brother he graduated in 1928. He then married Ruth King. In the summer of 1928 he was hired to be assistant manager of the Atlanta Branch of Southern Publishing Association with the promise of his eventually becoming manager of the branch office. Soon O. D. discovered that all was not well at the branch office and before the year closed, he quit his job. In 1929, O. D. and Ruth moved to the McKee farm where noting went well. So O. D. returned to selling books but felt frustrated. O. D., in 1933, got a job selling 5 cent Virginia Dare snack cakes in Chattanooga for Becker's Bakery. He sold six kinds of Virginia Dare snack cakes and realized that if he increased his product line he could increase his profits with the same amount of sales effort and time. So he started selling Virginia Dare and Becker Bakery line. When Wilbur Bishop decided to sell his bakery, O. D. bought the bakery debts and all. He then approached the suppliers and explained that he was the new owner of Jack's Cookie Company and would work hard to pay off the debts. With the reputation he had built up in Chattanooga the suppliers were willing to work with him. He soon began to make changes at the bakery. He made three changes in his product line which would bring tremendous benefits immediately as well as far into the future. O. D. adjusted the recipes to the cookies, developed a cookie to a cream filled sandwich which became an immediate success, and he worked hard to increase the volume of business. Wanting to get additional and better equipment in order to produce baked goods efficiently and in quantities required to support his sales effort. and, he wanted to expand his business. So he approached his father-in-law to become his partner and provide the financing for what he wanted to do. This would cause a conflict which would effect O. D. dramatically. To increase efficiency at the bakery O. D. began designing and building equipment. He made money and he paid off debts. In 1936 he expanded his business operations by purchasing Carson's Cookie Company. At the end of 1936 O. D. and his father-in-law had a break-up with Symon King getting the bakery. It would be fifteen years before O. D. returned to the Chattanooga bakery, and not as owner. In 1937, O. D. McKee opened a new Jack's Cookie Company in Charlotte and started all over. In 1938 he more than tripled the sized of the plant. By the end of 1942 Jack's Cookie Company had three shifts turning out products and the bakery sold everything it could produce. At the end of World War II O. D. decided to build a new 100,000 square foot bakery. But with pent up demand for building materials drove up the cost of building materials, O. D. risked financial ruin to et the plant opened. He opened the plant in 1947 and by 1950 O. D. had lost control of the bakery. On May 29, 1951 O. D. McKee returned to the Chattanooga bakery not as the owner but as an employee. Due to his deteriorating health Cecil King sold the bakery to O. D. and Ruth McKee. By 1953 O. D. had greatly expanded the ales volume of the bakery. By 1955 King's Bakery had total sales of $1,013, 000 but was beset by labor problems. In September, 1957, he opened up a new bakery plant and renamed the facility "McKee Bakery Company." In 1960 came the Little Debbie snack cakes which have delighted the taste buds of millions. O. D. McKee's granddaughter Debbie became the McKee Baking Company icon and today Debbie McKee is the manager of a $20 million baker, which, as Plant Three, is located in Gentry, Arkansas. Also in 1960 O. D. put together the first version of what became the Little Debbie family pack which became an instant hit. By 1964, 80.2 percent of the production line was devoted to the Little Debbie line. By the sixties O. D. was pushing development of new products, better ways of doing things, and the expansion of plant facilities to increase sales. In 1978 came the Sunbelt line of chewy granola bars and cereals which have proven to be very successful. On June 25, 1989, Ruth McKee died of pancreatic cancer. Ruth had been very important to O. D.'s success. Today there are four McKee Baking Company bakeries and O. D. McKee is indeed America's snack king. Sweet Success is a rag-to-riches success story and is a fascinating read.

MILTON S. HERSHEY

by Katherine B. Shippen & Paul A. W. Wallace

On September 13, 1857 Milton Hershey was born to Isaac and Anna Hershey in an old fieldstone farmhouse near Hockersville, Pennsylvania. His parents were Mennonites although his parents were not in any way alike. Henry was a good talker and loved to read books on economics, biography, and history. He was fascinated by machinery and liked to experiment with new crops and new breeds of poultry and cattle. Anna was a good housekeeper and was careful with the pennies. The family moved many times in Milton's childhood, to other farms in Pennsylvania. Milton had many chores on the farms and he did them all. At seven he began his education and by the age of fourteen his schooling ended. Milton was apprenticed out to Sam Ernst who published Die Waffenlose Waechter, a pacifist newspaper published half in German and half in English. The master and the apprentice never got along very well and eventually Sam Ernst fired Milton. He was then apprenticed to Joseph H. Royer, a confectioner in Lancaster. Milton stayed with Royer for four years learning the confectioner trade which would serve him well. He enjoyed making candy from the start fascinated by all the steps of candy making. On June 1, 1876, when Milton Hershey was nineteen, he went into business for himself. In Philadelphia he opened a candy store and he worked hard making candy. Milton's business was increasing fast and still he tried all sorts of ways to get more business. With all his work and all his ingenuity , he could not make enough money to pay his expenses. In 1881 Henry Hershey went to work for his son delivering candy at four dollars a week. A year later Henry sold his shard of the business to Milton for $350. Paying the $350 put Milton in a worse financial position and in February 1882 he closed his candy store. At twenty-five he was not exactly sure what he would do next. Milton then moved to Denver, Colorado and got a job as an assistant to a candy manufacturer. Milton's job was to make caramels and he made plenty of them. Milton left Denver and moved to Chicago and opened up a candy business with his father. But Henry Hershey put his name to a friend's bad not, and all their money was gone. Milton decided to return to Lancaster to make caramels, good chewy ones of fresh milk. Milton Hershey decided that this business would be a success. Nobody in his family would loan him money to start this caramel business but a friend did. He worked day and night and his mother and aunt helped him wrap his caramels in tin foil. He tried to sell caramels by pushcart but that didn't work. Then a candy importer from England, who liked Milton's caramels, decided to sell the caramels in England. Milton received a five-hundred pound note from the Bank of England and decided to expand his business. Soon the caramels he was producing never seemed to equal the number that had been ordered. The Lancaster Caramel Company was a success with branches in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, New York City, Chicago, and Reading, Pennsylvania. All the different caramels made by Hershey's cant factories were his own creations. Milton was always experimenting and it seemed he was having a very good time. By 1894, Milton Hershey's business was shipping candies to all parts over the world doing over a million dollars' worth of business a year. In 1893, Milton Hershey attended the World's Colombian Exposition in Chicago. What interested him was a exhibition of chocolate-making machinery that had been sent from Germany. Milton watched it roasting, hulling, grinding, mixing and molding and was fascinated by what he saw. So he purchased the equipment and began producing a variety of chocolates along with his caramels. In 1898, at the age of forty-one, Milton married Catherine Sweeney. On August 10, 1900 Milton sold his Lancaster Caramel Company to the American Caramel Company for one million dollar. Milton kept the chocolate making machinery beleiving that chocolate was the future. Hershey's chocolate business was booming as he was advertising his chocolate and making good chocolates. He needed to expand his factory so he bought property in Durry Township and on March 2, 1903 ground was broken and building began. Milton then decided to concentrate on one single product, produce it in vast quantities, promote it, and make it so cheap that everyone could buy it. He would use mass production before Henry Ford. Milton decided that the chocolate made would be milk chocolate and made with fresh mild from Pennsylvania herds. Milton Hershey was no scientist, but through trial and error he worked out the right formula. He was ready to start making Hershey Bars. By the end of 1904 the new chocolate factory opened in the town of Hershey, Pennsylvania. t go with the factory Milton built a town for the workers. Hershey, Pennsylvania had comfortable housing, schools, a hospital, churches, commercial buildings, a trolley system, a railroad station, an amusement park, golf courses, a zoo, and a park with an outdoor theater. Since Milton and Katherine never had children they opened the Milton Hershey School which provided orphan boys a good place to live, get an education, and learn a trade. In 1915, after a long illness, Katherine Hershey died. In 1916 Milton traveled to Cuba and bought vast acres of land to grow sugar cane and built a mill to process the sugar cane. He called the complex Central Hershey. In 1919 the chocolate company's gross sales was fifty-eight million dollars. It was a record year. Milton Hershey was sixty-two years old that year. A sugar crisis hit in 1920 and in that year the Hershey Company had a deficit of $395,739. By the end of 1921 the company had a net income of more than three million dollars. Milton Hershey had saved everything. During the Great Depression Milton went on a building spree in Hershey to provide jobs for the needy. On September 13, 1937, Milton turned eighty. In that same year the company suffered through a strike. Milton Hershey was deeply hurt. In his later years he kept very active in the company and continued to experiment with different combinations of chocolate. During World War II the Hershey Chocolate Company developed a 600 calorie four-ounce bar for the military called "Field Ration D." The factory at Hershey began turning out 500,000 bars every twenty-four hours and was awarded with the Army-Navy E flag. Milton Hershey lived to the end to the war and witnessed the hard work of his workers. On October 13, 1945 he died of a heart attack. Even after his death in 1945 the Hershey Chocolate Company carries on his legacy.

Copyright (c) 2003 by William Tienken bookviewzine@aol.com. All rights reserved. These reviews many be freely distributed with proper attribution. Copies may be printed for non-commercial use. Redistribution, publication, or archiving of these reviews on any other terms require my consent.

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