Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1856-12-26

tnkt OF IOuF Vi tuc Utoe oaheis III Nc"
York. Its quality is much superior, both
on account Of the tboroughness with which
it is baked, and its sweetness, and in guam
tity the loaves from Mr.. BeIdan's oven
were from forty to fifty per cent heavier
than those furnished at the same price BY
ordinary bakers The loaf, too, cuts much
less to waste than the ordinary loaves.
1t is stated on scientific authority that
largo percentage of the nutritious pro-
perties of bread escape BY the process Of
baking in the ordinary oven, and that the
same are retained in the brsAd buked in
the Automatic Oven. The fact can be
ascertsined by analysis. Now, suppose
this oven can bake $50 barrels of -four in
to bread in twenty-four hours-one half
of its capacity-Wbst is the actual e1-
pense, per day Of twenty four hours, for
running this baking machine and turning
$50 barrels of -four into good and whole
some bread Of the best quality7 We can
not make it more than forty cents barrel,
aud the inventor claims that is will BE-
greatly less Compare this with cost of
baking as now carried on, and the differ
euce in the aggregate is startling. ln
Brooklyn, before Mr. Bcrdan's oven was
put in operation We have been Informed
that many bakers have enlarged their
losves siuce) the price of bread to the con-
sumer Was double the price of -four to the
baker-thar is, the consumer was charged
from 81 to IS barrel for baking. Now
this profit at first view appears enormous,
and we are ready to condemn the baker
at once for exactions upon the staff Of life.
Blu, let US examine fairly into the bakers
business, and see if he can afford 20 charge
much less. Twenty barrels of -four \ week
or three barrels day, is more than is ba-
ked by the majority Of our bakers. Hence
il will be seen thst the baker with one or
dlnary oven is obliged to pay his men and
all his expenses, and support himself and
family, out Of the profits he makes upon
baking three barrels of -four day; aud if,
in addition to all this, he makes fair
profit, which he ought to do, it does rot
appear tha, he could afford his bread at q
price much less. There are, we believe,
at least three hundred bakeries in tha
city Of Brooklyn. The competition IN
baking is great, and in such cases, prices
are not, generally, far from wba, affords
fair remuuerative profit.
l, will at once be perceived tha. the ad-
vantage Of Mr.. Berdan's oven consists in,
Let, the concentration of the business uu-
der one roof, which is scattered over the
city in three hundred tenements-thus
saving in rent alone more than one hun
dred thousand dollars per annum. I'd.
Saving in labor More than twelve hun
dred men are now employed in the differ
ent bakeries in Brooklyn. Fifty men in
Mr. Berdan's Mechanical Bakery will bake
an equal amount Of bread. This difference
10 the labor Of baking is almost incredible
but it is nevertheless true. The difference
iu fuel is equally noteworthy. Suppose it
costs the bakers of the city, on an average
seventy ty-tive cents a day for fuel I've be-
lieve it costs dollar, at that rate the
fuel for baking the bread of Brooklyn costs
$275 per day. Mr.. Berdan's oven a. d
engine consume but one ton of coal day,
at S. or Sc per ton. We need look no
further to understand why bread by this
Mechanical Bakery can be afforded to the
consumer forty per cent. cheaper than by
the small bakers, and leave fortune every
year to the inventor.
We understand that Mr. Berdsn pur-
poses to charge at wholesale for bread of
the first quality. but one dollar, per barrel
of -four, for bskisg-tbat is if he purchase
-four at 81 he makes it into good bread
for s.. and the wholesale dealer, who takes
it at the bakery, pays no more. Now the
consumer will pay one cent loaf more to
the retailer This will amount to about
81 so per barrel in addition, making cost
to the consumer of 81 so per barrel, in-
stead of ST, as he is nov charged-a diff
e-ence Of 81 so per barrel, or, to the con-
sumrrs Of bread in the city of Brooklyn,
of more than Eight Hundred and Fifty
Thousand Dollars year.
1t will be seen that the importance Of
this invention can hardly be overrated A
reduction Of nearly one-half in the price
of the great staple Of daily food. introduces
in fact new phase in political economy.
The ability to make half that reduction
would have postponed, if not averted, the
French Revolution. The subject is Of
sufficient moment to command the atten-
tiop and the practical cooperation Of men
of intelligence aud capital.
As to the practical working Of the in
vention, We may say that the oven has
been in operation about fortnight. On