The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1882-07-27
THE CHEWING GUM TRADE.
A business Racksd with Anxiety by tho
Tickle Tastes of Childhood.

Around the corner from Bleecker street,
in one of the streets west of Broadway, an
old sign on u dingy house-front bears the
inscription, Chewing Gum Factory
When u reporter Of the Sun started to 20 in
he found the door locked as though to Sc
cludc from intrusive observation the pro-
cesses by which the durable deicacy is pro-
duced. The proprietor himself responded
to the ring OF the door bell and, standing
in the hall, talked feelingly Of the vicissi-
tudes of the chewing gum trade 'orhis
may be called the duh season, sup
pose,' he remarked. "ior now the shools
have broken up, and there Is apt to be
less call for chewing gum. In the fall,
when the children get to their books
again, the demand will pick up, for
chewing gum Is a>quiet comfort during
school hours. Ifa phpil brings in taffy
or candy, sticky lpgefs and smeared books
are the result, anu the rustling ofthc paper
wrapper may draw the teachers attention,
and lead TO contiscation. Then, too chew
ing gum is economical. A pupil may slip
1t ON the desk when called upon to recite,
and when II dries 1t becomes fresh and
crackely again, as when il was first bought
But as said before. the demand goes by
such fits and starts that you can't tcil ex.
actly when it will spring up and when 1t
will die away. Chewing gum is not such
q staple as people imagine. We have 10
be continually on the outlook tor novelties
in order to make it go.
Are there many kinds Of chewing gum?o
mo. Natural gum is almost unheard of
nowadays. There used to be trade in
spruce gum, and believe there is still In,
New. England, Trade chewing gum is
nearly all paratline wax. There Is one man.
ufacturer in this city who uses q species of
India rnhhar Enp, nl,tlrla,, a.
name. There is no waste of substance in
either kind. You may chew out the sugar
in it, but the gum itself Is unaltered. The
sweetening constitutes the only difficulty
in chewing gum manufacture. You can
not candy the gum. If you should try to
boil parafline wax with sugar, the wax
would float to the top while the sugar
would be burning at the bottom. The
syrup must beworked In cold by pressure.
1T there IS any staple chewing gum IL is
what is known as the White Noun
tain gum, made in Maine. 1t Is a
parailine wax. gum, with its natural
white color, but very sweet, and is
put up in one uniform size. Other
makers devise all sorts of novelties, Ifyou
happen to hit the children's fancy, You
may have q bigrush; but If q style does not
take, 1t Is ofno use TO keep 1t In stock. Bet
ter melt 1t down and work II over into DIFF
ferent shapes"
What different shapes do you put chew,
ing gum up inp"
"0h, almost every conceivable shane.
You know wax Is easily moulded. Now, for
the fourth of July trade we make fire
crackers, rockets and torpedoes. Cigar
shape has q pretty constant demand. 1t
pleases the boys. made quite run once
on babies. Once | got out five little pigs
farQ nvtan as.l< 7 II 4.
by the thousands. Strawberries have had
quite run. sold about 10000 Of them in
three weeks. Chewing gum nude
IN very thin, round pieces sold like
magic for q while under the namc OF
needles and pins. We follow up the seas.
ons In toys. For instance, in the spring we
get out tops and marbles. We use several
colors.-principally white and red but
sometimes yellow and chocolate.
DO you supply. the shops directlyp"
mo; the manufacturers sell to the lob
bers, who supply the retail confectionery
trade. The manufacturers price for chew
ing gum is from 60 to 65 cents per box of
100 pieces. The retail price Is cent apiece,
The demand for chewing gum Is largely
kept up now by the prize package system,
and there Is house in this city that makes
especially Of that branch of the business and
almost monopoliges IL. They are always on
the lookout for cheap Job lots of ANYTHING
that can be used us prizes, and TINT
constitutes the greatest portion OF their
outlay. The prizes range from ring or a
doll up to clock or watch. When the
prize Is too bulky to go In he same pack
age with the gum, the prizes going to
shop..keeper with an assortment are num-
on slips folded upwith tho chewing gum,
1.-THE grpnt diflirultv nhort tha h,, ejn. a.. "