San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-07-19
The Cracker Industry.

AhO SheSASa huuusuys
About S25,O00,000 are invested in the
manufacture of bread, cracker and
other bakery products in this country,
representing some 1000 establishments,
81, 000, 900 in materials, giving nm an
nual production of S70,0O0,UOO. II
has almost passed into proverb that
few bakers die rich. However that
may be, we know that there are many
men who have become wealthy in the
cracker business. The manufacture OF
the cracker has become an important
speciality in bakery products.
The origin of the cracker, and dis
tinct article of bread food, is enveloped
in mystery. Shakespeare may have
had some reference to it when he sag
gested the conundrum, "What craker
Is this same that deafs our ears?" hay
ing received, perhaps violent blow on
the ear with piece of "hard tack
The unearthing of debris in subter-
ranean Pompeii and Herculaneum has
brought to light specimens of petrifed
circular and fiat substances very much
resembling the cracker of the present
day, which once might have been on
sale in the bread-shops of those un-
fortunate cities. But as an article en-
tering into the domentic economy the
cracker is of modern use, and in some
respects is necessity. t,..
The food preparation of Massachusetts,
represent total product of about $70,-
100000 annually, and included in this is
the manufacture of the cracker, in its
various forms, conditions and qualities,
from the large pilot bread cracker to a
cracker no larger than ten-cent piece.
A leading cracker manufacturer has on
his private scale of prices no less than
seventy five, different kinds of the edi-
bic, combining all sorts and sizes, en-
b.. sing commons and sweets, plains
and fantasies, hard and softs, regular
and irregulars, rounds and squares
in fact, varieties sufficient to satisfy the
demand and the appetite of the most
eXacting plebeian or otherwise.
In the city of Boston some Sc, 100000
are invested in the production of food
products, no small part of which is in
the manufacture of the cracker. The
business here is practically confined to
dozen establishments, several of
whose ovens are heated in Cambridge.
The "Boston cracker" is an article of
bread food as familiar as household
word. It is eaten in all chimes, even
under the scorching rays OF the torrid
zone. 1t stands for civilization and
peaceful conquest. 1t represents the
acme OF cracker-making.
The demand tor the cracker grows
with the growth of the country, and as
an article of foreign export it is assum-
ing considerable Importance. One
leading manufacture-whese establish
ment is the largest and best appointed
in this section OF the country, employing
O large number of hands and consum.
ing hundreds of barrels of -four week
ly-now exports his products not only
to Chicago and the West, but to for
eign points, even so far away as Aus
tralia and New Zealand. The larg-
est crack makers purchase their flour
byyspecial contract with Western mill
ers and secure especial rates of freight,
thus obtaining their chief material at
bottom prices. One OF the marked
features of the cracker business is it's
peddler trade, by which not only stores
throughout the country towns are
supplied, but also families regularly
at stated prices. No well-regulated
family is now without it's box of crack
ers in the house. The greatest care
is taken in boxing crackers. The name
of the packer is written on slip of
paper, which is inclosed with each box,
and in case the box IS returned for
good reasons the packer, as a penalty
of lis or her carelessness, is obliged to
forfeit the price of the box. We do
not know that this rule prevails among
all the cracker makers, but it certainly
does with one large concern whose
goods have become famous.
Cracker-making has become quiet an
art and, coupled with the machinery
now used in connection with the bust
ness, ranks among the crafts that were
instituted in the early day of the trades
when to know the art of doing trade
well was to be in the possession Of a
secret. Indeed, some housewives would
only be too glad to know how to make
theI famous "Bonton cracker. - Os-
! tom Commercial Bulletin.