Omaha daily bee., 1883-05-31
THE CRACKER INDUSTRY.
Its Origin. Preparation aud Growth
az al Enterprise.
Boston Commercial Rnllctin

Boston Commercial Bulletin.
About $25, 600, 900 are invested In
the manufacture of bread, crackers
and other bakery products In this
country, representing some 1000 ca
Establishments, $45, 600, 600 In materi-
ale, giving an annual production of
$40, 000, 900. 1t has almost passed
into q proverb that few bakers die
rich. However that may be, We know
that there are many men who have
become wealthy in tho cracker bust
ness.
The origin of the cracker, as a dis.
tinct article of bread food, is euyel-
oped in mystery. shakespeare may
have had some reference to 1t when
he suggested the connundrum, "What
cracker is this same that deafs our
ears2' having received, perhaps, u VIC.
lent blow on the ear with q piece of
''hard tack" The uuearthing of
debris In subterranean Pompeii and
Herculaneum has brought to light
specimens of petrlied circular and
fiat substances very much resembling
the cracker Of the present day, which
once might have been on sale In the
bresd-hhops of those unfortunate
cities. But as an erticle entering into
the domestic economy the cracker is
of modern use, and In some respects
Is a commercial necessity.
The food preparations of Msssachu-
setts represent q total product of about
10000, 900 annually, and included
In this is the manufacture of the
cracker, In the various forms, condl.
tions and qualities, from the large
pilot-bread cracker to the cracker no
larger than a ten-oent piece. A lead.
Ing cracker manufacturer has on his
private scale of prices no less han
gsventy-fve different kinds of the
edible, combining all sorts and sizes,
embracing commons and sweets, plains
and fantsstics, hsrds and softs, regu-
lars and irreguiars, rounds and squares
in fact, varieties sufficient to satisfy
the demand and the appetite of the
most exacting plebian or otherwise.
In tho city of Boston some S., O00,-
600 r invested In the production Of
food products, 10 small part of which
is the manufacture of the cracker.
The business here Is practically con
fined to a dozen Embellishments, sev-
eral of whose ovenn are in Cambridge.
The "Boston cracker" is an article of
bread food as familiar as a household
word. 1t is eaten in all chimes, evon
under the screening rays of the torrid
zone. 1t stands for civilization and
peaceful conquest. It represents the
acme of cracker making,
The demand for the cracker grows
With the growth OF the country, and
as an article of foreign export 1t 10
assuming considerable Importance.
One leading OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
establishment Ia the largest and best
appointed in this section Of the coun-
try, employing q large number Of
barrels of hands, and consuming hun
dreds of barrels of -four weekly-now
exports his products not only to CHI
csgo and the west, but to foreign
points, even 80 far away as Aus
tralia and New Zealand. Tho larg-
est crsoker.mskers purchase their
-four by special contract With western
millers and secure special rates of
freight, thus obtaining their chief
material at bottom prices. One of
the marked features of the cracker
business IL Its peddler trade, by which
not only stores throughout the ooun-
try towns are supplied, but also fami.
lies, regularly at stated prices. No
well regulated family is now
without Its box of crackers
In the house. The greatest care
is taken In boxing crackers. The
name of the packer is written on Q
slip of paper, which Is enclosed with
each box, and In case the box Is re-
turned for good reasons, the packer,
as a penalty for his or her careless
ness, Is obliged to forfeit the price Of
the box. We do not know that thil
rule prevails among all the cracker
makers, but IT, certainly does with one
large concern whose goods have be
come famous.
Cracker making has become quit,
an art and, coupled with the mAchin
cry now used la connection with tn,
business, ranks amoung the craft
that were inBtituted in the carly day
of the trades when to know the art o
doing a trade well was to be Ia thu
possession Of q secret. Indeed, som,
housewives would only be too glad u
know how to make tho famous "Bo1
ton cracker"