Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1901-02-14
THE CANNING INDUSTRY.

B1 W. W. tLENDHANlNs
About half a century ago a man
from the state of Maine, who was
travelling through Italy, visited the
ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii.
Whilst he was looking at the lately
uncovered houses that were buried by
cloud Of hot ashes and cinders from
Mount Vesuvius, A. D., 10; he saw
some wOrkAen take from house that
had just been excavated, several
Theoretically sealed earthen jars, and
he was curious to see what they con-
tanned. When the lids were removed
from the jars he saw they contained
nicely preserved fruit and when he
tasted it he found that it was as
sweet and fresh as it was when 1t was
put into the jars nearly 1900 years ago.
And right there-being a practical
down-east Yankee-he did some hard
thinking, but he wisely kept his
thoughts to himself and said moth
ing. When he returned home he be-
gan to experiment and it did not take
him long to discover the simple pro-
cess Of canning fruit and vegetables
He built a cannery and put up moth
ing but sweet corn and it proved a
success from the start and he realized
princely fortune. The next things
canned were Holsters, clans and oys-
ters along the Atlantic coast and soon
Baltimore led the world in canning
''fresh cove oysters Then, on the
coast of France, the French began to
can sardines, putting them up in olive
oil. Early in the seventies old DR..
Dawson moved his family from Baltl-
more to San Jose, CAL, and a short
time after his arrival there he noticed |
that large quantities of apricots, for
want of market, were rotting on the
trees. He thought it was shame |
that such fine and delicious fruit
should be wasted in that manner,
and he gathered quite lot of it and
he and his wife canned it on their |
cooking stove. He then put lot of |
the canned fruit in the hotels and
grocery stores SO that the people could |
see how nice and delicious it was when |
preserved in that way and all who saw
and tasted it wanted it. The follow
ing year he bought large cooking
range and he and his family canned
all the apricots they could put up on
it. The fruit sold like hot cakes and
there was a great demand for it from
every place it reached. The next
season several wealthy orchardlsts and
DIR. Dawson formed joint stock COM
pany and put up large cannery. This
was the nucleus of the great canning
industry on the Pacific coast, that
reaches from San Diego to the Arctic
Circle in Alaska. The Gamers have
the whole world for a market and
have no trouble in disposing of their
goods. The number of persons en-
ployed in these canneries range from
200 to 800 and are mostly women and
girls. All Of the large Gamers buy
their tin plate in England at whole
sale prices and make their own cans in
their cannery. They also buy their
sugar at the time it is the cheapest
and get it at wholesale prices. The
prime requisites in successfully run
ming cannery are: ~ good finan-
cier; ~ a first-class salesman; (3l a.
superintendent who thoroughly UNI
derstands the business.
Maine, where the canning industry
was first started, now has 175 can
neries that pay s1,4OO,0OO year in
wages to 5000 operatives, and the
value of the total annual output of
all the factories is s5,3OO,O0O. r. K.
Thurber, of New York, who owns the
largest wholesale grocery in the
world, also has the largest cannery in
the world. 1t is located in New Jer-
sey and nearly the entire output is
tomatoes. The total annual pack of
tomatoes in the United States aver
ages nearly $500, 900 cases Of "A cans
each, and the area required to supply
the canneries is estimated to exceed
300, 900 acres. The bulk Of this crop
for this purpose is, however, grown in
a few states, Maryland leading with
over 1000, 900 cases and New Jersey
following with from 100000 to 100000
cases. The four states Of Maryland,
New Jersey, Indiana and California
produce about three quarters of the
lentire pack, and Maryland and New
Jersey produce nearly one half. The
other states of considerable produc-
tion are, in their order, Delaware,
Missouri, Ohio, Virginia and Iowa.
In a letter that l recently received
from an old friend in California, who
has an orchard near San Jose, he in
forms me that seven years ago he and
his two sons put up small building
in their orchard and canned their own
fruit, doing all the work themselves.
They had no trouble in disposing of
their product and since that time
they have annually increased the size
of their building, leased other orch
ards and last year they employed 200
operatives and used $4,000 in the
business.
There is no enterprise that could be
started as cheaply or that would be of
: so great a benefit to Mexico as a
good cannery. If properly managed
it would be worth more than a dozen
e military schools, for it would not
! only benefit every business man, but
would help every farmer around Mex
leo and give employment to hundreds
0 OInuT I'D IN nATE