The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-12-20
INDIANAPOLIS CANDY
TRADE is VERY LARGE
Has Increased in a Remarkable
Way Within Five
Years.
OF A SUPERIOR QUALITY
Predicted that This City Will
Become the Candy
Center.
Of A SUPERIOR QUALITY


Become the Candy
Center.
During the hot month OF August when
the asphalt streets are soft from the suns
rays and the majority of people are leaving
the city for the COOL inviting shades of the
country, and are little thinking of the holi-
day season, the candy manufacturer is
staying close to business employing more
help than usual and in every way prepar-
ing for the Christmas trade. During all
this time carload after carload of candy
Is being shipped from here TO all parts of
the country. In this city are five large
candy factories and quite a number Of
smaller ones. and these have had all they
| could do this season and more. 1t seems,
| as the years go on, as If candy were be-
| coming more of important factor in the
| holiday festivities. 1t is not only the chill
dren who enjoy the sweetmeats at this
season. but grown people, many of whom
never touch candy at any other time of the
| year. take their share now. Consequently
| the manufacturer of candy derives more
| benefit from the season of the evergreens
| than does any other merchant With the
| majority of merchants Christmas trade
| does not last more than two months at the
| longest, while with the man who makes
| candy it lasts for about five months, and
during all this time he is doing a rushing
business. working his forces both day ano
night.
This trade, so far as the local manufac-
| turers are concerned, has grown wonder
| fully in the last five years. 1t is predicted
by the leading candy men of the city that If
the rapid strides that this business has
taken will only keep up in the future In
dianapolis will be the center Of candy man
ufacturing In the United States. Chicago
at the present time Is the largest market in
! the country for this class of trade and the
factories there turn out candy, 1t is claimed,
that is of very superior quality, yet the
article which is shipped from here there
sells over their home product every time.
| One of the leading manufacturers recently
| said:
II estimate that there has been 20 per
cent. more candy made in this city this
year than there was last. At this rate of
increase it will not be many years until In
dianapolis will lead every city in the United
States, so far as the manufacture of candy
| is concerned.
| IhE1 MAKE The BEST.
"Our firm saw what was coming this year
and moved to larger quarters and we
| haven't more than enough room now. What
has made such boom in this business here
is the quality of the candy that we make
| 1t used to be that Cincinnati was our chief
competitor, for the candy from there was
| of excellent quality. 1t was a long time
before we could come UP to them in regard
L <bic
to compete with us when it comes to the
| character of the goods we make here. For
long time the making of candy in large
4 quantities did not succeed very well in this
| city; for the most part we only catered to
the local and State trade. But within the
| last few years the local factories have
/ gained such a reputation and the demand
| for the home product has been great that
| we can hardly comply with it. / have no
| amount to considerably over million dol
| lars and that is only for the candy made
here That which is bought elsewhere from
here is not considered.
| I'VE do not in this city specialize on any
particular line, but make what Is known as
| a general line of candies. This comprises
| all kinds and grades. OF course there is
| more of the cheap goods sold than any
other kind; that is. the mixed candy that
sells Tor about 10 cents pound. great
| the children who attend the various kinds
| of entertainments that occur at this season
| of the year. Then there is becoming more
| Of a demand for the better grades Of can
| dies, such as bonbons, chocolate drops and
| fancy candies of all kinds. The depart
ment stores in the city, all Of which handle
| candy, sell enormous lot at this season
| of the year. You see, all of our shipping
| trade that amounts to anything Is over
with by this time, but our local trade will
| last up until Christmas. Now the larger
| part of this trade is done by the depart
ment stores. We are furnishing one store
with from 1000 to 5000 boxes of marsh
| mallows each week. and l may say here
that this seems TO be the favorite variety
| of candy in this city. and We sell more of
it for local trade than any other kind
A BUSY PLACE.
A large candy factory at this season of
the year certainly presents a very busy
scene. The long rows of tables have girls
sitting along the sides of them putting the
different kinds of candies through the vari-
Gus stages of perfection. There are about
200 girls employed in place of this kind.
| The departments in which they mostly
work is where the dropping and wrapping
| are done 1t has been found that girls are
| the only ones who can do this work sue
cessfully on account of the daintiness of II.
| They all required to wear white aprons
| and white oversleeves, which give them a
| very clean and neat appearance. Besides
the girls there are about 100 men employed
| in making the candy and getting it ready
for shipment. These men wear white over
| alls and caps. In the large modern facto-
| ries there is very little candy made by
| hand. In fact great amount of 1T is never
| touched by human fingers from the time
| the raw materials are put in the large ket-
| ties until it is ready to be shipped. Every
thing is now done by machinery because of
the cleanliness of it, and then the candy
| can be made much faster and in much
| larger quantities. I'm the old days, when
all the work was done by hand, ii would
| have been impossible to employ enough
enough to accommodate them to turn out
| the amount of work that is now DONE
| said leading manufacturer.
1t used to be that all the candy was boiled
over open fires, but this has been done AWAY
| with, and instead. all of the cooking is done
| by steam. In this manner much larger
patches can be made at one time and the
| materials can be cooked much faster than
| formerly. The trick in making candy now
| is just the same as in everything else