The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-03
HUSTON BISCUIT
 COMPANY PLANT lfficers of Corporation Dine Jobbers and SaIesmen HELPFUL TALKS MApt company's Business Has TripIed Since Local Merchants Got Control.
 How Cakes, Crackers and
 Candy Are Made.

Sixty men, representing the grocery jobbing houses of Birmingham. were en- tertained last night at a banquet given by the Huston Biscuit company in its handsome four-story brick building at Twenty eighth street and Avenue E.
 The occasion was one that enabled the officers of the company and the jobbers to come into closer association with one another, and the speeches heard around the banquet board indicated enthusiastically that a spirit of earnest cooperation ex- ists between the grocery jobbers of Bir- mingham and the Huston Biscuit com pany.
 Sid w Lee. the president of the com pany, acted as toastmaster, and made happy speech in which was voiced the company's high appreciation of the ser vice done the company by the statesmen of the various grocery jobbing houses in Birmingham. Short talks containing help full suggestions regarding trade condi- tions and trade relations, were made by Lee Bivens Clarence Tardy, Victor Gage, Robert McLester, R. E. Collins, R. l.. Sumner. Joseph Harper, John Cooke, J. A. VanHoose, Jr., H. E. Shropshire, F. J. Alexander, E. U Emery, Joseph Jones, F. M Billups, A. G. Stevens, R. G. Me Carty and T. J. Smith,
 Before the dinner began, the guests were given opportunity to inspect the Huston Biscuit companys plant and high ly enjoyed what was shown them. The company's entire working force had been 
 operation of the plant proved to be highly interesting to every one who was present.
 The Huston Biscuit company was founded in 1891. Three years ago it's pres ent commodious home, 100xl40, made of brick and rising four stories in height, was built In March of the current year the company was purchased by a number of men engaged in mercantile business in Birmingham, and since that time it has done a fourishing business. With its cracker and confectionery department 1t occupies all four floors of the building, employs 25O persons has a weekly pay | roll of $150O, exclusive of officers salaries, and does a business amounting now to $50O,OO year. Within the last six months it's business was tripled, and it is ex- pected that next year its volume of busi- ness will amount to $1, ,0O0, ,OOO Already the plant manufactures 15,003 pounds of candy a day, and consumes in its cracker de- partment 100 barrels of flour daily. The 1 output of the plant commands a ready market in almost all the southern states l The company Is capitalized at s100,O0O l It's officers are: Sid w. Lee, president; F. 1 G. Alexander manager, and F. l.. Bivens, secretary and treasurer.
 The guests at the banquet last night l watched with interest the process of | manufacturing the crackers, cakes and confectionery. They inspected every de- l tail in the working of each department. 1 They saw the flour carried in sacks up l the elevator to the second floor; emptied into the three large mixers and knead- ed into dough, which was put later 1 into the large troughs and rolled and cut and cooked in two large ovens All this was done by machinery. After the crackers were baked they were taken automa tically to the third floor, where 1 they were packed by hand into air-tight cartons and labelled with the celebrated Picnic Biscuit brand. The company manufactures as many as fifty different varieties of cakes and crackers
 l On the third floor of the building the fancy confectionery is manufactured and on the fourth floor is the general con- l fectionery plant. There the guests saw the sugar poured into the kettles and
 melted by steam. drawn out. cooled. | pulled, cclored and made into candy of various shapes and sizes.
 Among the jobbers and salesmen who watched the operation of the plant last night the opinion was unanimous that no more elaborate or successful establish ment of it's kind can be found in the 1 United States than the Huston Biscuit company.