Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-10-25
INTERESTING CONTEST.
Heavy Cost of Unp..d Postage.

One Of the most curious contests
-sver before the public was conducted
By many thousand persons under the
otfer Of the Postum Cereal Co.. Ltd. OF
Battle Creek. Mich, for prizes Of 81
boxes of gold and 300 greenbacks to
.tAosc making the most words out Of
the letters Y-I-O-Grape-Nuts.
The contest was started in February,
1906. and 1t was arranged to have the
prixes awarded on April 30, 1906.
When the public announcement mp
peared many persons began to form
The words from these letters. some
times the whole family being occupied
evenings, a combination Of amusement
>and education.
After awhile the lists began to come
: In to the Postum Office and before long
: the volume grew until 1t required wag-
ems to carry the mail. Many of the
contestants were thoughtless enough
TO send their lists with insufficient
postage and for a period 1t cost the
Company from twenty-five to fifty
eight and sixty dollars a day to pay
the unpaid postage.
Young ladies'. generally those who
had graduated from the high school,
were employed to examine these lists
and count the correct words. Webster's
Dictionary was the standard and each
list was very carefully corrected ex-
rept those which fell below 5000, for
ut soon became clear that nothing be-
~ AL>A Gould win Cnfno nf tho 1lctO
ssequired the work Of q young lady for
a solid week IN each Individual list.
The work was done very carefully and
accurately, but the Company had no
idea, at the time the offer was made,
that the people would respond so gen.
orally and they were compelled to nll
,eyery available space In the offices
with these young lady examiners. and
notwithstanding they worked steadily.
It was impossible to complete the ex-
animation until Sept. 20, over six
months after the prizes should have
been awarded.
This delay caused a great many ir.
~uirles and naturally created some dis
satisfaction. 1t has been thought best
60 make this report in practically all
OF the newspapers In the United States
and many of the magazines in order to
make clear to the people the condi-
sions of the contest.
Many lists contained enormous num-
hers of words which, under the rules,
lad to be eliminated "Pegger" would
eonnt "Peggers'' would not. Some lists
contained over 10000 words, the great
majority Of which were cut out The
largest lists were checked over two and
IN some cases three times to insure
accuracy.
The $4,000 gold prize was won by
l.. ID. Reese, 1927 10Th ST.. Denver.
Colo, with 9941 correct words. The
highest $1,000 gold prize went to s. X.
Fraser, Lincoln. Pa, with 1921 correct
words.
A complete list of the 1871 winners
With their home addresses will be sent
70 apy contestant enQuiring on a postal
card.
BE sure and give name and address
clearly.
This contest has cost the Co. many
thousand dollars, and probably has not
heen A profitable advertisement. never
tl,eiess perhaps some who had never
before tried Grape-Nuts food have
been interested In the contest, and
from trial Of the food have been shown
II. wonderful rebuilding powers.
Il. teaches in II practical manner that
scientifically gathered food elements
can be selected from the field grains.
which nature will us, for rebuilding
the nerve centers and brain In a way
tnat is unmistakable to users Of Grape
Nuts.
s.There's q reason"
Res,un Cereal Co. Ltd. Battle cresk. MieA