Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1906-10-20
INTERESTING CONTEST.
Heavy Cost of Unpaid Postage.

One Of the most curious contests
ever before the public was conducted
by many thousand persons under the
offer of the Postum Cereal Co., Ltd,
of Battle Creek, Mich, for prizes of
81 boxes of gold and 800 greenbacks
to those making the most words out
of the letters Y-I-O-Grape-Nuts.
The contest was started in Febru-
airy, 1906, and 1t was arranged to
have the prizes awarded on Apr. 80,
1906.
When the public announcement
appeared many persons began TO
form the words from these letters,
sometimes the whole family being
occupied evenings, a combination OF
amusement and education.
After a while the lists began to
come in to the Postum Office, and be-
fore long the volume grew until it
required wagons to carry the mail.
Many of the contestants were
thoughtless enough to send their lists
with insufficient postage and for a
period it cost the Company from
twenty-five to ffty-eight and sixty
dollars day to pay the unpaid post
age.
Young ladies, generally those who
had graduated from the high school,
were employed to examine these lists
and count the correct words. Web
ster's Dictionary was the standard,
and each list was very carefully cor
rected, except those which fell below
5000, for it soon became clear that
nothing below that could win. Some
of the lists required the work of
young lady for a solid week on 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 generally and they
were compelled to fill every available
space in the offices with these young
lady examiners, and Notwithstanding
they worked steadily, it was impossi-
BILE to complete the examination until
Sept. 20, over six months after the
prizes should have been awarded.
This delay caused a great many
inquiries and naturally created some
dissatisfaction. 1t has been thought
best to make this report in practi-
cally all of the newspapers in the
United States and many of the maya
zines In order to make clear to the
people the conditions of the contest.
Many lists contained enormous
numbers of words which, under the
rules, had to be eliminated. Peg
ger" would count, "Peggers" would
not. Some lists contained over 50,-
900 words, the great majority of
which were cut out. The largest
lists were checked over two and in
some cases three times to insure ac-
curacy
The $4,000 gold prize was won by
L. D. Reese, 1227-15th 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 331 winners
with their home addresses will be
a postal card.
Be sure and give name and address
clearly.
This contest has cost the Co. many
thousand dollars, and probably has
not been profitable advertisement,
nevertheless, 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 its wonderful rebuilding pow
ers.
1t teaches in a practical manner
that scientifically gathered food ele-
ments can be selected from the field
grains which nature will use for re-
building the nerve centres and brain
in a way that is unmistakable to
users of Grape-Nuts.
There's a reason"