The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1907-02-28
THE CANNING INDUSTRY.
Its Origin and Progress in the Unit
ed States.

ed States.
A convention of sons interested
in the canning industry in the United
States has just been held at Buffalo,
and DR.. Wiley of the Department of
Agriculture went up there to explain
to them the policy and the practice
that will be followed by the govern
ment in the enforcement of the pure
food law This law requires that the
label shall state precisely what is in
the can, which will allow the buyer
to know what he is getting. Maple
strip made from sap in Vermont will
be SO indicated, and maple strip made
in Chicago from glucose, favoring
extracts and the tops of old boots
can be identified from the printed
formula on the label Every glass of
jelly, every package of prepared
breakfast food must be described for
the information of the purchaser, and
no doubt there will be many surprises
when people discover what they have
been eating.
The canning and preserving indus
try has rapidly become one of the
most important in the United States.
Twenty-Five years ago nearly all our
preserved fruits and vegetables were
S,t.< s,o -, fao I.x~Lo.~ - a
sidered very bad form to use factory
made goods.
In 1880 there were 400 canning es-
adjustments in the United States,
with a capital of $4,000. 900 and an
annual product of s17,000,00c Today
there are nearly 1850 establishments,
with a capital of $4,000, 900 and an an
nua! product of about s11o, ooo, 900.
In 1905, according to the census fig
ures, as,sss people were employed in
canning establishments, and they re-
ceived slo,42s,52 in wages.
The value of the product has doub-
led during the last FIVE years. The
value of vegetables canned increased
from s2s. ,5ss in 1900. to 81,
14S in 1905; dried fruits increased
from s4,757,oo5 in 1900 to s1s664, 7s4
in 1905, of which s13,s00,6ol was
produced in California. California is
the banner state, and produced $24,-
s25. 1873 worth of canned fruits and
vegetables in 1905. This was an in
crease from s14.290,26 in 1900. New
York was second, with $12,o1o,755,
and Maryland close third, with $12,-
705,5f1.
Maryland used to be the banner
canning state. but it has gradually
dropped down to the third place, and
last year showed decrease of ST.
100000 or more. Maryland is losing
even the oyster packing trade, which
is going to Mississippi Thomas
Kensett began TO put up oysters in
Baltimore as early as 1925, and until
1904 that city was the center of the
trade, but many of the Gamers have
moved devn to the gulf, where oy-
sters are cheaper and more conven-
lent, and have located their canneries
at the edge of the water, where they
have their own wharves. The oyster
boats come alongside and shift their
cargoes to TRUCKS, which run along
on rails to the shocking rooms. There
the oysters are opened within an
hour or two after they are taken out
of the water. Everything is done by
automatic machinery. The oysters
are o,ened by steam, and after the
mea. is removed by hand they are
washed, packed in cans, sealed and
labeled by mechanical contrivances-
The first man to introduce canning
into the United States was an Eng
lishman named Thomas Kensett, who
learned the business in the old coun-
try from Peter Durant, who, in 1910,
obtained patent for putting up food
in Theoretically sealed vessels of
glass, pottery or tin. In 1925 Kensett.
established factory in Maryland.
where fruits, vegetables and oysters
were plentiful and cheap, and that
state continued to be the center of
the industry for many years; but it
did not make much progress until the
civil war, wnen there was great de-
made for vegetables and fruits in the
army After the war the invasion OF !.
the mountains by miners and the set
tleman of the prairies by ranchmen
and farmers kept up the demand.