Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-06-02
HOW THE WORLD GETS BREAD.
18 Square Miles Of Wheat a Days
Grinding at Washburn- Crosby M'i's.

'What is the most interesting ques-
ton of the century," asked President
George Emory Fellows of the UniVer-
sitv of Maine, in lecture on natlonal
progress.
THE bread question:" promptly re-
piled man in the audience.
And while the reply probably referred
to the bread question as including the
very broad question of struggle 1or
livelihood. nevertheless it has most
interesting side when taken literally.
Whence comes the almost countless
tons of -four with which the Gally de-
mand of the rich and poor alike IS sup
piled? And how are all the impurities
and indisestible parts of the gram re
moved, and only the wonderful pure
white product retained, which the gro
GERS boy delivers to your door?
Many more readers can give more or
less definite answers to these questions
today than a few years ago-due CHIEFLY
10 the great educational campaigns ON
the output Of the largest :lour mills of
the world-those of the Washburn-
Crosby Co., of Minneapolis, Mimi,
manufacturers of Gold Medal Flour.
Some indication of the vast industry
which the demand for the staff OF life
has created is afforded IN the figures OF
the daily capacity of these big mills
81. 900 barrels of flour. More than 49,
600 bushels Of grain may be used IN
this establishment in one day-the pro-
duct of 12.UOO acres or nearly 19 square
miles Last year over 100000 barrels
of flour were shipped from this plant
alone.
From the start to finish, the flour
making in these mills employ more
than a thousand men who are given
steady employment at high grade Ia
Dor, the year around.
The process of cleaning and milling
the wheat from which the flour is OBJ
tanned that is not touched by hands
until the bag is opened in the pur-
chaser's home, is long and varied. At
the outset the chemist analyses the
samples of wheat and decides what
shall be bought. The grain is cleaned
first by aeration and sitting machinery,
and then by securing in a rapidly
whirling cylinder. After this it is
furiously brushed until even a micros-
cope would fail to reveal any foreign
particle.
Then begins the milling to separate
the five layers of the outer hull of the
grain from the inner starch and gluten
producing cells.
1t may surprise many to know that
flour is not dust or pulveriZeZd wheat
it really consists of sharp granules of
uniform size composed of starch and
gluten, all impurities having been re-
moved.
The grain is crushed in a series Of
rollers, and silk boiling cloth, costing
as high as $500 yard, is used to separ-
ate the flour from it's coats. 1t is made
| to pass through this silken fabric. This
explains it's velvety fineness. The flour
| is then dropped through chutes into the
| cloth bags, which when filled arc quick
| ly sewed up.
| The various streams of flour are cor.-
| stantly under inspection by experts,
and wet and dry tests are made every
| few minutes. The sample of -four to be
| tested is SmoOthcd on a board with a
sample which is standard. A portion
| is wet and baked in an electric oven,
| thus giving a most valuable color test.
| The -four is kept absolutely uniform
| and distinctly superior in quality, day
in and day out-year in and year out.
! A large beautiful illuminated view of
| the largest flour mills in the world is
on exhibition in the window CT the
| kcnnebec Journal Office.