The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1912-02-03
MORE THAN A MILLION TONS OF
SWEETNESS ARE USED IN THE
UNITED STATES.

of the Species" Consumes 1t, and
Is Gradually Eating More.
Think of it! Miss America ate l.
100000 tons of candy last year. She
will eat as much or more this year.
Next year she may beat all previous
records. She is the real, original and
only Handy Kid"
Just now she is eating more than
she ever ate before. The female of
the species" eats the candy. She
keeps Me rest of the country busy
raising the money wherewith to pur-
chase more sweet stuff, says the St.
Louis Republic.
1t costs every man, woman and
child in the United States just about
IS a year for chocolates, bonbons,
marshmallows, gumdrops, all-day
suckers and lemon drops. That is,
it would cost them that sum if the
cost were equally pTorated among
the 100000 folks in the nation.
We spend about 100000 yearly
for candy. st. Louis is one of the
principal cities of candy consump-
ton and production. Back in Au-
gust the candy makers of st. Louis
threw their machinery into the third
speed and started to get ready for
the holiday trade. They slackened
their pace some weeks ago, for the
supply had been replenished for the
holiday rush by that time.
There will be more candy factories
next year. America is by no means
surfeited on the sweet stuff.
In 1910 we ate 100000
pounds of candy. 1t is admitted that
most of it was consumed by the fair
sex. And yet, in spite of all this,
people wonder why so many Ameri-
can maids and matrons are fat!
Candy factories have doubled in
number within the last few years.
We are eating fifty times as much of
the subtly and frankly sweet stuff
as We did twenty years ago. Chill
dren must have candy every day, and
the children's mothers nibble at it
all day long and consume a half
pound box of it nearly every evening.
Strong men have fallen a victim to
its insidiousness and sit at their
desks "urtively gnawing at taffy,
fudge, and other sticky connections.
There are business men right in st.
Louis who are never without it in
their desks. They would as soon
think of going without their daily ra-
tions.
If we would quit eating candy in
this country for two years-for just
tWenty-fouT months-we would have
saved enough money to pay off the
national debt.
With the candy money spent in
one year in this country we could
buy our Uncle Samuel 100 new bat
tleships of the dreadnought type
But we cannot eat warships, and the
sweet tooth of Americans must be
filled.
With that $5OO,OOO,OOO,OOO we
would be able to drain every acre of
swamp land in the Mississippi val
ley.
With that $5OO,00O,OOO,O 1000 we
could build and fortify, fill up and
dig over another Panama canal. But
we must have our daily ration of
candy if butter goes to 40 cents a
pound and eggs become as precious
as the glittering gems of Golconda.
When father was a boy only rich
children had candy every day. A
nickel's worth of candy would bride
a whole school room. That same
nickels worth of candy was a whole
Christmas within itself. You had
candy to eat only on extra special oc-
casions like Christmas, Fourth of
July and during the county fair.
Four times as much candy is now
made yearly in the United States as
was made ten years ago The appe-
tite of the Handy Kid" is increas-
ing. Candy shops are thicker now
than saloons were in the old days.
The output of 1910 was double that
of 1906, and was so per cent greater
than that of 1909
I-Took-Ashoe, DR.. Cooks intelIi-
gent Eskimo, loved gumdrops. He
loved them no better, however, than
the American miss likes toasted
marshmallows. The little boys and
girls of the congested districts of any
big city make steady and reliable
customers of the cheaper grades OF
candy. New York's candy experts
claim that one half of the money
that goes into the tills of the candy
dealers in that city comes out of the
tenement districts.
Watch the children of the public
school make rush for the candy shoI
during the recess period. Their pen
MES and nickels go over the counter
by the score. Notice, too, how a mum
Der Of these thrifty dealers in candle,
always try to get in the very shadow
OF these school buildings. The.
know the number of coins that will
be theirs if they manage to get into
good location where the sweets viii
lure the children. The school luncl
cuts into their profits, but there i
no hope that it will finally breal
them of the habit.