The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-12-16
GIGANTIC CANDY BUSINESS IS GROWTH OF
 LAST SIXTY YEARS

From Montreal to Los Angeles and
 from Jacksonville to Vancouver, thou sands of candy factories, big and lit tie, representing between fifty and sixty million dollars in invested cap ital and employing an army of about
 75, ,o00 people. have been working day
 and night for the last month to turn out the confectionery demanded by the
 American people for Christmas con
 sumption. The busiest week of all
 for the candy makers and their work little rest for anyone engaged in that industry until Saturday night. The
 people of the United States consume
 more candy per capita than any other nationality, the annual average being
 estimated ait about four pounds for
 each man, woman and child The Ca
 naddan consumption is very little less
 per capita. Mexicans also have a 'tsweet tooth'' that is satisfied with
 cactus, pecan and other candies that their northern neighbors have tried in
 Europe, Asia. Africa and Australia
 the candy habit is comparatively un- developed. The French are famous
 for their de1icious-and costly con
 factions, while Englishmen eat tre- mendous quantities of 'toffee" and
 similar confections of a coarser kind
 the per capita consumption of confec. tions compare with that of the Unit ed States and Canada.
 Although the pure food laws have worked a great change in the candy business, and the injurious dyes and other poisons have almost ceased to
 be used, there has been no great ad- vance in prices At the ten cent stores and department emporiurns, as well as in the shops of many confee- tioners and grocers, pure candies may be bought for ten cents a pound, and even lower. Chocolates and bon bons at from sixty cents to a dollar
 a pound are perhaps the most popu- lar at this season of the year, for +o n admits 3Ith0aIRr1 fll e average youngster is quite satisfied with the cheaper varieties It is pos
 than a dollar a pound for Christmas confections. Made to order' can
 dies in sumptuous packages have a considerable sale to the wealthy at prices ranging from three to ten dol
 The candy business in America, is of
 comparatively recent origin and it's growth has been tremendous. Cheap hard confectfons of the ''aM-day slrcker'' variety were the rule until about sixty years ago. The early
 American confect1oners refined their
 own sugar, and all of their processes
 were crude and cumbersome. About 1850 a number of French candy makers, who had brought their art to a much higher state of perfection, set up business in New York, and within a decade had so educated the sweet | tooth of the New Workers that the
 native American manufacturers had to better their product or quit busi- ness The same conditions prevailed in Montreal and New Orleans, where the considerable French populations
 were not to be satisfied with any | thing less than the best. From these centers the American candy business
 developeds until to@ay the product of ] the candy factories of the United
 States and Canada has an annual value in the neighborhood of $10O,- | GOO, GOO a year-possibIy much more,
 since exact figures are not obtain able
 That candy is injurious is now denied
 by many distinguished physicians and dentists. Pure candy has a, large n11-
 aritive value, and it is now alleged, In the large majority of eases is not in furious to the digestion Experiments show that the candy habit and the drink habit, cannot exist in the sam e
 person, and thus a cultivation Of the taste for sweets is of great assistance to those who desire to curt down or
 quit their consumption of alcoholic beverages.