Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-05-07
GUARDING TRADE SECRETS.
Some Were Acquired BY Accident, 9th


afternoon nearly fifty years ago gov
ernment photographer who had moth
ing to do just then picked up a. little
piece of rubber and commenced
chewing. That moment began a bus
iness that now embraces many con-
Germs and is one Of the big money
making industries of the country.
For nearly a quarter Of a century,
however. 1t was a closely kept trade
secret that proved to be worth mil
lions.
The government photographer was
Thomas Adams, and the secret he
worked out to his immense profit was
chewing gum. Few gold mines ever
discovered would have done so we'll
for him. There had been gum for
chewing purposes before, but, made
from paraffin or spruce gum, 1t had
never interested the public. The rub
ber this man chewed was simply the
beginning Of the idea. What It might
mean did not pop into his mind for
several hours. BY that time he real
ICED 1t was proving a lot Of comfort
to him, and he was continuing to en-
Joy the sensation. "Ah, hal" he final
ly said and chuckled. 1t had just
flashed across him that large per-
.centage of men and women would find
a lot Of pleasure in a substance that
would be yielding and at the same
time practically everlasting. But 1t
must be tasty before ALL
It took three or four years OF ex-
perimenting before the proper product
was discovered, chicle, which Is
gum from a tree grown In South
America, Central Mexico and some
parts of Mexico, cooked, sweetened,
kneaded, and finally cut into little
strips after it reaches here. But when
lit was first marketed 1t went with a
whirl. When the government pho
tographer died twenty years ago or
so he left each Of his four sons indie
pendently rich. Today, 1t is interest
ling to know, almost 100000, 600
pieces Of gum are made each year In
this country. The trade secret no
Longer exists, but the four sons still
get a good share Of the industry.
From out Of the drawing rooms Of
a big, old-fashioned house in New
York there stepped each morning at
9 o'clock for many years, after feast
ing his eyes on the art treasures he
had collected, paintings and porce-
lains, a perfectly garbed man. He
would go down to an old building not
far from the Battery, sit at his desk
in his office for half an hour or 80,
discussing business matters with his
partner, and then vanish to a seclud-
led and partitioned off corner In one
iof the upper floors. Any one who
teould have seen him ten minutes later
no one ever could-would
have found him in an old and stained
shirt, overalls and old shoes. This
concern were perfume makers, and
this man had the secrets of the mix
lures. All alone he used to add the
finishing touches from mysterious bot
tiles in his locked cabinets. His part
ner could not have done the work,
and certainly no one else In the house.
At 3 or 4 o'clock he would come down
again arbite elegantarium, and later
he would wander up town to seek out
more objects Of art.
| Not until he was we'll along in years
and there was likelihood that the Sc
crets Of certain valuable perfumes
might die with him did this mixer"
who had heaped up fortune by his
SKILL consent to teach certain trust
worthy assistants. 1t was a pang for
him to do 1t. and he never felt quite
sure afterward, though the secrets
have never been divulged.
A trade secret may be, and fire.
quently is, beyond all price. Certi-
fled checks up to almost any figure
are waiting to be signed for them;
keen business men lie awake nights
worrying because this and that are be-
yond their reach. There Is so little pos
sibility Of buying some that almost
any man Of any Importance connected
with such a concern is hunted out by
the INSCRIPTIONS to entice him into
betrayal A man who really knew
and could be tempted could get a
neat little fortune for his treachery
within a few hours.
1t speaks well for individual hon
esty over the world, and in America
particularly. that a trade secret sell
dom leaks out When it does 1t Is
generally due to the fact that ingen-
ious experimenters have figured 1t out
from their own brains and nobody Is
to blame. Time and again this has
been accomplished, and a great divi-
dend payer goes by the board
No one has discovered yet, however.
the oldest trade secret Of the world,
and one Of the most profitable COM
mercially. This Is the making OF
chartreuse, the famous liqueuer. The
secret is held by the White Friars, the
monks Of the chief Carthusian monas-
terry Of the world, La Friends Char
treuse, situated in an Alpine valley
near Grenoble, France. The White
Friars date back to 1874, and from
time immemorial they have made this
cordial. The French government is
sued an edict against them in 1908,
coniscated their property and drove
them from their monastery. But they
did not get the secret Of the doughty
monks. The White Friars are MAX
| ing their famous chartreuse yet, and
not an imitator Of them has come
Anywhere near succeeding. though
thousands Of precious French gold
coins have gone into repeated trials.
| Chemists have long since found out
what Chartreuse Is made of. They
can hand out an accurate formula of
the thirty-five odd ingredients Of 1t.
But they cannot put them together
and concoct the real. true chartreuse.
Some say that the secret lies in very
old brandy the White Friars have Sc
questered and use as the base. Ac-
cording to this story, each year these
Il l..