Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-06-09
ADVANCEMENT NOT
ONLY DUE BAKERS
Educational Work and Pres
sure by Supply Men and
Manufacturers Helped
BY Geo. l.. Teller.
(School of Baking Technology, Column
bus Laboratories, ChicagoO

| hSN dc IL Is ulillCulI 10 set anu eSll-
mate upon the mental development
and the progress of education of
child, so 1t is difficult. and even more
difficult, to put n fair estimate upon
the rapidity of the intellectual growth
of great industry like that of baking.
There are, however, some marks of
progress which stand out prominently
and which will give something of a
gauge as to what has been done. The
baking industry is one of the oldest
industries. and twenty-five years is
very short time as compared with the
whole length of time during which
wheat bread has been made. Never
theless, it would seem that more rapid
progress has been made during the
past twenty-five years than during any
previous time in history. This progress
has not been along one line only but
along many. The industry has ad-
ivanced in the selection of its raw ma
terial, in the mechanical handling of
material in and outside the shop, in
the general methods of procedure, in
+ the development of new formulas and
combinations of material and in the
delivery of the finished products. In
addition to this there has been a mark
ed development in business methods
which has resulted in the organiza-
ton of bakeries on larger scale, with
the consequence that it has lessened
the cost of production.
! Technical education In its broadest
sense includes the knowledge of all
these features, and in so far as knowl-
edge has been acquired on any of these
subjects, there has been correspond
ing advancement of technical learn
ling.
The baking industry has advanced
along with other industries and with
the advancement of the human race,
and, although much progress has been
made, it would seem that comparative
i!y less progress has been made in this
line than in almost any other of equal
importance.
/ in the matter of sanitation mankind
has learned much of the origin, cause
/ and prevention of diseases, and this
knowledge has shown the necessity of
greater care in the preparation of food
stuffs. In large cities the abandon
ment of the basement bakeries has
been insisted upon; scrupulous clean
illness has been required on the part
of health officials and has been made
a point of pride of many bakeries and
a means of advertising and encour-
aging the sale of the products. Great
er care has been given to the protec-
ton of bread during handling, mark
ed instance of which is the wrapping
of bread shortly after it comes from
I.he oven. The delivery of bread to
distant cities by express and to distant
parts of the same cities has been eX-
jtensively developed.
Unquestionably the greatest devel-
opment in the baking industry has
! leen along the line of the development
Iof mechanical devices and machines
/ for taking the place of hand labor
The mixing machine has been follow
dough diVider, the rounding machine
lthe moulding machine, ETC., while suit
able weighing and blending machines
are now considered an essential part
of all up-to-date bakeries.
/ The more extensive use of com
pressed yeast and of malt products,
the Introduction to the trade of eVap-
GRATED. condensed and powdered milk.
the introduction of new sugars and
new shortening agents and of certain
and other supplies, by their statesmen
have all assisted in bringing the in
dustry up to its present state of devel-
opment. Some changes have also
been made in the character of flour
used, especially in the blends of fours
winter wheat tiours of which the pro-
duction has been greatly increased
during the past 10 years.
! It seems to the writer that much
of the advancement of baking in gen.
eral has been brought about by force
from the outside rather than by de-
IVelopments from within. Among the
most forceful causes of advancement
have been the persistent efforts of
manufacturers and producers of ap-
Ipliances and of material for the bake
shop. These, by their published in
formation and instruction on the use
! of machines and other supplies, by
their statesmen and by their demon
Istrators, have done much to educate
the baking trade. This means of ed
iucation, however, is not always an
ideal one, for instructirs of this kind
naturally present but one side of the
Iproblem-their own side, and unless
those whom they are instructing have
had sufficient previous knowledge to
weigh carefully the information which
| Is set before them they will see no
other side to it.
! Trade journals have done much to
distribute information on technical
subjects among their readers, but
there also much has been lost to the
readers because they have not had the
foundation and the elementary in
stI uCliOll HeGueu 10 get the DeSJ out or
/ it.
Some advancement has been made
| in the knowledge of matters pertain
ng to the science of bread-making
nd to our knowledge of the compo-
sition, makeup and uses of various
materials which go into the doughs of
bread and pastries. Something of
the gauge of this advancement is
shown in the three editions of Jago's
book on bread making The first
edition of this book was published %
years ago, while the last edition but
recently came to hand. A compari-
son of the two will show that much
new and valuable matter has been in
corporated in the last edition which
was not known at the time the first
was issued.
A few hundred students have OBJ
tanned some instruction in technical
schools for bakers. Some portion of
the knowledge they have gained has
been spread abroad by their example.
by their talks and discussions at To-
cal, state and national conventions anG
by their writings in the trade jour
nails.
Anything which advances the
knowledge of any individual worker in
the baking industry is certain to even
tually benefit the entire industry. The
technical knowledge of the industry
is as yet in its infancy and it is diff
ficult to realize the possibilities that
would come from q mora tborouol