The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-09-01
Trade Secrets Held at Enormous Prices

The Oxford Press syndicate values its formula
for making the very thin, tough paper used in
the Bibles and encyclopedias at more than 81, 000,-
600. To perfect the process required 25 years Of
hard work and the expenditure Of 81, 100000 In
cash.
A secret of even greater value is the formula
for making the paper employed for the Bank Of
England notes. This is q family possession of
the Portals of Lavenstroke, to whom already in
two generations it has brought an enormous for
tune.
The brilliant red cloth of the cardinals robes
worn at the Vatican has been manufactured for
many generations by the same firm of merchants
at Burstcheid, near Aix-la-Chapelle.
The secret process of ~distilling the dye is given
by father to son, with every precaution to prevent
any outsider from gaining possession of the reel
pc, according to a writer in the Los Angeles
Times. In this connection it is rather curious to
note that this family Of cloth merchants is of
Huguenot descent and is Protestant today.
Recipe for Green Chartreuse.
When the monks of La Grande Chartreuse were
expelled from France, the senior abbot carried
the recipe for the famous liqueur In a casket of
tempered steel, and this was never for a moment
out of his possession. In the open market after
ward the formulate for the twin liqueurs, the
green chartreuse and the yellow, were sold for
81, 0 ,000. At the time this liqueur was first
made the recipe was written on a single fragment
of parchment, six inches by nine. One by one
additional ingredients were introduced.
1t has been stated that at the present time
the mixture contains 1877 different substances.
And every addition to the drink required an ad-
dition to the recipe.
The result was a volume Of more than 100
pages. 1t Is no exaggeration to say that this is
the most valuable book in the world. This be-
comes rather amusing when we remember that
the mendicant friar who first concocted the
liqueur regarded his invention with considerable
disfavor.
He was as shortsighted as Giovanni Farina,
who was the originator Of eau de cologne. He
offered the recipe for sale at $500. A conserva-
tive estimate of the total value of its sales profits
since that is $25, 900.
Famous Marasehino Cordial.
The Namls Of lara. in Dalmatia, were wiser.
They possessed as one of their heirlOoms a family
recipe for a drink distilled from the marasco, or
wild cherry. When they finally consented to part
with their secret they received therefor a large
sum in cash and land to the extent of several
Thousand acres. This Is the cordial popular the
world over as Maraschino.
1t has frequently happened that valuable trade
secrets have been lost beyond recovery. For In
stance, the best watch oil, it appears, cannot be
obtained today because the secret process of mix
ing persisted with the inventor. 1t is said that
the last quart of this famous liquid was sold for
$500, and that was 35 years ago. Since then every
effort has been made to analyze the product In an
attempt to reproduce the oil, but without success.
The man who made 1t who alone knew its compo-
sition died, and, 1t further appears, not even his
name or the place of his burial is known. He
never revealed to anyone the details of his process
and 1t was not until after his death that the real
value of the oil was appreciated.
Business firms are not the only possessors of
trade secrets. Governments are just as jealous