Evening star., 1924-07-04
BILLIONS IN FOODS
SAVED BY TIN CANS
Government Figures Show
Supplies Worth 100 Million
Sent All Over World.
Special Dispa tch to The Star

Special Dispatch to The Star
NEW YORK, July 4.-The growing
of the tin can in the Industries and
commerce OF the United States is il
lustrated by some recent government
al figures on the outurn of the estab-
lishments devoted to the canning and
preserving industries and the distri-
button of their products throughout
the world. The value of the canned
foodstuffs passing through the ports
Of continental United States in 1923
was over 100 million dollars, against
about 25 million in the year preced-
ing the war
Even this 100 million dollars a year
of the value of canned foodstuffs
passing through our ports is trifie,
says the Trade Record of the Ma
| tionaI City Bank, when compared
with the quantity produced for our
own people. The total value of the
| outturn of the canning and preserv-
ing Industry in the United States in
1919 exceeded a billion dollars, and
was more than six times as great as
that at the beginning of the century.
Canned Meats Included.
This figure of s1O99,475, 900 as the
total value of the canned and pre-
served foods produced in the United
States in 1919 includes the canned
meats turned out by the great pack
usually included in the group en-
gagged exclusively in the canning in
dustry, but if We take the official
figures of those distinctly organized
as canning Industries alone we find
that the number of establishments
jumped from 1,32S in 1889 to 4,2S0
in 1919, the capital employed from
, % million dollars to 37S million,
wages paid from ~ million dollars
per annum to Sc million, and the
value of the outturn from so million
dollars in 1889 to 62S million in 1919.
Huge Losses Prevented.
One point of especial interest in
study of this great industry is the
fact that it adds to the permanent
foodstuffS supply of the country enor-
nous quantities of natural products
which would otherwise be lost unless
promptly utilized. 1t was the enor-
nous waste of fruits, vegetables, fish
| and meats becoming available at GER
tain seasons of the year far in excess
! of the momentary consuming power
| Of the community that led to the
| establishment of the canning and
preserving industry. 1t is a little
more than a century. says the Trade
| F'renchman Appert gave to the world
| his invention for the process of
ermetically sealing foods for future
! use especially at sea and by 1920
the system had been put into prac-
tical use in England, the United
| States and other parts of the world.
Foods Kept for Years.
The quantity of perishabie food
| products now transformed into con-
| dition available for months and even
years after its growth and at points
! thousands of miles distant from the
| place of production is beyond COM
| putation.
| The value Of the food material used
| in the canning industries of the United
great meat packing esta blishments was
| In the single year Of 1919 over
400 million dollars, much of which
| no doubt would have been lost, but
for this process which their value at
| the moment of growth was rendered
| permanent by the art of sterilization
and the use Of the Theoretically sealed
| can. The word can" used in this
connection is believed to have origin
ated as a bookkeeper's abbreviation
of the term canister" by which all
metallic containers of Theoretically
sealed goods were designated in the
early days of the industry.
Goods Sent All Over World.
| Our canning industry which de-
| veloped on the eastern frontage of the
| country gradually extended to the Mis-
| sissippi valley, which supplies much of
| the corn, vegetables and milk thus
utilized, ar / then to the Pacific coast
| in the conservation of its enormous
supplies of fruits, vegetables and fish.
In fruits and vegetables alone the state
of California supplied about one half
of the PAS million dollars worth of the
outturn in 1921; in preserves and pickles
| the states of New York and PennSyl-
vania turned out about one-half of the
| 11S million dollars of output of the
| country.
| Canned goods exported eo1iterally to
every port of the world The canned
| peaches exported in 1921 went to 100
| different countries and colonies. the
canned salmon to S5 and canned beef
! to so countries and colonies distrib
| uted over every part of the World.