The Daily Alaska empire., 1932-01-26
CHEWING GUM ] MANUFACTURER
 PASSES AWAY
William Wrigley, IT,, Dies at Winter Home Tn
 Phoenix, Ariz.
FORTUNE MADE
 BY ADVERTISING
Jest Causes Him to Be- come Interested in Base
 ball-Buys Clubs

PHOENIX, Arizona, Jan. 26.-- William Wrigley, Jr., aged 70 years, owner of the Chicago Cubs, world known chewing gum manufacturer, and financier, is dead at his winter home here as the result of indiges- ton.
 Wrigley was stricken on January 18 with indigestion. after a heart attack. and had remained in bed ever since. His death was expected for several hours. Mrs. Wrigley and their two children, Phillip and Mrs. James Offield were at the bedside.
 Taught World to Chew Gum William Wrigley taught the world to chew gum, and the jaws of two hemispheres reaped him fortune in nickels, pfennigs, centavos and piasters. at
 It was his pride that the sun never set upon the use of his confections, and the arrow-headed elves who heralded his products were recognized from Java to Fifth Avenue. Upon an article which sold the world over for nickel or less, he founded in his generation one of the great fortunes of the nation-a fortune as stable as those built on steel or railroads.
 Selects Chicago
 Nor were there any accidents in his success. for at thirty he dellt : erately selected Chicago as a faF- ored shipping point and went there from Philadelphia to find a product with world-wide market.
 Wrigley selected chewing gum after rejecting soap and baking powders. The latter drew his at tention to the confection in which he made his fortune, for it was while he was offering it as a pre- mium to spur his baking powder sales that his attention was drawn to the possibilities of it's exploita- ton.
 He reasoned that while 100 pounds of the soap his father manufac.- ured was worth but $5, one hun dred pounds of chewing gum was worth $100. It could be shipped anywhere and made to pay it's freight, and still could be retailed at price within everybody's reach.
 The children's knickknack which was chewing gum when Wrigley began it's manufacture was made of spruce or paraffin and put up in long packages containing prizes. Under Wrigley's leadership chicle was brought into use as the basic ingredient of the product, the packages were standarized, and ma- chinery was substituted for man. ual methods.
 Habit Becomes Custom
 Within ten years after Wrigley began the manufacture and pro- motion of chewing gum, what had been a bad habit had become a general custom.
 Premiums helped him popularize chewing gum, and he gave away tons throughout the country to help potential customers acquire the gum habit. He advertised on big scale. When he invaded other countries he used the same tactics. Foreigners knew neither what chewing gum was nor how to enjoy it, but Wrigley put it in their mouths, warned them not to swallow it and shouted from ad- vertisements in newspapers, pla- cards and billboards: "Chew!'
 Twenty years after he had embarked in the business, the pub lie was paying s3o,OOOOO0 a year for his products, and by 1925 his annual sales were between $65,000,- 900 and $7O,0OO.OOO Factories in Chicago, New York, Berlin, London, Toronto and sydney, Australia, were manufacturing the four brands upon which he had staked his brsi- ness success.
 Buys Baseball Clubs
 Selling his chewing gum on the road during his early Chicago car eer, Wrigley was twitted about his city of Chicago by rival sales man who remarked that the town did not even own its own ball club the Chicago National League, controlled by Cincinnati interests. The jest struck home, for base bah was Wrigley's hobby, and the whim born then was gratified twenty-five years later when Wrig- ley and several associates acquired | the club from the Cincinnati men who still owned it. A few years later he obtained sole control of Continued on Page Seven)