In the U. S. last year some 12,000 companies employing 120,000 persons, filled 120,000,000,000 bottles with soft drinks and sold them for $650,000,000. The greatest single company in the field of carbonated beverages is Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc., although it accounts for only a small percentage of the total U. S. ginger ale output. Dominant in carbonated water is White Rock Mineral Springs Co., with over 90% of the output. Last week Canada Dry officials admitted there have been conversations looking toward a merger with White Rock. On the New York Stock Exchange the shares of both companies fluctuated in a ratio indicating that the rumored exchange of one share of Canada Dry for one and two-thirds of White Rock may be correct.
White Rock. Visitors to Chicago’s World Fair in 1893 were almost able to drink White Rock pumped directly from the company’s springs in Waukesha, Wis. The scheme had been conceived by one Charles Welsh who had been given the springs by his uncle, but after several miles of pipe were laid, it was discovered that the cost was too great. Even without this brilliant stunt White Rock prospered. At first it had been sold only locally. Then a chance sample reached a Manhattan gambling hall owner who obtained a 50-year sales agency which the company later bought back. From then on White Rock’s sales bubbled upward. In 1906 the present company bought Welsh out for about $2,000,000; in 1929 its net profit was $1,250,000.
All water used in White Rock is taken from the company’s springs, then carbonated at high pressure. Although it is claimed White Rock has medicinal properties, the company never stressed this in advertising but places emphasis on its use as a table water. Another product of the company is White Rock Pale Dry Ginger Ale which uses water from the Waukesha springs. Noncarbonated water is marketed under the name Still Rock.
Canada Dry. The first Canada Dry was bottled in Toronto. In 1921 the first U. S. agency was started in Manhattan. President Parry D. Savior entered the company in 1923 and began national advertising with the slogan: “Down from Canada came tales of a wonderful beverage.” Sales showed quick advances, now total $12,000,000 annually. Two factories with a combined capacity of 50,000 bottles per hour make Canada Dry for the U. S. There are three factories in Canada including the original one which was bought by the U. S. company in 1924. Its other subsidiaries in the U. S. are G. B. Seely’s Son, Inc., and Chelmsford Ginger Ale Incorporated.
Points stressed by Canada Dry are quality of its Jamaica ginger, the scientific methods used in all the plants. A fellowship on Carbonated Beverages is maintained in the Mellon Institute (Pittsburgh) by the company. Engineering problems consist of speeding the bottling and making the amount of ginger uniform in each. Chemical research is concerned with the purity of the material used, the cleansing of the new bottles. Neither company buys back its old bottles, nor does White Rock.
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