Perky, Father & Son
Sirs:
The enclosed letter is written in the hope that you will publish it. Henry D. Perky was my father, and I have long resented the ill-considered way in which his good name has been used. . . .
I was twelve when shredded wheat was born, and worked and played in father's laboratory. I grew up under the influence of his enthusiasms, worked in every department of his factory, made some inventions of my own, and in 1920 invented Muffets. Now I am, myself, conservatively but with great hopes, introducing what I consider the first new departure since my father's in the line of popular ''cereals."
SCOTT H. PERKY
President, Toasticks, Inc. Batavia, N. Y.
The other letter of Son Perky follows:
In your issue of Dec. 24 is a notice of the absorption of the Shredded Wheat Co. by the National Biscuit Co. which gives considerable space to the story of Henry D. Perky's invention of shredded wheat. From first to last this story shows almost no regard for the facts. Since it is the story which has with small variations been used as advertising for many years, I want to suggest what poor copy these careless fabrications make as compared with the true story.
Henry D. Perky was not a "dyspeptic lawyer." His invention of shredded wheat occurred about fifteen years after he left the practice of law. He did not "peddle his biscuits in baskets" (bumptious bunk!) either in Nebraska, which he left about 1879, or in Denver, where, in 1893, he was, as always, dignified and rather magnificent. If those who have been trying to make his story sell biscuits had first taken the obvious step of looking up the history of this one of our most characteristically vital Americans, they could have undoubtedly made valuable copy and sold more biscuits.
The circumstance which led to the invention of shredded wheat was the burning of the Steel Car Company's shops in St. Joseph, Mo. By building steel passenger and freight cars away back in the 'eighties, Henry D. Perky felt that he was doing a great public service; just as years afterwards he believed in his biscuits as a religion and, in Conquistador spirit, persuaded the people of New England to eat them, as it were at the sword's point, sharpened by a scorn that startled these good people into submission. . . .
When the fire swept the Steel Car plant, twisting the rails of its three parallel tracks, gutting the beautiful "City of St. Joseph," melting its window panes to puddles but leaving its huge cylindrical body an eloquent testimonial to the man who first tried with all his might to realize the life-saving possibilities of steel cars, that man still fought on, though in failing health; but he had hardly given up the hope of rebuilding his plant before a little French doctor, who had attended his wife in New England, recommended a diet of thoroughly cooked whole wheat. In chewing, the bran of the wheat held together while the starch was squeezed out, and Mr. Perky argued that such an excellent food should be made more palatable. That reasoning was the direct cause of shredded wheat.