Business: 48th Industry

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Out of the bitter cliques of the industry, one other name emerges, that of Chicago's Mars, Inc. The late Frank Clarence Mars cornered 20% of the candy bar business with his three leaders, Milky Way, Snicker and Honey Almond. If a worker in his well-scrubbed plant disobeyed his rule against jewelry and lost a ring or wristwatch on the job, he threw out the entire mix on which she had been working. The competition among the candy bar specialists is as quick-burning as carbohydrates. Williamson Candy's Oh Henry! (a core of fudge covered with soft caramel, rolled in loose peanuts and dipped in chocolate), was named for a neighborhood handy man, became a best-seller in 1920. Curtiss Candy Co.'s (Chicago) Baby Ruth pays no royalties to Babe Ruth because it was named ostensibly for the late President Cleveland's daughter "Baby Ruth,'' who died of diphtheria in 1904 at the age of 12. Curtiss launched 100 new bars, of which 87 were quick failures, twelve nine-day wonders, and the 100th Baby Ruth. Candy bars named No Kiddin', Truluv, Hoky Poky, Lobster Patty, Chicken Dinner and Fat Emma have nickered fitfully. A few old reliables hold their places on the counters beside the cash registers: Nestle's almond & milk chocolate bars, Sweets Co. of America's Tootsie Roll, D. L. Clark's Clark Bar (famed in the South and Midwest), Peter Paul, Inc. of Connecticut's Mound (coconut) and Mason, Au & Magenheimer's Peaks and Mason mints. Black Crows is weathering the general slump in licorice which almost no one eats after the age of 12. Remote from the bar ballyhoo are the makers of candy in bulk and in boxes: Chicago's Bunte Bros., E. J. Brach; New York's Henry Heide; Boston's Schrafft and New York's Loft (both also restaurateurs; ; Cambridge's New England Confectionery: Atlanta's Nunnally; Philadelphia's Stephen F. Whitman. Brandle & Smith; St. Louis' National Candy; Pittsburgh's Hardie Bros.; Milwaukee's Robert A. Johnston, Ziegler; Chattanooga's Brock Candy. Depression has hit the candy industry's gaudy heroes. Ten cent bars were reduced to 5¢ and even those were too expensive for children whose mothers doled them out a penny at a time for candy. Candy bars fell off severely while bulk penny candy shot up. The $1 and $2 boxes of fine candy were reduced as the packages grew plainer and the sales slowly increased. Value and protracted pleasure became prime factors and children picked all-day suckers, molasses candies and toffee for their money. Repeal, too, flayed its part in the candy business. Some unscrupulous businessmen in New Jersey discovered that candy containing hard liquor could be sold to children. Teachers in Brooklyn and Philadelphia began to note their pupils' dull eyes, thick speech, wobbly walk. The candies, selling for 2¢ apiece, held benedictine. cherry brandy, rum or cognac. Six of them, the equivalent of a short, stiff cocktail, were enough to make a child drunk. Several shopkeepers were arrested, claimed that they had bought the liquor candies for cash from a mysterious man in a truck who left no name or address.

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