Show MINERAL WATER TRADE I BY FREDERIC J HASKIN of che the In no other way war Is ts the progress s American people In their opposition to the microbe better exemplified than in the growth of the mineral minerai water trade of the country In Tn ten years yearl they have doubted their consumption of medicinal and table t e waters to say nothing ot of the increased patronage ot Dt t the watering places of the country countr that has taken Laken place The geo gee geological geological logical survey has gathered together sia sta statistics of mineral mineraI water production and Its figures show that over gallons of bottled water are consumed by bi the people of the United States of which I more than gallons come from rain domestic springs The experts at the survey suney claim that there is a mineral mInerai spring in the tire United States to match every eel one in Europe and that there is no water on the latter continent for which America Am cannot offer a duplicate The figures prepared by b the survey are for 1901 1107 and it is conceded that the depres de pres of or 1908 was felt about as 35 much by the mineral water trade and about as promptly as by any other industry But th the ales ailes les for the present year are reported l to be getting back to normal and i to Indicate even a heavier consumption than ever b tore fore The Tho great expansion of the mineral mineraI w wa water water ter trade Is attributed to three main causes First of these is the advertising that has been done dOM The expansion of the trade has simply kept step with the expansion of the advertising business The second cause has been the Increased number of people who are able to buy mineral mineraI waters But most of all It has been due to the increased interest of the American people In pure drinking water Despite the gradual substitution of fil filtered filtered water In i the cities for the old oId fashioned polluted supply the consumption consumption tion of mineral mineraI waters continued un unabated unabated abated In Washington a complete system has given the city as pure water as any large municipality in the country enjoys Yet Washington mineral water stores concede that they have never sold as much water as they have been selling since the filtration plant went ent Into operation The prohibition movement is also said to be responsible Ible in a measure for the Increased trado trade In mineral water Four states produce about of all the tile mineral water entering into the commerce of the country Minnesota ranks first with nearly gallons to her credit New York second with O gallons and Wisconsin is a close third thirdS Massachusetts Mas produces gallons and Virginia over gallons In Indiana Indiana indiana diana is in a class all to Itself in the price U It I gets for fC f mineral mi m al waters nn tn which un If 1 U m nn is r 99 cents a gallon est Virginia Is its closest competitor with an average price of 59 9 cents The average for tor the United States Stares Is ts 15 3 cents a gallon galbon Only four states Stales sta es average more than 30 cents It is generally conceded that purity is about the only to the success successful successful ful tul exploitation of a table water and af after after after ter that it all depends upon advertising A hillside spring that has rendered no more important service than to supply water for a farmers stock may be trans transformed transformed transformed formed Into a paying spring property with its output finding a market at GO 60 cents per gallon In X years the num number number ber bar of springs in the United States fur furnishing medicinal or table waters on a commercial scale has increased from to nearly and production has in increased increased increased creased more than sevenfold In addition to the sales of water the listed springs of the United States State have accommodations for some Orne guests The great majority of these theBe are open only five months in the year ear There are per perhaps perhaps perhaps haps as many springs which are resorts and which do not Dot sell mineral mInerai water as I there are that do It is ts probable that more than half halt a million people visit the medicinal springs of or the country for tor fora a 11 period of ot at least two weeks In the I South these resorts become the social headquarters during the summer and the allurements allure menUs of cf the seaside can never I take their trade away Elsewhere the sea has been Men shown to be a greater draw drawIng drawIng drawing Ing card for the than Ui the mountains All the social world remembers remembers bers hers when the Greenbrier White was the great meeting place for the beaus bus and geat belles of ot meUng the North and ad the South Sout But those days have hav passed with wih the th generation that tat knew them e eI It has been estimated that there are I ha springs ben in the United States whose spring te value waters might have a commercial ater It If every city In the United States State used use I to as much bottled water in tn proportion tho the population as do the cities of or Min Mn Minneapolis Mn neapolis and end St a Paul It 1 would take the combined flow of all these thee to supply the combined demand It fow Is the heavy use of table tabe wa waters waters tens In ln these two cities supplied tOrn from large springs close by that makes maes Min Minnesota Mm Un lare the premier state of the union Some three centuries ago the world did thre not understand where all al the water wate that supplied the springs of the earth erth earns came from and te men began to figure that they the ad would go dry But Halley the eminent g scientist who discovered the English te wh great comet which bears his name fig figured fg figured geat out that the evaporation from the th tat all the sea se was sufficient to supply al springs and ad streams ef of the world so s since long as the process went on and press then mankind r rI has rested reste easy on that score sore It is a peculiar fact that the mineral minerai I waters of the country are never constant constantin I in the amount of mineral they contain Under the pure food law the mineral pu fo water trade has ha been carefully watched for evidences of or misbranding In many Instances waters have have been seized that did not measure up to the branded brande state statements statements ments and yet the vendor was perfectly Innocent of ot any evil intent Analyses ay evi made ten years yea ago might well wel have hae shown everything just as claimed but since that time there may have been such a deterioration as to render it a avery avery avery very different water Often waters water will willbe wi willbe time and be strong of ot mineral minerai at one weak at another strong in a dry season seaon and weak in a wet season It I is this thIs variableness we of mineral mineraI waters that has ha led the physician to t prescribe drugs pos possessing p the same properties instead of the water Itself though there are many waters for which it I is difficult for them to offer ofer a Substitute Hydrotherapy or water ater cure er has a fa favorite favorIte a avni in the th therapeutic world for many i a year r A recent case possesses Jesses coned consid considerable erable Interest Interest A New York invalid was told by his physicians that his days were numbered and that he had just as a well wel prepare for the Inevitable One of them them however stated that if he h could drink a gallon of a certain kind of water every everyday everyday everyday day galon for two a years he might get et well wel He lie le tried trie It It and drinking 2980 2989 9 quarts quart of water In two years ears was wal pronounced en entirety cured of his malady trel There Jre ue o many curious things in the mineral water world Ind md boasts of a well weI that produces two dif different df different other ferent kinds of ot water The only American Americ well weI or spring of this sort is I In Hamilton county Ohio about IS 15 1 miles mie Cincinnati Cincinnat Even Alaska has ha its Is mineral springs In profusion and one of them has ha already been opened up in a commercial way Its product has ha gained gine repute as a table water Shenandoah county Virginia has ha a na spring which is known as the Powder spring and its water has hs such a strong smell that many persons driving along the nearby turnpike hold bold I their breath and accelerate their speed sped 1 when passing it I I There Tere has been ben some stir sUr among min mineral mineral mm eral water men over the tariff on im urn imported ported pred mineral miner waters water It I was the wish of the domestic producers that higher tariff than that levied under unde the Dingley law be b imposed on the foreign waters But congress has ha not seen sn fit ft to adopt their recommendations down dow to t the te present writing The Te only difference in the new schedule and ad the th old is that water Im Imported Imported imported ported in bottles bottes must hereafter pay a adut duty dut on the bottles bottes as well welt as a on o the water itself This will wi probably mean man its It shipment in bulk to a large lae extent extent when it I will wi take a duty of eight cents a gallon glon glonI It I Is said that there are no springs spring in inthe Inte inthe the te United Unie States that can c be highly suc sue successful as a a resort without the te accompaniment accompaniment of horse hors racing gaming etc et wheres where in Europe these things thing are not at all aU essential An instance is cited ofa of ofa ofa a great New York state resort whose who name gt is I familiar In every household in the theland te theland land It was wa the summer political 1 head headquarters hed headquarters quarters quarter of the Empire state in years gone by but the campaign has put put an end nd to its prestige e and to its iUs at attraction attraction attraction traction ann for the people who have bae time Ume and an money at t their ter command Consequently there Is now a bill bi before the te New NeW York legislature for the purchase ef ot this great get resort by the state Of curse course cr the t initia initiated ted understand that tat the th owners find floo it an a Investment shorn sher of its IUs profits since He its Herace Ie race rc tracks were er closed clos Perhaps the most moat mot famous springs are those these th at Baden Baden Germany Gerny There Thre are 22 2 Of them and they the have their ther Bourse sours some OO feet below the th surface in iii the beds of granite anle This is i said lai to be bethe bethe bethe the best example of ot the th health resort par p excellence in the world People from fr every part of the globe visit it It and ad they the leave millions of dollars behind behin them The great geat bathing establishments there ther give more than a hundred thousand baths a year ear about of the th bathers bathe being men It I is the t belief belet of those who have studied studie the resort systems of ot Eur Europe Europe Europe ope that they thy could coul be duplicated In la America If I the proper methods of ex ox exploitation were used They Tey are certain that there are many springs in America Ameres which possess every advantage of climate quality of water accessibility and attractiveness at attractiveness of If scenery that i iby is possessed by the European spas spa Copyrighted 1909 19 by Frederic J S Haskin |