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Show EVater The National Drink By FREDERIC J. RASKIN fig fountain with its trappings ind silver-plate and mirrors is American. While ico Jja is unknown, to. t.he people S. nations, it is familiar to all gantry, cither iu city, town or t Tfic manufacturers assert that rtfnitcd States proper there are over 80.000 soda fountains, rffiOO bottlintr works where soila Srnd soft drinks arc bottled for End the range of the fountains. the American peoplo spend SoOO for soda water and other inks Tho increase in ihe con-S con-S of soda water is lately re-u re-u for tho comparative railing v. amount of whiskv and other iouora consumed. Beer drink-Sot drink-Sot affected to so ereat an ex-rf-one needs no better evidence ftct that soda water is super-dkoholic super-dkoholic liquor3 as a summer than to watch the crowds at tjin ona summer day. So has this tendency become that toons have put in soda oun-fconscrve oun-fconscrve their trade. tM water business of today is v.cd from what it was ten ttt Then there were but few a which offered a thirsty man n s simple mixture of sweet nd carbonated water, flavored )tfd according to the nature of riieular fruit. Nowadays there blnations of all fruits, there are nth fancy names the composi-.which composi-.which no man knoweth, and re numerous ''dope-'' drinks ie honnfnlness or the harmless-hfrhhjh harmless-hfrhhjh there is continual con-The con-The plain ice cream soda of res has piven way to mixtures 'sorts. Thore is the Sundae which no soda jerker is able to -a dish of ice cream with choc-nip choc-nip or crushed fruit or nut ker-irnip ker-irnip poured over it. In some ie Sundae is a souffle, and there freedom in spelling tho word, from Sunday to Sondie. implo milk shake of other days brcrunner of the great, variety and milk drinks which arc in a hundred different ways, to, cream, malted milk and i of things go into these drinks, t ore all livened up with career. car-eer. A "big glass with two $ fhaken with an ounce of Bilk, and two ounces of choco-m,and choco-m,and water, will indeed give i "equate meal'"' if ho likes in that form. r. vear there is a crv from some that soda water fountains are the public health. While there v fj&vc charges which may be ii is impossible to chaugc the ame particular fountain to the pstem, Tf polluted water is 1 if the fountain is not kept icn there is danger. If good i nEed and there is consrien-wliness, consrien-wliness, a soda fountain is not !of danger to health. Some Ions sold there are undoubtedly '.hnt carbonated water itself, i moderate quantities, is a ie aid to digestion and is in no arious to a healthy person's topic of England drink more efl water than Americans, but ok it from bottles and without ja water is an English institu-revcr, institu-revcr, and as such is highly roil ro-il the "right little, tight little although the greatest hunts hu-nts in methods of making and have tome from Germany and led States. The first sugges- t carbonic acidgas be mixed rtinary water to imitate the raters charged by Nature came '.'Joseph Priestley in 1772. He l.a method of making tho gas sfble dust and sulphuric (icid ing it witli wafer by agitation, thod is the basis of that ftill 'ijpIn 1810 the first r.od.'i water ;'I.TO8 granted to Simmons and .jliOf Charleston. S. ?.. for a I it lot saturating water with 'Mixed wruouic acin gas was roiu- irikiiicd. Kjjtaniali in England wan lirst (F1- the water so charged with T-re8cl.fl Kas. As he made the g;is -fWjtaiDonale of soda, the water RKi- n 83 SOfn wnter. This )m& although until lately W&!. ?e used tho hw-nrbonsitc rt V? "Joking the gas. Marble dust ni P tor muriatic acid have If ,,t wiflclv used materials f ? ahough in "EuTopo chalk P nsfld more than marble dust K jSJE entitled to the credit for fl Wion which hns mode the mod-ki mod-ki rHCau -,Hla "ntain possible. IV t?x; German scientist, dem-i dem-i . i j '-'"h0" acid gns -ould -to a l'qid under rcs-$ rcs-$ l)lv,m hevy cylinders and K? "E1 W P'nce to place. On ; w r, a suhniergcd empty 4 'I? 8 aJ'chei by wiro onbleft to ft LI - ,wcKlinkr 63,000 pounds 1 'rapcnaU harbor at Keil. At tim?H , .t".c ualloim was tho iron i "K,i,inlaim,nK Tiaydfs pree J wlr .,cnrl)0ni-' acid. A diver ' m.,i: 110 vrjlt';1' d turned the , im!uK t U,u Walloon. Tn ex- "'nu1es lhc balloon np- . IPE ?;e. l,nc surfn.jc, earn-ing tho ;;f,.i'-t''llt of 51 8 anchor' wild it. ';'n,i: "K tl,c inimenso force of I t&m K,ns' tl,c vlinder was Tw I'"for.tly.safc- 'lEb?fontri' vil,rKos nil over the 'mlsA a-re to(lav receiving liquor '. l.."1 .in. cylinders. When the' WMtriA th,s h,mid expnnds into -PK l ,y ,as ;1S- '' he cylinder I lKi fO"ain, and there you uc.gns had to be gen-l'V.cnuscs- dangerous un-FMi1j"I,,h' un-FMi1j"I,,h' careless or uiiHkilled. g'PjPed iu porlnblc fountains fWfITrn?,omPros8ed gns. n plan Jf"(lcJ a" the profits in freight ,';EiUUCW? of New Vork was tho I JiaS'' so,. water. He -Weir v fMnai on a pnsh- rW'i, '' e,irirgeil his water, com-!Kn com-!Kn ft:r !" nfoxvd into n , -'ittlt ; n'1. t'onntuin cunpany. : JB m1" Pl''delhia. Tufts fel jnm assnchnjiettH. A. .. Moron lWfCs S00n followed. These JHll 2?er8i Th" business grew I iSWalir?' bul U wns not until j W,i Plllco,ll ftml otliera sorved I tW!1 "iladolphin centen- ! 5;Thcv w 1 1 2-ar.s KOnerallv popu-fBt-at d 0.000 for tlie soda iWlan "Position, which was 'Wwf corinous sum. Tlu. sole Jmk 1 8ufl drinks at a great 1 world's fair in America now would be cheap at double the price. Four of Lho principal concerns nianu-fau;""ng nianu-fau;""ng soda fountains were merged in 1892, and have since been knpwn as the soda fountain trust. It makes foun- r'ns ,ltV sel1 from $10 t0 $15,000, although al-though few under $500 ave now put up. lyislnons chnnge in soda fountains as in other things, and improvements are being be-ing added constantly. Tho chiaf change or late years is that, the s3Tiips are in front of the operator instead of behind him as he serves drinks. Really, the soda lounlain has moved from the wall to the counter. . The largest, soda fountain in the world is one in New York which has its own refrigerating plant, freezos its own lco cream by ammonia gns and is entirely mdepondent of the use of ice. In the busy portion of the' day this fountain sells two gallons of ice cream a minute. It uses thirty do.en eggs and sixt3'-fivo quarts of milk ench day for egg drinks. A whole case of lemons and another of orauges arc used every day. This fountain foun-tain employs a force of thirty-six men. Soda fads and fancies vary in different dif-ferent sections of the country. In one town limeade will outsell all other drinks by three to one. A hundred miles away in another town of the same size the soda-jerker won't know what a limeade is. Fashions in eotr drink and ice cream mixtures are rarely tho same in any two cities, and, indeed, varv largely from dru storeto drug store. Socially the soda fountain is a'gTeat promoter of courtship and marriage, and has becomo an absolute necessity pf the puppy-love stage of Young America. Amer-ica. The soda counter is a club for 3'oung people of both sexes. In the cities the social feature is not so marked, as couples come in and drink and 1 eave, but in smaller cities and in little towns the soda fountain is the very heart and center of social activity. activ-ity. Each set and clique has its favorite drug store. The business is profitable and the druggist, puts' up with a great deal to accommodate his young friends. If one wishes to speak to Charlie Robinson Rob-inson he calls up Reed's drug store. "No, Charlie is not here now, but ho is due in twenty minutes and I will have him call you," replies the druggist. drug-gist. The lonesome wight who drops in at Reed's just, after supper will be pretty sure to sco all his set before 10 o'clock. It is wonderfully easy to loaf an hour over one chocolate sundae with a. pretty girl, as thousands of young chaps will testify. The t chief by-products of the soda fountain are t.he Chocolate-Ice Cream-Soda-Girl and His Nibs, the Soda Jerker. Jerk-er. Tn all cities where there are not too many people, and in suburban drug stores, the Soda .Jerker is the bosom friend of every human not too old to have a bosom friend. Tie will deliver messages for you, he will remember how much, sugar you take in your lemonade, he will sometimes confidentially insert a "stick" in a phosphate as tho result of a confidential wink, and hj will al ways try to please. The Soda .Terkor is always young, and wherever found he is all riglit. Let every true American drink deep of his favorito soda water tipple to the health of tho Chocolate-Tre-Cream Soda Girl and to His Nibs, the Soda Jerker'. |