Show THEY EAT EM sad experience of a who got the peanut at antwerp americans eat a good many bilings unknown to europeans and others which tho people on the other side would not cat even if they had a chance bananas sweet potatoes popcorn and peanuts are almost unknown in europe A young chicagoan did not know this and it cost him several thousand dollars to find it out he returned from the antwerp exposition where he experimented with the sale of popcorn and peanuts and the stories he tells of his experiences are amusing 1 I knew the conc at the worlds fair in chicago earned money out of nickel bags of popcorn and peanuts he said the firm who had the concession here made something like one hundred thousand dollars I 1 biad four or five thousand dollars saved up for a good investment and so when the fair closed hers I 1 made application for the sole concession of the sale of pea auts at antwerp there were no competitors peti tors and I 1 got the concession now I 1 wish I 1 had not I 1 bought up all the popcorn and peanut ro asters left over from the fair and went down south and purchased a carload of peanuts and made contracts for several other car loads to be shipped later on but I 1 did not need them the paraphernalia together with several hundred bags of old corn and peanuts went over and I 1 followed it after weeks of hard work I 1 was ready for business but there was none money is less plentiful in europe than in the united states those over there thought as much of five centimes cen times as an american thinks of a half dollar I 1 saw I 1 had to make a low price for my stuff so I 1 put the popcorn and peanuts on sale at fifteen centimes cen times a bag which is equal to throe cents in united states money well I 1 had my hopes built up and before I 1 started to sell I 1 dreamt of bags full of twenty franc gold pieces and what I 1 would do with them when I 1 got back to chicago you can imagine my surprise when I 1 saw what the first woman did who had induced her companion to buy a bag of popcorn she bit a piece in two looked scared and then exclaimed in french why it is cork the americans want to poison us her companion tasted the corn and jabberer jabbered jabb ered something in french and then took the whole bag and threw it away when I 1 saw this I 1 was ready to faint one after another the popcorn bags found their way to the floor my hopes shattered I 1 still had confidence in the peanuts but they did not like them cither they broke the shells took out the nuts hull and all munched them and then cried b r r r and the peanuts went the way of the popcorn I 1 low did I 1 come out I 1 came out and that is about all I 1 staid there six weeks and after I 1 lost all my money to see some of the continent now I 1 am glad I 1 am in chicago and I 1 dont want anything to do with peanuts or popcorn in europe hereafter it lias been a lesson to me and I 1 paid five thousand dollars for it still I 1 guess it is worth its price |