Uncle John’s Supremely Satisfying Bathroom Reader® (78 page)

The Industrial Revolution helped to make chocolate more affordable than ever. Now it was possible to grind massive quantities of cacao beans with steam-powered grinders and using hydraulic presses to separate cocoa butter from cocoa powder was much more efficient than making chocolate by hand…and the cost savings were passed on to the consumer.

The invention of chocolate that could be eaten created a huge demand for cocoa butter, which caused the price to go through the roof, and made chocolate bars expensive. Anyone could afford to
drink
chocolate, but if you wanted to eat it, you had to be wealthy.

Then in 1893, Milton Snavely Hershey, owner of the world’s largest caramel factory, visited the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and saw a demonstration of chocolate-making machinery given by Lehmann and Company, a German chocolate maker. Hershey was so impressed by what he saw that when the exhibition closed he bought the machinery and began making chocolate-coated caramels. “Caramels are only a fad,” he told anyone who would listen, “chocolate is a permanent thing.”

In 1900 he sold his caramel company so that he could focus exclusively on chocolate, and he went about manufacturing it the same way that he’d become the king of caramel—he built the largest chocolate factory on the face of the earth.

Hershey then applied the principles of mass production to the manufacture of chocolate—he built his factory on 1,200 acres of Pennsylvania dairyland, and then bought up thousands more acres—until he owned enough dairy farms to supply his factory with fresh milk. He built an entire town, Hershey, Pennsylvania, to give his workers someplace to live, as well as another—Hershey, Cuba—near his sugar mill in the Caribbean.

Hershey manufactured his chocolate bars and Hershey’s kisses on such an enormous scale—as much as 100,000 pounds of chocolate a day—that he was able to realize huge cost savings, which he passed on to the consumer. He priced his Hershey bars at just a nickel a piece, and they sold at that price until 1969. And rather than settle for selling his chocolate regionally, as other American chocolate companies did at the time, he set his sights on selling his products throughout the United States. He also expanded his sales beyond the traditional outlets of candy stores and drugstores, selling chocolate bars at newsstands, in grocery stores, at bus stations, even in restaurants. Soon, his candy bars were everywhere.

The movie
Qrease
was released in Venezuela under the name
Vaselina.

Hershey didn’t think of his products as candy. In fact, he forbade his employees from referring to chocolate as candy. He claimed there was more energy in an ounce of chocolate than there was in a pound of meat. Chocolate wasn’t “merely a sweet,” he said, it was nutritious food.

Regardless of what Hershey thought, most people considered chocolate candy, more for kids than grown-ups. That began to change during World War I, when the government sent candy and chocolate to soldiers in battle. Why? It was cheap, it didn’t spoil, and its high sugar content provided a quick energy boost. American soldiers consumed huge quantities of chocolate during the war, and when the war was over they continued to indulge their habit.

During World War II, virtually the nation’s entire candy output was diverted into the war effort. American soldiers brought Hershey bars with them wherever they went; in many places they became a form of currency. The U.S. Air Force was the largest purchaser of M&M’s during the war; it bought them by the ton for bomber pilots flying long missions over North Africa and the Pacific. The Army was the #2 customer; it issued M&M’s to soldiers in tropical regions where ordinary chocolate melted too easily.

During WWII, the average G.I. consumed 50 pounds of candy and chocolate a year, three times what he had eaten before the war. And he brought his appetite for chocolate home with him. It wasn’t just for kids anymore; it was the food that had kept the fighting man strong. The two world wars helped to establish what Hershey had been saying for more than 40 years—that chocolate is for everyone.

No surprise—Brightest city, when seen from space: Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ever wonder how they come up with all those tournament championship events that fill the weekend TV schedule? Well, like everything else, they all had a beginning. Here are a few of the biggest.

In the 1920s, the world of golf was dominated by a lawyer from Georgia named Bobby Jones. Jones retired from the golf circuit in 1930 at the age of 28, having hit the peak of his career when he won not only the U.S. and British Opens but also the U.S. and British Amateurs, all in the same year. This feat, known as the Grand Slam, has never been repeated.

Throughout his career, Jones maintained amateur status—he never earned a penny playing golf. Then he retired from the game to spend more time with his family and build his law practice. He went on to write golf books and articles, design better clubs, and make instructional movies. But more than anything else, he wanted to design the world’s finest golf course near his hometown of Atlanta—a private course where he could play without being mobbed by fans.

Of Course

Jones teamed up with New York banker Clifford Roberts and began to look for property. They wanted land that had a stream, contours, and beauty. As soon as they laid eyes on Fruitlands Nursery, they knew they had found what they were looking for.

Fruitlands was the first commercial nursery in the south, started by a horticulturist named P. J. Berckman. It was a 365-acre farm with trees, flowers, and shrubs imported from all over the world. When Berckman’s son, Prosper, died in 1910, the business closed and his heirs began to look for a buyer. The purchase price—at the outset of the Depression—was $70,000. Jones and Roberts bought it.

Work on the golf course began in 1931 and progressed slowly. Each of the holes was named after one of the shrubs or trees that grew there: Pink Dogwood, Juniper, Firethorn, and so on. Jones hit thousands of test shots as the course was being made. He wanted three approaches to each hole: the safe route, the hard route, and the crazy route. It was finally finished in 1933.

Number of states that celebrate “National Admit You’re Happy Day”: 19.

The course was so beautiful that the USGA approached Jones with the idea of holding a tournament there, but he declined, feeling that if there were to be a tournament on his course, he should host it. So that’s what he did. He held his first tournament in 1934, calling it the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. People came from 38 states to watch golfers compete for a $1,500 purse, and every hotel room in the town of Augusta, population 60,000, was full.

Roberts wanted to call it “The Masters,” but Jones thought that sounded presumptuous. Everyone called it The Masters anyway, so in 1939, Jones relented and the title was officially changed. The Masters remains the only major golf tournament to return to the same site every year.

Bobby Jones played in the first 12 tournaments, but never won. His best finish was a tie for 13th place, which was at the very first tournament. He never even broke par, but continued to participate because his name was a big draw. He died in 1971 at the age of 69.

Most people think the America’s Cup is American. But it isn’t…or at least it didn’t start out that way. In 1851 Prince Albert hosted the Great London Exhibition in order to pay tribute to the technological advances of the day. In conjunction with the event, Queen Victoria invited all nations of the world to participate in a 53-mile yacht race around the Isle of Wight. The prize was a trophy made of 134 ounces of pure silver.

Over a dozen British vessels entered the race…and one American boat, called the
America.
Owner John Cox Stevens was certain he was going to win. And he did—by a wide margin.

The trophy, then called the One Hundred Guinea Cup was awarded to Stevens and his crew. He considered having it melted down and cast into medals, but instead donated it to the New York Yacht Club in 1857, with the stipulation that it be awarded to winners of an international boat race. The trophy and the race were named after the boat, and the America’s Cup was born.

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The Streak

The race is held approximately once every three years. Americans sailing under the New York Yacht Club flag have won the trophy 25 times in a row over 126 years—the longest winning streak in sports. It wasn’t until 1983 that an Australian entry took the trophy away from the United States.

The
America
sailed in 51 subsequent races under various owners, but only entered one America’s Cup event, where it placed 4th out of 15. In 1921 it was sold to the U.S. Navy and placed in storage in Annapolis, where it suffered years of neglect and decay. In 1942 the roof of the storage shed collapsed under heavy snow, crushing the famous boat. Some of the original wood was salvaged from the ship and used to create a replica, which is now on display at the Naval Academy museum.

Believe it or not, croquet was once considered a serious sport. The All England Croquet Club was founded in 1868, but by 1875 was suffering from a drop in membership because more people were playing a new sport: lawn tennis. So to increase revenue, they removed a croquet lawn and installed a tennis court. Then they changed their name to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

That same year, the club needed to purchase a new roller to care for the lawns, and it was expensive. To raise money, they decided to hold a tournament. An ad placed in the
Times
solicited entries, and
The Field
magazine was persuaded to donate a trophy. Twenty-two people entered the first tournament—men only—and 200 people paid a shilling apiece to watch, more than enough to cover the cost of the lawn roller.

Tennis, Anyone?

The club decided to hold a tournament every year, and every year it grew bigger. Named after the section of London where it was held, Wimbledon quickly became the most important championship event in the world of tennis. By 1884 women were allowed to compete; men’s doubles were added that year as well. Mixed doubles were added in 1913.

First Flush: There are 34 bathrooms in the White House.

May Sutten of the U.S. became the first non-Brit to win, claiming the title in both 1905 and 1907; since then, only two players from Great Britain have won. In 1922 Wimbledon moved to a new site and built a stadium big enough to seat 14,000 with standing room for thousands more. In 1932 the two-week event drew 200,000 fans, despite the worldwide economic depression. During World War II, the grounds were used for military purposes. After the war, when air travel became feasible, international participation soared. However, Wimbledon was open only to amateur players.

Change Brings Change

In 1967 the BBC sponsored a tennis tournament for professional players to publicize its move from black-and-white to color broadcasting. The organizers of Wimbledon watched as many of their champions appeared on national TV, attracting media attention and winning huge purses. The following year, Wimbledon was opened to all players—amateur and professional. Today there are 34 courts located on 42 acres. Attendance approaches half a million, and the prize money given out each year tops $12 million.

Edward Smith Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby, was good friends with Sir Charles Bunbury. Both enjoyed breeding horses. Together they founded a new horse race in 1780, a one-mile test of three-year-old thoroughbreds near Derby’s country estate in Epsom, England. But before the first race could be held, it had to be named. Which founder should the race be named after—Bunbury or Derby? They flipped a coin…and that’s how the word
derby
came to mean a horse race.

In Kentucky, horses flourished on bluegrass pastures that grew from Russian seed brought by immigrants. Because of this, the state became one of the most important thoroughbred breeding centers in the United States, and horse racing became a popular pastime. In 1832 the town fathers of Louisville, Kentucky, bought land from a local family, the Churchills, and built a racetrack.

But the track was too far from town to attract crowds and had to compete against other area tracks that were much more popular. Racing floundered there until the arrival of Meriwether Lewis
Clark, Jr. “Lutie” Clark was the grandson of explorer William Clark and a member of the same Churchill family on whose property Louisville’s racetrack was located.

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After a trip to Europe in 1873, where he studied the layout of the Epsom Downs Derby, Lutie was full of ideas of how to improve racing in Louisville and how to eliminate bookmaking by using the French
pari-mutuel
wagering machines. (Pari-mutuel betting is a system where the winners divide the total amount bet, in proportion to the amount they wagered individually. The odds change according to what people wager, and there is less chance of manipulation than with other systems.)

And…They’re Off!

With financial backing from his family, Clark leased 80 acres from his Churchill uncles, oversaw construction of a new grandstand and track, sold stock in the venture, and organized the betting. The track—dubbed the Louisville Jockey Club Course—opened on May 17, 1875. Although there were far more important races being run in Kentucky that day, the success of the new track was assured when a horse named Aristides set a new world record for the mile-and-a-half run. The crowd went wild. The Kentucky Derby was born.