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from The Monumental city, its past history and present resources:
SMITH, HANWAY & CO.'s
Patapsco Baking Powder.
It is eminently proper to Publish in our work, an article on this Preparation, which by the enterprise of the above firm, and especially the indefatigable efforts of WILLIAM P. CLOTWORTHY, the inventor and patentee, has come into general use.
When the PATAPSCO BAKING POWDER was first introduced, the proprietors of the other Brands that had so long monopolized the trade, paid little heed to it, especially as it emanated from Baltimore, which they did not regard as a rival to the great manufacturing cities of the North. It was not long however before they felt a decided change in the pulse of the trade. In the course of months a revolution occurred, and today, [1873] its sales exceeds those of any other Powder. This excited first their jealousy, then their animosity, then efforts to injure it. By every species of misrepresentation, by circulars, newspaper articles and legislation, they endeavored to create public prejudice and laws against its use.
Few persons are aware of the interest that attaches to this article of commerce and domestic use. It has excited more controversy and contention than almost any other article of daily consumption. In this the people are even more directly concerned than the proprietors of the Baking Powders. For Bread, properly styled the "Staff of Life," forms the basis of our food, and it is vitally essential that it be not only nutritious, but absolutely free from all injurious ingredients.
WILLIAM P. CLOTWORTHY, of the House of SMITH, HANWAY & Co., a native of Baltimore, formerly of CLOTWORTHY & FLINT, a well known Drug and Chemical House, directed his attention to the subject of Baking Powders. By many months of study, and a thousand experiments, testing all possible compounds, as to their lightening and dietetic effects, concluded upon that which is patented and owned by SMITH, HANWAY & Co., the Patapsco Baking Powder.
The point at which he aimed, was the retention of the carbonic acid gas in the dough, until baking began, then to have it gradually effervesce as the process continued, until it was all expelled. This is the great secret of light bread.
The difficulty with all other powder containing Cream of Tartar and Soda is this: so soon as the acid and alkali are mixed in cold water, effervescence ensues, and nearly all the benefits of it are lost before the heat of the oven affects the dough. When Cream of Tartar and Soda are mixed together, after the ebulition of the Carbonic Acid Gas, Rochelle Salts are left as the result, in the Bread.
The PATAPSCO BAKING POWDER, by the expulsion of Carbonic Acid Gas, during the baking, is lightening the mass all through the process, and finally leaves behind, Glauber Salts, which every chemist knows is vastly preferable to Rochelle Salts. Furthermore, the quantity of soda and acid employed, is twenty-five per cent less than in the other Baking Powders, and there is no danger of an excess of either, so as to affect the flavor of the Bread.
The process is always certain. The cook can rely upon it with absolute confidence, knowing that so soon as the dough becomes heated, the fermenting process begins, which will continue until the mass has risen to its utmost height. All the ingredients of this Powder are strictly healthful. The residue salts formed in bread being the very elements which give healing virtue to the waters of the most celebrated Sanitarian Resorts of Europe and America.
The indubitable proof of the success of the PATAPSCO BAKING POWDER is in the many imitations of it, that have been placed on the market, necessitating its protection by Letters Patent.
Mr. Clotworthy, after he had fully demonstrated the superior efficacy of his Powder, devoted himself to its introduction, and has travelled all over the country, pressing its claims upon dealers, until it now is sold and consumed in every State and Territory. One great advantage it possesses is that it can be sold in bulk; while other Powders are put up in bottles or packages, costing from twenty to forty per cent more than it.
This was a serious blow to the other Powders, for the dealers found it more satisfactory to their customers and profitable to themselves, to buy in bulk and retail in quantities to suit; this being the first and only Baking Powder thus sold.
The enterprise of Smith, Hanway & Co., in their general Drug Business, and especially with their Baking Powder, has been of great advantage to Baltimore. They have carried our name and proved our commercial enterprise in all sections of the Country, and have greatly aided in extending our business intercourse.
We cannot close this article without referring to the effort made by New York Proprietors of Baking Powders , to induce the Legislature at Albany to enact a Bill , designed to prevent the Sale of the Patapsco Baking Powder in that State . When Mr. Clotworthy appeared before the Committee, he encountered the Proprietor of a competing Baking Powder Company, with paid and facile chemists, who gave an incomplete and even false analysis of the Patapsco Baking Powder His own testimony and analysis, supported by the careful tests and authority of PROFESSOR OGDEN DOREMUS, completely demolished their charges and theories; satisfied the Committee of their groundlessness, and defeated the useless and hostile Bill.
The whole scene and transactions before the Committee of the New York Legislature resulted in the vindication of the PATAPSCO BAKING POWDER, and by the consequent publicity, gave it greater prominence in the mind of the Public, as well as of the trade.
So well established has it become, and the demand for it is so great, that in different sections of the Country, large Companies are manufacturing Smith, Hanway & Co's Cream of Tartar substitute, on a royalty paid to them, which they are furnishing to various Baking Powder Companies.
The history and results of the Patapsco Baking Powder reflect great credit on our city, and its enterprising firm of SMITH, HANWAY & CO. BENJAMIN F. SMITH, of this firm , & native of West Virginia, where he was a successful merchant, came to Baltimore in 1866, and engaged in the Petroleum Oil business with ISAAC L. JONES until 1869, when he retired and formed a copartnership with W. A. Hanway, in the Wholesale Drug and Jobbing trade. MR. SMITH early established a reputation in his own and other commercial departments; and the House of which he is now head is a leading one in Baltimore, exerting a wide commercial influence and drawing a large trade to the City. He is prominently identified with important interests, social and religious as well as commercial. MR. HANWAY withdrew from the firm in 1879, and it is now composed of BENJAMIN F. SMITH and WILLIAM P. CLOTWORTHY.
The firm possess numerous testimonials as to the merits of the Patapsco Baking Powder, from Chemists, Bakers and Housekeepers, only two of which we select from the mass; those of the distinguished Chemist, PROFESSOR BENJAMIN SILLIMAN, and our eminent Physican, DR GEORGE W. MILTENBERGER, whose biographical sketch is on pages 555- 557 of this book.
NEW HAVEN, MARCH 19, 1879.
MESSRS. SMITH, HANWAY & Co., Baltimore, Md.
Gentlemen. I have prepared Baking Powder from the materials specified in your letters patent and find the bread baked therefrom in my own kitchen free from alum.
The ingredients in your PATAPSCO BAKING POWDER stand in such relation to each other as to do their work in the most efficient manner, and by their chemical constitution, no action occurs until a high degree of heat is reached in the oven. The housekeeper will therefore find your Powders more convenient than those which require haste in getting the batch in the oven lest it fall. For the same reason griddle cakes, made with your Powders may be mixed a long time before use, without loss of lightness. The mode of liberating the acid used by you is ingenious and I believe original as applied to Baking Powders. As it acts on the bi-carbonate of soda setting free the gas to raise the bread, and chiefly at a high temperature, it is peculiarly well adapted to do its work.
Your PATAPSCO POWDERS are in frequent and satisfactory use in my own family. I regard them as quite free from objection on the score of health as any other baking powder now in use, and superior in convenience and efficiency.
The objections expressed against your Powders are, I think, without sufficient reason. I shared to a certain degree in these objections, until I examined the subject in the Laboratory and by the practical experience of the kitchen.
Yours Respectfully,
B. SILLIMAN, State Chemist for Connecticut.
_______
BALTIMORE, JANUARY 11th, 1879.
MESSRS. SMITH, HANWAY & Co.
Gentlemen. I do not see how I can add any thing on the subject-question, to the full and explicit opinions of Professors Wilson and Aikin, except to express my surprise that any chemist or other educated person could find any thing injurious in the powder to which you refer, or in its effects and results as used. Yours truly,
G. W. MILTENBERGER, M. D.
Prof. in Maryland University
Back of both trade cards 3x4" (don't remember where I bought these cards)
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