CHAPTER VIII 



Cacao 



If a census could be taken of all hungry chil- 

 dren to-day, and they could have "just what they 

 want" to cure what ails them, the order for choco- 

 late would be bigger than for any other on the 

 list. Here is a candy that is a nutritious food, too. 

 It has not the objectionable features of most 

 candies, if good grades are bought. A generation 

 ago, children had never heard of chocolate, and 

 very little came to America. To illustrate how 

 suddenly chocolate and cocoa have come in: the 

 imports increased 70 per cent, between 1901 and 

 1905, amounting to 70,000,000 pounds annually 

 at the time of the last census. European coun- 

 tries are quite as fond of chocolate as the 

 United States. Hamburg is the greatest port 

 and distributing centre for this article. Havre 

 is second. The Dutch are great chocolate and 

 cocoa manufacturers and consumers. So are 

 the Swiss. Much of our importation is from 

 these countries, as the labels tell us. The raw 



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