Pseudoscience, Misleading Advertisements, and Patent Medicines

One thing that this booklet is rife with is claims that Heckers products are more wholesome, nutritious, and downright “healthful” than others.  These claims are supported by “Chemical analysis from the most distinguished authorities,” (Heckers Self-Raising Superlative Flour, 16) but who exactly are these distinguished authorities?  The booklet does not name any hospitals or universities, those being the groups who might preform such an analysis.  This indicates that Heckers may have said this without having actual scientific proof.  In the United States, claims such as this were not illegal until 1906, when the original Food and Drugs Act was passed, prohibiting the mislabeling or adulteration of food products and medicine.  This means that before 1906, food and medicine producers could say whatever they wanted about what was in their products, and the effect that those ingredients would have.  Such occurrences correlate with rising concerns by Americans over what was in their food.  The industrial revolution brought with it great efficiency, but was followed by a lack of knowledge over what was being done to and going into food and medicine.  These concerns were valid, given the dishonesty and lack of transparency from companies like Heckers, and the truth behind other products coming out, such as patent medicines (medicines which claimed to be cure-alls, composed of ineffective and sometimes dangerous ingredients).  This booklet was printed at a time when health was just beginning to matter, but before companies were obligated to be honest about how healthy their products actually were.

Looking at the claims Heckers makes from a scientific perspective, there is no reason to think that Heckers Self-Raising Flour would be any more healthy than other brands.  The only significant difference between Heckers and other flour brands (beyond the lower selling price of Heckers) is that Heckers is self-rising, so what makes self-rising flour?  Well, Tartaric acid is in baking powder, acting as the acid which reacts with sodium bicarbonate, a base.  In the case of self rising flour, some other base is used.  When water or milk is added, the acid and base react and produce a carbonic acid, which further decomposes to carbon dioxide gas (the gas gets caught in bubbles and causes the dough to rise) and water.  The recipes in the booklet also call for hot water, as this promotes the reaction, as well as steam causing additional rising to occur in the dough.  Depending on the base used, the less important (or secondary) products of this chemical process could change, but there is no secondary product that would be significantly more beneficial than any other.  

It should be noted that half a page of the booklet is devoted to a letter from Professor Henry Morton.  At the time, he was president of the Stevens Institute of Technology, a position which at that point, he had held for eleven years.  In his letter he reassures the reader that there are no unsafe ingredients in Heckers Self-Rising Flour, and that it is extremely healthy.  Given that he was the president of a university, he is a fairly trustworthy figure, but given that he also does not directly reference any research or ingredients, there is the likelihood that he was asked, or perhaps paid to overstate the health value of the product.  Once again, this was not illegal at the time, and would also not have been considered immoral.  

Industrialization and Factory Towns

Coming back to Croton Mills and other factories, industry played an important part in urbanization, and in the creation of the largest cities in the United States.  Simply put, where there are factories, there are jobs.  People move to the area for those jobs, creating towns, and where there are groups of people, the need for goods and services arises.  This process is a cycle, because more factories are built where there are people already present to work in them, and so on.  Heckers is a part of this cycle of course.  The first mill built by the Hecker brothers was built outside of New York City, but realizing that more people would be available to work for them in the city, they moved their central business to Manhattan.  Acts such as this by many businesses over a fifty year period led to a 20% increase in the number of Americans living in large communities.  This factory effect led to the urbanization of many of the biggest cities in the United States.  It led to the growth of already large metropolises such as New York City, Philadelphia, and Detroit, and the rise of cities such as Kansas City, Los Angeles, and Denver.