BUBBLE GUM

I would like everyone to feel free to blow as many bubbles as

you would like while I am telling you the things that I learned about gum. I am going to talk about three different aspects of gum; the "natural" gum era, how William Wrigley Jr. improved gum, and finally I am going to give you some tips on how to blow the most effective bubbles that you can. In the times before William Wrigley invented Juicy Fruit or his Spearmint gums people were chewing on things like; resin from trees, sweet grasses, leaves, grains or a number of different waxes, as reported by the Forest District of Cook County, Illinois. In America people usually preferred to chew on the gummy resin that came from Spruce trees after they were cut. This was the most popular until the 1880's when our good old friend sweetened paraffin wax began to take it's lead over spruce resin. After paraffin wax a substance was brought to America by one of the most odd characters, General Santa Anna, that is right the guy from the Alamo.(as I learned form the web site, The Invention of chewing gum.) The substance that he brought is called chicle. Thomas Adams was trying to invent an alternative to rubber with this chicle when he accidentally invented the modern-day chewing gum. About ten years later William Wrigley came along to show everyone how big gum was really going to be. William Wrigley Jr. didn't start out in the gum business at all, he actually started out selling soap for his father, to add incentive, Wrigley would give away Baking powder, or cooking recipes if you bought the soap. According to Microsoft's Encarta, the baking powder became more popular than the soap so, Wrigley changed gears and began selling baking powder, and added in two free packages of chewing gum to boost sales. As I am sure you can guess, once again the incentive became more popular than his actual product, and he changed his focus.