Turning Pennines Into Dollars

The following was written in the early 1910’s:

“P.K. Wrigley, son of Wm. Wrigley, Jr., the Spearmint gum man, has a staff of 11 men whose only business is to keep Wrigley’s earnings and profits invested and out of banks. It seems he is not very well pleased with the past bank experience. It also seems that they have a hard time finding good, safe paying investments. So a short time ago he took matters in his own hands and purchased four hundred and fifty thousand more short slab 1 cent selective gum vendors, to be placed in operation immediately throughout the country and we are informed he now has approximately 784,000 penny machines. This was based on past experience with their own gum vendor machines. Several of his personal friends asked why he was putting his money in penny gum vendors. They seemed to think he did not know what he was doing. His reply was as follows:

“If I put my money in Real Estate, it barely pays me 15%. Loans have not been very satisfactory. Stocks and Bonds are not dependable and the poorest investments I have, but my PENNY GUM VENDORS HAVE ALWAYS PAID ME 40% ON MY INVESTMENT IN BOTH GOOD AND BAD TIMES…and others have standing offers to buy these used vendors with or without locations for more than I paid for them.”

— P.K. Wrigley, Jr.