Boulangerie

1916 · 009710 — St. Louis Missouri: Heydt Bakery 1916. Envelope or Cover. Very good. An advertising envelope featuring logos of the various breads sold by the Heydt Bakery which was a branch of the American Bakery Company. It is franked with a two-cent red Washington stamp Scott #463 postmarked with a 1916 machine cancelation. Enclosed are three partially printed receipts each annotated as paid. In nice shape; the enveloped is slightly trimmed along the right edge affecting the stamp's perforations. <br /> <br /> <p>The Heydt Bakery's flagship brand was Yankee Bread and its Uncle Sam logo is prominently featured on the front of the envelope. There are several references to the company's "5¢ per Loaf" marketing slogan as well. Logos for other Heydt brands shown on either the front or rear of the cover include Bismarck Rye Bread Butter Krust Bread Superior Bread Sunrise Bread and Besta Cake. The American Bread Company was organized in 1907 with the merger of seven St. Louis bakeries the Heydt Welle-Dostler Freund Brothers St. Louis Baking A. A. Condor Home and Houck-Hoerr companies. When it did so the presidents or their sons of those companies remained as managers of their respective bakeries. <br /> <br /> <p>American Bread claimed that the merger allowed them to provide better service and maintain costs by streamlining delivery routes. Opponents including those small bakeries that were not included in the merger claimed that any overhead savings were negated by ever-increasing salaries paid to American's seven managers. Moreover they charged that the merger allowed American to fix the price of bread at five cents by shortening the length of its loaves during a period of escalating wheat prices to drive them out of business. <br /> <br /> <p>The state of Missouri declared American's organizational structure to be illegal and in the spirit of those trust-busting times sued the company in an attempt to break it apart. After a legal battle lasting several years the state's attorney general withdrew its suit when it realized a victory was unlikely due to a lack of evidence and statute of limitations issues. <br /> <br /> <p>For more information see various St. Louis Post-Dispatch articles and "American Bakery Co. Suit Discontinued" in Bakers Review of October 1915 all online. <br /> <br /> <p>An attractive bread advertisement and testament to the trust-busting attempts in the early 20th century. Heydt Bakery unknown books