1882
IT HAPPENED IN…1882
A federal law was passed setting a head tax of
fifty cents on each immigrant and excluding convicts, the insane,
and persons likely to become public charges.
Jesse James was shot dead by a cousin seeking the
$10,000 reward offered by authorities.
Congress passed the Edmunds-Tucker Act outlawing
polygamy.
Christmas lights were introduced.
The National
Bottlers’ Gazette,
a soft drink industry publication, was started.
(Figure
1882-01, Diary
1882, front and back covers)
Early in 1882 Hires distributed the illustrated
pocket-sized diary as a giveaway item for existing and potential
customers. The inside front
cover and first 18 pages are chock full of advertising copy and
testimonials from shopkeepers and customers.
Charles E. Hires’ opening statement was “As proprietor of this
article, I feel warranted in saying that in the preparation of an
every-day drink, both healthy and agreeable, it cannot be surpassed.”
In addition to emphasizing Hires’ Improved Root Beer’s
“blood-purifying and strengthening qualities,” he referred to his
product as a “Healthy Temperance Beverage,” the earliest known specific
reference to “Temperance” found in Hires’ advertising.
The printed matter in this now rare
Diary 1882 was prepared with
a very small font size on what are now 135+ year old and highly fragile
pages, making scanning or photographing the pages impractical.
Instead, selected content is presented as follows:
HIRES’ Improved Root Beer.
It is purely vegetable,
containing aromatic and medicinal roots and barks, one of the principal
being Sarsaparilla – a root held in great esteem for its blood-purifying
and strengthening qualities.
The Beer made from it is not only a
Healthy Temperance Beverage,
but one of the most pleasant and invigorating that can be found for use
in warm weather, producing a gentle stimulation throughout the body,
without the deleterious effects of a momentary excitement.
It is peculiarly efficacious in diseases arising from impurities
of the blood, and is highly recommended as a strengthening drink.
The low price at which it is afforded, the readiness with which
the beer is prepared from it, it’s healthfulness and agreeableness as an
every-day drink, has rendered this
preparation one of the most
popular articles in the market.
The public can rely on this article being kept up to
the standard of strength and purity which has always characterized it,
notwithstanding the flood of cheap and unwholesome imitations which has
been pushed into the market on the credit of it.
DOCTORS RECOMMEND HIRES’ IMPROVED ROOT BEER.
The careful selection of the roots and barks used in
this compound has been acknowledged by the numerous patrons who have
continued its use for years.
It has attained a high reputation for purity and delicacy of
flavor, which we intend shall be maintained.
HIRES’ IMPROVED ROOT BEER PACKAGES are sent by mail
on receipt of twenty-five cents.
Hundreds of letters come from all over the United
States and Canada, speaking with much praise of Hires’ Root Beer.
Beware of base imitations.
It is unlike all other compounds and extracts that contain oils,
etc., that cause nausea and debility.
Being made directly from the fresh Barks and Roots, it
strengthens and purifies the blood.
The large and steadily increasing demand for HIRES’
IMPROVED ROOT BEER PACKAGES makes it of the greatest importance that it
should be more thoroughly understood and appreciated.
While acting as a pleasant, refreshing beverage, it furnishes the
most valuable elements of nutrition.
J. Stearnes, Peck Slip, New York City, says: “Enclosed I send two dollars for Root Beer Packages. I find the article a good one, and think will be able to sell lots this next summer.”
Mrs. E. M. Sherman says: “Send me another package of your Root Beer. This makes five I have had. It is helping me so much I don’t know how to do without it.”
Jacob Boehringer, of Iron City, Mich., writes: “Enclosed find one dollar. Send me four packages of your Root Beer, the same as I had before. It makes the boss Root Beer. I sent a package to my parents, and they liked it very much and told me to send for more”…
HIRES IMPROVED ROOT BEER.
AS A BEVERAGE ALL ADMIT IT IS
UNSURPASSED.
FOR WEAKLY AND SICK CHILDREN
It will make them healthy, strong, rosy and happy.
It insures a hearty appetite and increases digestion.
It enriches the blood.
It will have a better effect upon any who feel “out
of sorts” and need “bracing up” than all the tonics and bitters of the
day.
TO FARMERS AND LABORING MEN
From the Rural New Yorker: “We have tried Hires’ Improved Root Beer Package, and think well of and can recommend it. After bottling and tying the corks in, we had a sparkling aromatic and refreshing beverage.”
It is an inoffensive, wholesome substitute for molasses, sassafras, and the like, and even cider…
HIRES’ IMPROVED ROOT BEER now a favorite beverage for ladies and young persons, to whom it gives freshness and embonpoint. It has solved the problem of medicine by imparting strength and pure blood, which soon gives a person a clear and healthy complexion.
It is recommended and presented by some of our best physicians.
BEWARE! Do not confound this with other Root Beer Preparations, as it is entirely unlike anything else of the kind.
Beware of the Extracts advertised for making Root Beer, as they are composed chiefly of coloring matter and oils to give them flavor, which excite the nerves and cause nausea.
Ask your Druggist for it.
It makes the weak strong, and gives the feeble nerve.
It increases the muscular force and doubles the “staying” power.
It imparts a hearty appetite and insures perfect digestion.
It gives sleep – sound and refreshing – in due season.
It builds up the constitution and makes the weakest rugged.
It strengthens feeble women and makes puny children strong.
It restores the tranquility of nerves shattered by excesses.
Persons suffering from Dyspepsia or Indigestion can be cured by making two gallons of tea from the Package, and taking a wineglassful three times a day. In order to keep the tea from getting sour, add one pint of pure Holland gin…
Many mothers feel the terrible burden in rearing their children because they lack physical strength to enduring their wearisome lot. For such, HIRES’ IMPROVED ROOT BEER PACKAGE brings them good news. It will prove a tower of strength and a blessing…
A. Judges, Esq.,
Bloomington, Ky., says: “Send me two more packages.
Was much pleased with the last, and think it will be good for the
men during hay time.”
Cures Jaundice.
Cures Liver Complaint.
Overcomes Malarial Blood Poisoning.
Regulates the Stomach.
Will Regulate the Liver.
Will Regulate the Bowels.
A. H. Seidle,
Lehighton, Pa., writes: “Enclosed find one dollar.
Send me four more packages.
It is a. No. 1. I
can sell quite a lot of it if I can make anything on it”…
DIRECTIONS FOR USE:
Add to a Package of Hires’ Improved Root Beer five
cents worth of Senna leaves, and make one gallon of tea; then add one
pint of molasses and half pint of pure Holland Gin to keep it from
souring, and take a wineglassful three times a day.
This will give you over a gallon of the best blood-purifying
medicine in the world…
C. H. Vavtier,
Burlington Flats, N.Y., writes: “Send me another Package of your
Improved Root Beer. I found
it to be better than you recommended.
It is an excellent thing.
We use it in place of tea and coffee on the table, and find it
victuals as well as drink.
Aug. 4th, 1881.
A GOOD FAMILY REMEDY.
HIRES’
PAIN RELIEF
25 CENTS A BOTTLE
Taken internally cures Sudden Colds, Coughs, Fever
and Ague, Asthma and Phthisic, Headache, Heartburn, Canker in the Mouth
and Stomach, Piles, Sea Sickness, Sick Headache, Cramps and Pain in the
Stomach, Painter’s Colic Diarrhea, Dysentery, Summer Complaint, Cholera
Morbus, Cholera Infantum, and Cholera.
Applied externally it relieves Toothache, Rheumatic Affections, Headache, Neuralgia in the Face, Pains in the Side, Back and Loins, Rheumatic Pains in the Joints, Stings of Insects, or Bites of Poisonous Insects or Reptiles.
Mrs. A. Allen, Cape May, N.J., says: "It cured me of the Dysentery that I had suffered with for years, when all other remedies had failed"
Manufactured only by
Charles E. Hires
No. 48 North Delaware Avenue.
PHILADELPHIA.
Charles E. Hires Company sales for 1882 were listed
as 18,422 bottles or 1,475,360 glasses.