Sterling Daily Gazette
August 26, 1937
The Hey Brothers advertisement reads "pure, safe, rich." Perusing the stories of the "Hey brothers" (as well as knowing them) leaves the reader with the awareness that these men believed and practised the old, American, small business virtues: quality and pride in product was the goal--success and profits would follow. This excerpt is typical.
"About 1926 the state passed a bill to set up the giving of approval certificates to milk plants and authorized the head of the department such rules as he chose. We ran our milk thru a flannel bag (to remove sediment) into a 500 gallon vat in which it was pasteurized at 143 degrees or more for 30 minutes. Big city plants heated the milk to about 90 degrees, then filtered it, and ran it into a second vat to pasteurize at 143 to 145 degrees. They ordered us to do as they did. We refused, saying we would not heat in two vats if we never got their approval. As a matter of fact, we made tests and took about 5 gallons of skim milk, threw dirt in it and filtered half at the temperature of 50 degrees, then heated it to 90 degrees and got no more dirt out. Then we took another half and filtered it at 90 degrees first, then cooled back to 50 degrees and re-filtered and lo! got considerable dirt out, proving dirt comes out better filtered at farm temperatures of 50, rather than 90.
"We operated without the certificate, leaving it up to officials to go to court.... After several years one of the leading dairy machinery companies "exploded in their face" a cold milk filter advertized as taking out dirt much better than warm milk filtration.... [The department] decided we were OK for their certificate. Probably I should have advertized their mistake earlier and challenged them to scientific tests and exposed their inspectors." (from "The Story of My Lifetime of 86 Years," by Clement Hey)
From Add Series Showing Founding Years
of Sterling Businesses
Wartime Sherbet