Cold Pie

The admission of Eskimo Pie Corp. securities to trading on the New York Curb Market last week marked another incident in the life of a Scandinavian immigrant. The trivial business that Christian K. Nelson and Russell Stover began at Omaha, Neb., half a dozen years ago was now a $25,000,000 corporation.

When Christian K. Nelson was graduated from Nevada University just before the War, he went back to Onawa, Iowa, to work in his father's candy store and ice cream parlor. The family had come from Denmark in the '90s and this confectionery business meant their prosperity. Christian dished out bulk ice cream with chocolate flavor; sold packages of brick ice cream and bars of chocolate. Thus came the idea of a chocolate bar filled with ice cream, that is, a stick of brick ice cream coated with chocolate. Russell Stover, Omaha ice cream maker, said that he could make the confection. He invented the name Eskimo Pie.

Bold advertising of this pert name made their Eskimo Pie popular immediately. The U. S. licked at cold chocolate bars and ice cream makers throughout the U. S. sought license to manufacture Eskimo Pie. For every dozen of these pies they made--and at the height of Eskimo Pie popularity 2,000,000 were sold daily--they paid Russell Stover and Christian K. Nelson a nickel. These men grew rich--income $1,000,000 yearly. Then the U. S. Foil Co. which manufactures wrappings for can- dies and small articles, bought control of their company and they became contented security holders in the now $25,000,000 corporation.

But Christian K. Nelson has not always been so complacent in his wealth. When first big money came to him, in 1922, he exclaimed: "Money! The more I see of it, the less I like it. . . . Maybe I intend to take a wife." A few months later his reaction was: "I'm going to buy the biggest and best looking motor car that money will buy and drive it at whatever speed I choose right through the main street of Onawa."