20 September 2024 WHAT WAS THE GREAT MOLASSES FLOOD OF 1919? by Kirsten Anderson and Dede Putta, ill., Penguin Random House/Penguin Workshop, April 2024, 112p., ISBN: 978-0-593-52077-2

“Nunzio knows

when he's cutting my hair

Trim a bit here and then

Trim a bit there

Just a modest adjustment

Can fatten the bottom line

What if we cut back personnel?

How about a few salary trims?

We could lower the price of the paper

Bankrupting me even faster!

Let me try again

Shaving is tricky

The razor should float

Shave me too close

and you may slit my throat

It's the simplest solutions

That bolster the bottom line.”

–Big Audio Dynamite (1985)

“Molasses is a thick, dark syrup that comes from the sugar-making process. The plant that is raw sugarcane is crushed and boiled until it forms crystals. The crystals are sugar. The leftover syrup is molasses. The sugarcane crystals can be boiled again and again until they are white and there is no molasses left in them. That is the white sugar.people use most often at home and add to coffee or tea. Although molasses can be found in popular recipes for cookies, candy, sweet breads, and pies, it can also be turned into a form of alcohol that’s used to make alcoholic drinks and liquor, like rum.

But alcohol made from molasses can be used in industry, too. By the late nineteenth century, cheap molasses alcohol was commonly used in cleaning products, dyes, and other materials. This was known as industrial alcohol. And this is the product the United States Industrial Alcohol Company specialized in.

There was yet another purpose for alcohol made from molasses: ammunition.”  

The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 featured an enormous, shoddily-designed and poorly-constructed, steel-plated tank. It was filled with 2.5 MILLION GALLONS of rapidly fermenting molasses. It was erected in a residential Boston neighborhood by a company whose financial executive was looking to help cash in on the then-rapidly-approaching World War I (and maybe earn himself a major bonus and promotion in the process.).

The downside of capitalism and Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” is that the self-interest of maximizing profits can collide precipitously and irrevocably with the health and safety of the populace. That’s why, in modern America, we have local building departments, a Federal Trade Commission, a Food and Drug Administration, a National Transportation Safety Board, an Occupational Safety and Health Administration and many other local, state, and federal watchdog agencies that are charged with protecting you and me in the marketplace and in the workplace. 

WHAT WAS THE GREAT MOLASSES FLOOD OF 1919? reveals a tragic, little-known piece of American history, one whose repercussions are felt to this day. It is thanks to history like this, that we do, nowadays, have agencies to protect consumers and employees from harm. So often, such catastrophic incidents like this one have resulted from companies deciding to take shortcuts and risk our safety, rather than take a chance on potential decreases in their all-important bottom lines.

Through this true story, we follow Arthur Jell, who was the United States Industrial Alcohol Company executive responsible for single-handedly overseeing the tank’s planning, siting, and construction.  When the tank collapsed, it sent a 2.5 million gallon wave of molasses sweeping through Boston’s North End. In the investigation that followed the resulting deaths of 21 people, Arthur Jell was tracked down and questioned. 

“Jell explained that he worked in finance for USIA. He did not have a background in construction or architecture. He did not know how to read building plans. He just knew about money. [Jell admitted] that he never had any experts look at the plans for the tank. He did not talk to any engineers or architects. He also admitted that he did not have any professionals inspect the steel plates when they arrived in Boston. He didn’t have anyone examine the tank once it was built. And even though the contract for building the tank had recommended that USIA test it by filling it with water after it was built, Jell had only tested the tank by filling it with six inches of water. When asked why, Jell said that the real test would take too much time and cost money.”

WHAT WAS THE GREAT MOLASSES FLOOD OF 1919? Is an incredibly powerful and teachable book. Middle graders will breeze through the gripping read, while this horrific and engaging history lesson can be readily turned into a well-rounded curricular unit.

Fascinating, gruesome, heartbreaking, haunting, and eye-opening, this is a superb introduction to understanding how the excesses of capitalism necessarily lead to governmental regulation of those who employ us and/or sell us goods and services.

Believe me. It’ll be a while before I can recover from reading how Giuseppi Iantosca watched helplessly from the window as his beloved son Pasquale was swept away by a twenty-five foot high wave of molasses. (His body was only successfully identified in the cleanup because of his distinctive red sweater.)

Richie Partington, MLIS

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