File:Page 6 of Wooster Daily Record,published in Wooster, Ohio on Monday, November 22nd, 1937.jpeg

Newspaper article

Date	1937/11/22
Organization name	Wooster Brush Company, The
Industry Sector	Wholesale > Merchant Wholesalers - Nondurable Goods Manufacturing > Miscellaneous Manufacturing
Year	1937
Newspaper title	The Daily Record
Page number	6

Tells Origin of Brush Co.

D. J. Foss, vice-president and general manager of The Wooster Brush Company, spoke to the Rotary Club today, touching briefly on the situation in China from where most of the bristle used in the manufacture of Wooster brushes comes.

Mr. Foss preceded his discussion with a brief history of the Wooster Brush Company. His grandfather bought some unclaimed cargo at an auction along the Ohio river. When he opened his purchase he discovered he had bought some hog bristle. He conceived the idea of making it into brushes and started to sell his product from house to house. He ended up in Wooster with all his bristle gone and a handsome profit as the result of his efforts. After much corresponding, he was able to procure more bristle which he proceeded to make into brushes, and that was the beginning of the of the Wooster Brush Company.

Until the early 90's much of the bristle used in brush manufacturing came from Europe. From that time until just before the war about half of the bristle was imported from Europe and half from China. The war dried up the European sources temporarily and led to the development of the Chinese source of supply.

Mr. Foss has made repeated trips to China for his firm and spoke interestingly of some of his experiences. At present Henry Lee, a former student of Wooster College, is representing the Wooster concern's interests in China. The last word they had from him was October 4. The war situation has handicapped and hindered his activities considerably.