U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for July 8

WASHINGTON, July 8, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

THE REAL THING

Profile America — Wednesday, July 8th. On this date in 1831, a baby was born in Knoxville, Georgia who would grow up to invent a product that rather symbolizes America all around the world. John Stith Pemberton was a pharmacist addicted to morphine after using it to treat a wound he received as a Confederate officer in the Civil War. His search for a cure for the addiction, which he never found, led him to create a beverage with a powerful, global attraction.  His syrup debuted in Atlanta on May 8, 1886. Soon called Coca-Cola, it went on to make his partners and investors quite wealthy. But not Pemberton, as the inventor sold his interest in 1888. Across the country, there are 456 soft drink manufacturers, employing over 49,000 workers in a more than $37 billion a year business. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Sources:
Pemberton biography: https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/John_Pemberton.html 
Product and sale: http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/the-chronicle-of-coca-cola-birth-of-a-refreshing-idea 
Soft drink manufacturing and employment/NAICS 31211: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ECN_2012_US_31I1&prodType=table 
Soft drink revenues/NAICS 312111: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ASM_2013_31VS101&prodType=table

Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button). 

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

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