Around WW1 : The Bouillon Kub case in France (1912-1920)

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Xenophobia, antisemitism, fake news, deep state and other conspiracy theories, all the best components of nationalism were already present in the Bouillon Kub case orchestrated by L’Action Française, «Organ of integral nationalism», to support a Syndicate of Parisian creamers. Julius Maggi (1846-1912) was a Swiss citizen (his father was an Italian migrant, his mother a Swiss from the Zurich canton) who founded several companies in France, among them the «Maggi Milk Company» in 1902, and the «Bouillon Kub Company» in 1908. He was named Officer of Légion d’Honneur in France in 1907. The success of Maggi was relying on innovation and advertising, he had even bought one of the main advertising companies in France. In 1909 L’Action Française supported a campaign and a trial against the Maggi Milk Company started by some Parisian creamers angry that Maggi was selling his milk 1 cent less than them. Maggi was the first to sell pasteurized milk in Paris, it was healthier and could be kept longer than the raw milk sold by the creamers. The creamers lost their trial, but Léon Daudet, the director of L’Action Française, kept some strong grievance against Maggi, because during the battle some employees of the Maggi advertising company covered the posters of the creamers with posters advertising for... L’Action Française ! But these posters were not mentionning the name of the printer, and the one who would have had to pay the fines for this wild advertising would have been L’Action Française itself. Revenge is a dish better eaten cold, and it is 2 months after the sudden death of Julius Maggi that Daudet starts on December 18th 1912 an incredible series of articles targeted against «Maggi-Kub» untitled «The Jew-German spying». There was something worst for a French nationalist than to be German, it was to be German and Jew... If he targeted the stock cube, it is because «Kub» with its «K» was sounding German... although it had been patented first in France in November 14th 1907, and the name chosen because one cannot patent a common name like cube. And the address of the Kub company was in Paris, but Rue d’Allemagne/Germany Street. That was another proof, for sure. To sum up the articles, Kub was a company financed by Germany to spy on the army (they were selling their bouillon to the army and could enter in any barrack and boat) and prepare an invasion of France by putting advertisements on strategic points (crossroads, bridges, etc), all that done with the complicity of the government, the deep state working in the secret services and the police. That was so stupid that Maggi replied only at first that they were a French-Swiss company, and that its stock cubes were produced in France by French employees. No, said Daudet, they were poisoning people with their milk and bouillons ! They had even poisoned a full regiment as a test in 1911 with... jam. With so many hate, a few Maggi dairy shops were destroyed or tagged («German spies», «traitors»...) by proud nationalists, and Maggi decided to sue L’Action Française. Five subpoenas reached the newspaper offices, asking for a complete reparation of the damages, about 1 million Francs. It would have killed L’Action Française. Daudet decided with his lawyers to delay the procedure. It would help if Germany and France were in war... and Daudet continued his libel campaign. During the first trial that occurred in July 1913, Maggi was defended by the President of the Paris bar, and two lawyers known for their radical-socialists opinions, among them Alexandre Millerand, a future President of the French Republic in the 1920’s. L’Action Française was defended by Magnier, a lawyer more specialized in social conflicts than in media trials, but he obtained that the court launched an investigation about the facts given by L’Action Française before taking a decision. The title of L’Action Française was telling the day after on 5 columns «The Maggi Spies Investigated» ! When the war happened Daudet added a layer against the deep state working for Germany, many more Maggi shops were damaged and finally the army decided to remove all the advertisements for the Bouillon Kub in North-Eastern France ! It is better to be safe than sorry. And Daudet asked why the «German» Maggi properties were not seized ? A zealous public servant seized a factory in Southern France, and Maggi had to go to court to recover it. There was not a week without an article against Maggi : a Maggi factory was stealing its electricity, a man was sent to a hospital after having eaten a bouillon Kub, why this poison was given to the soldiers ? Difficult to evaluate the damages done by L’Action Française to Maggi with its fake news, millions of Francs probably. L’Action continued to delay the procedure and was finally sentenced for libel in 1920, to 3000 Francs of damages and to print the full decision and sentence on its first page... Photo : a mural of a shop from the 1900’s. On the right you can see one of those «infamous» Kub ads.