1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ménier, Emile Justin

MÉNIER, EMILE JUSTIN (1826–1881), French manufacturer and politician, was born at Paris in 1826. In 1853, on the death of his father, Antoine Brutus Ménier, he became proprietor of a large drug factory, founded in 1815 by the latter at Saint Denis, Paris, and in 1825 at Noisiel-sur-Marne. Antoine Brutus Ménier had also manufactured chocolate in a small way, but Emile Justin from the first devoted himself specially to chocolate. He purchased cocoa-growing estates in Nicaragua and beet-fields in France, erected a sugar-mill, and equipped himself in other ways for the production of chocolate on a large scale. In 1864 he sold his interest in the drug-manufacturing business, and thenceforth confined himself to chocolate, building up an immense trade. Ménier was a keen politician, and from 1876 till his death had a seat in the French Chamber, his general views being strongly Republican, while he consistently opposed protection. He was the author of several works on fiscal and economic questions, notably L’Impôt sur le capital (1872), La Réforme fiscale (1872), Économie rurale (1875), L’Avenir économique (1875–1878), Atlas de la production de la richesse (1878). He died at Noisiel-sur-Marne in 1881, his sons succeeding to the business.