The 8 Smoking Guns One Explosive Documented Moment From Each Post of THE CHOCOLATE MACHINE — Eight Primary Sources, Eight Verdicts, One Finding About What Happened to Milton Hershey's Gift THE CHOCOLATE MACHINE — Series Capstone A | February 2026

The 8 Smoking Guns

One Explosive Documented Moment From Each Post of THE CHOCOLATE MACHINE — Eight Primary Sources, Eight Verdicts, One Finding About What Happened to Milton Hershey's Gift

THE CHOCOLATE MACHINE — Series Capstone A | February 2026

In 1909, Milton Hershey signed a deed with four operative words: "as many as possible." In 1918, he gave away his entire fortune to make those words real. One hundred and sixteen years later, the trust bearing his name manages $23 billion and serves 2,100 children. Each of the eight posts in this series found a moment where the primary documents said the quiet part out loud — where the trust's own filings, the school's own website, the court's own records revealed the gap between what Milton Hershey wrote and what the structure he created delivered. This capstone collects all eight. Every document cited here is sourced to the primary record identified in the original post. The trust provided most of the evidence itself.

🔥 SMOKING GUN #1

Milton Hershey's Four Words — and the 116-Year Gap Between Writing Them and Honoring Them

POST 1: THE GIFT — November 15, 1909

The 1909 deed contains the mandate that defines everything that follows. It is not ambiguous. It is not metaphorical. It is legally binding language in a document witnessed, filed, and restated by the Dauphin County Orphans' Court.

"The Managers must admit as many qualifying children as capacity and income permit."

— The Second Restated Deed of Trust, Milton Hershey School, November 15, 1976 (restating the original 1909 deed)

The word is "must." Not "should." Not "may." Must. Income in 2024: hundreds of millions annually from $23-24 billion in assets. Children admitted: 2,100. The deed is 116 years old. The mandatory language has never been litigated. The children it names have no mechanism to enforce it.

VERDICT: The most important word in the deed is "must." 116 years later, "must" has produced 2,100 students and $1 billion in unspent accumulated income. The gap between the mandatory language and the institutional response is the entire investigation.

🔥 SMOKING GUN #2

Fortune Called the Surplus "Embarrassingly Large" in 1934. The Identical Observation Was Made in 2021. Nothing Changed in 87 Years.

POST 2: THE SURPLUS THAT NEVER STOPS GROWING — 91 Years of Accumulation

The gap between the trust's accumulated wealth and its mission was not discovered by ProPublica. It was published in a national magazine 91 years ago.

"Embarrassingly large surplus piling up in the school's coffers."

— Fortune magazine, 1934, on the 25th anniversary of the Milton Hershey School

"I've yet to meet a nonprofit that has two years' worth of reserves. [The Hershey Trust has] 2.7 years."

— Laura Otten, Executive Director, The Nonprofit Center at La Salle University, 2021

Eighty-seven years between those two observations. The first called it embarrassing. The second confirmed that nothing about the structural dynamic had changed — only the dollar amounts. And in 1999, Pennsylvania passed a law allowing the board to spend up to 7% of assets annually by simple vote. The board chose not to use it.

VERDICT: The surplus was embarrassing in 1934. It was indefensible in 2021. The 87-year gap between those identical observations is the documentary record of institutional inertia operating at scale.

🔥 SMOKING GUN #3

A Sitting Board Chairman Sued the Institution He Chaired — to See Financial Records He Had Been Denied for 19 Months

POST 3: THE BOARD THAT SERVES ITSELF — Two Boards, Same People, Multiple Scandals

Bob Heist was a 1982 graduate of the Milton Hershey School. He served on its board since 2011, as chairman since 2018. He was simultaneously president of the Hershey Trust Company. He filed suit against his own institution in April 2021 — after five formal requests over 19 months were denied.

"A director of a nonprofit corporation in Pennsylvania is fundamentally allowed to see the books and records of the organization to determine whether the funds are being spent properly."

— Don Kramer, nonprofit law chair, Montgomery McCracken (Philadelphia), quoted in Spotlight PA, 2021

The school's response: Heist "has an agenda" and "no authority to conduct his own investigation."

The judge: "Have they locked the doors? Have they shuffled the documents from place to place so he couldn't access them?"

The school spent money from the children's charitable trust fighting the lawsuit of its own chairman. Among the records Heist sought: documents bearing his own signature authorizing legal expenses — expenses authorized under his name that he had not been permitted to review.

VERDICT: The highest governance officer of a children's charitable trust had to sue to see the books of the institution he chaired. The judge's question — "have they locked the doors?" — is the institutional accountability question the trust has never fully answered.

🔥 SMOKING GUN #4

The Attorneys General of Pennsylvania Intervened in 2002 — While One Was Running for Governor and the Other Was Under Criminal Indictment

POST 4: THE SALE THAT NEVER HAPPENED — 55 Days, 10,000 Protesters, $12.5 Billion

The sole external check on the Milton Hershey Trust is the Pennsylvania Attorney General. In both major corporate confrontations involving the trust, the AG's political circumstances were central to the outcome.

2002: AG Mike Fisher goes to Orphans' Court to block the Wrigley sale. Fisher is simultaneously the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania. His Democratic opponent Ed Rendell also publicly opposes the sale. Both gubernatorial candidates position themselves against the board.

2016: Mondelez offers $23 billion. AG Kathleen Kane is simultaneously under criminal indictment for leaking grand jury information in what Pennsylvania media called 'Porngate.' The investigation into the trust proceeds under a compromised AG.

— Multiple primary sources, contemporaneous reporting, 2002-2016

The machine that protects poor children's trust assets is a politician whose decisions are shaped by electoral calculations. In 2002, those calculations aligned with blocking a sale. In 2016, the AG overseeing the trust was fighting for her own freedom. The children's trust has no oversight mechanism independent of Pennsylvania politics.

VERDICT: The sole enforcer of a children's charitable trust is an elected official running for higher office or fighting criminal charges when the trust faces its two biggest governance crises. The children have no alternative mechanism.

🔥 SMOKING GUN #5

The Trust Reclassified $900 Million in Children's Income as a "Rainy Day Fund" — At 2.7 Years of Reserves, 35% Above the Nonprofit Sector Maximum

POST 5: THE BILLION SITTING IDLE — $1.2 Billion Accumulated, $900 Million Reclassified

By 2020, $1.2 billion in unspent income had accumulated. The trust's response — approved by the Dauphin County Orphans' Court — was to redirect $350 million to preschool centers and reclassify the rest as an emergency reserve.

"Nonprofits' reserves typically hold three months to one year of operating costs. Some say the max should never be more than two years. I've yet to meet a nonprofit that has two years' worth of reserves."

— Laura Otten, Executive Director, The Nonprofit Center at La Salle University, 2021

The Hershey Trust's designated reserve: 2.7 years of operating expenses — 35% above the stated maximum.

The trust's own court filing acknowledged: "the initial $350 million phase of the project will use up only a fraction of the $1.2 billion in unspent income that has already accumulated." They told the court they had more than they were spending. The court approved the reclassification. The $900 million became institutionally unavailable for children.

VERDICT: The trust's response to $1.2 billion in children's unspent income was to reclassify $900 million as a buffer. The sector's own expert says the maximum reserve is 2 years. The trust designated 2.7. Court-approved. Expert-criticized. Structurally permanent.

🔥 SMOKING GUN #6

The School's Own Website Says Admission "Can Be a Source of Pride" — For a Trust That Must Admit "As Many As Possible"

POST 6: THE CHILDREN WHO DIDN'T GET IN — The IQ Floor, The Competitive Framing, The Gap

The 1909 deed's mandate is to maximize: admit as many qualifying poor children as income permits. The school's own admissions page describes the process in the opposite terms.

"Our admissions process is competitive, and being accepted can be a source of pride for our families."

— Milton Hershey School admissions website, mhskids.org (confirmed 2025)

The school also requires an IQ score of 80 or higher — a requirement not in the 1909 deed, which specifies only "potential for scholastic achievement." Children in poverty are disproportionately likely to score below 80 on standardized cognitive tests due to factors including nutritional deficiency, lead exposure, trauma, and unstable housing. The children most likely to need what the Hershey Trust offers are among the most likely to be excluded by the IQ floor. The school receives "many more applications than it can accept." How many are turned away: not publicly disclosed.

VERDICT: A trust mandated to admit "as many as possible" runs an admissions process designed to make acceptance "a source of pride." Pride is the byproduct of scarcity. Scarcity — at $23 billion — is a choice.

🔥 SMOKING GUN #7

The Catherine Hershey Schools Serve 900 Children — 0.7% of the 128,485 Unserved Eligible Pennsylvania Children the Trust Cites as the Justification for Building Them

POST 7: THE MANEUVER — Catherine Hershey Schools: What They Are, What They Aren't

The trust's $350 million preschool initiative cites Pennsylvania's childcare crisis as its rationale. Its own case study provides the number that reveals the scale of the response.

"128,485 children (72%) eligible for subsidized care in Pennsylvania are not being served."

— Start Strong PA, 2025 Fact Sheet, cited by Catherine Hershey Schools in their own program documentation

CHS children served at full operation: approximately 900.

900 of 128,485 is 0.7%. The trust that cites 128,485 unserved children as the moral justification for the preschool initiative is addressing 0.7% of that need — with $23 billion in assets and $1.6 billion per year in legally available spending capacity under Pennsylvania's 1998 statute. The deed's mandate — residential school for as many qualifying children as income permits — is still producing 2,100 students. CHS adds 900 preschoolers. The gap between income and mission delivery grows wider, not narrower.

VERDICT: The trust cited 128,485 unserved children to justify 900 preschool slots. With $23 billion. The math completes its own argument.

🔥 SMOKING GUN #8

The Trust's Own President Said "Again" — Under Oath — In 1999. The Surplus Has Been Growing "Again" Ever Since.

POST 8: THE 116-YEAR QUESTION — Why the Four Words Have Never Been Enforced

The single most important word in the 116-year history of the Milton Hershey School Trust appears in a sworn court filing from January 20, 1999. It is one word. It contains 90 years of documented institutional history.

"Petitioners believe and therefore aver that the School Trust's accumulated income fund has again grown to the point where it is more than sufficient to carry out the Settlors' specific charitable purpose, and will continue to grow further beyond the amount necessary until either the Deed of Trust is modified, or the amount is reduced through a cy pres award, or both."

— Robert C. Vowler, President, Hershey Trust Company, and Dr. William L. Lepley, President, Milton Hershey School, verified petition, Dauphin County Orphans' Court, January 20, 1999

Source: In re Milton Hershey School Trust, 807 A.2d 324 (Pa. Cmwlth. Ct. 2002)

The word is "again." Not "has grown." Not "has unexpectedly reached." Again. The trust's own president acknowledged in sworn testimony that the surplus had been excessive before — and had grown back. He predicted it would continue growing "further beyond the amount necessary" without structural change. Twenty-five years later: $23 billion in assets. $1 billion in unspent income. 2,100 students. He was right about everything except when the structure would finally change.

VERDICT: The trust's own president filed the word "again" in sworn court testimony in 1999. The surplus grew again. And again. The 2006 Pennsylvania Supreme Court permanently closed the only enforcement door that might have stopped it. The four words Milton Hershey wrote — "as many as possible" — have never been litigated. They probably never will be. The children they describe have no votes and no legal standing. The machine runs on.

THE COMPLETE SERIES — ALL EIGHT POSTS:

Post 1: The Gift — What Milton Hershey wrote in 1909. What the trust heard for 116 years.
Post 2: The Surplus That Never Stops Growing — 1934 to today: 91 years of "embarrassingly large"
Post 3: The Board That Serves Itself — Same people. Two boards. Two AG investigations. Bob Heist.
Post 4: The Sale That Never Happened — $12.5B, 55 days, 10,000 protesters, 10 trustees departed
Post 5: The Billion Sitting Idle — $1.2B accumulated. $900M reclassified. The math.
Post 6: The Children Who Didn't Get In — The IQ floor. The competitive framing. The unnamed gap.
Post 7: The Maneuver — 900 preschoolers. 128,485 unserved. 0.7% of the documented need.
Post 8: The 116-Year Question — "Again." The closed door. The finding.

THE FINDING:
Milton Hershey said: as many as possible.
The trust said: 2,100.
The surplus said: again.
The children said nothing.
They have no mechanism to say anything at all.

METHODOLOGY: Every document cited in this capstone is sourced to the primary record identified in the original post. The trust's own sworn court filings, its own website, its own case studies, and the Pennsylvania court record provided the evidence. The institution documented its own gap. Eight posts. Eight smoking guns. One finding.