The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-29 00:00:00

Some of our American Luxuries.

It may be interesting to those who have never
had occasion to look at the statistics on the subject
to know the number of cigars and the quantity of
tobacco, smoking and chewing, which are annually
consumed by the people of this country. Probably
the most complete and reliable source from which
correct figures can be reached, pertaining to those
articles of manufacture, are the returns rendered to
the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and these put us
in possession of facts that, to say the least, are sur-
prising :—According to the records of the above-
named bureau, it is shown that the number of cigars
returned by manufacturers throughout the loyal
section of the country, under the tax law of July 1,
1862, up to and including June 30, 1864, amounted
to 492,780,700 ; those returned under the law of
June 30, 1864, amounted to 530,491,902; and those
returned under the law of March 3, 1865, amounted
to 258,086,763, making an aggregate ofl ,281,359,365
cigars on which tax was paid to thelnternal Revenue
officers between the dates of July 1, 1862, to March
31, 1866. The gross sum of tax paid upon these cigars
was $6,503,697.61, inclusive of all grades, and the
different amounts of tax imposed by the several
laws quoted. For the benefit of those who may be
unacquainted with the provisions of these laws, in
this respect, we will say that the rates of tax on
cigars, under the law of July, 1862, were $1.50,
$2, $2.50, and 0.50 per thousand ! under that of
June, 1864, they were $3, $B, $l5, $25, and $lO
per thousand ; and under that of March 3, 1865,
they were all merged into the uniform figure of
$lO per thousand, irrespective of quality. Not-
withstanding the enormousness of these figures
they do not show the entire consumption of this
article of luxury, which certainly must reach a total
that is almost incredible. Upon the consideration
of three facts, this truth will be manifest. First, the
fact that all cigars made are not returned. It is well
known by revenue officers that immense frauds
are perpetrated upon the revenue by some snuff,
tobacco, and cigar manufacturers at the present
time, and have been, since the establishment of our
Internal Revenue laws, frauds, which are
exceeded in extent only by those of distillers.
Second. The fact that the returns herein quoted
were confined to the Northern States ; that the
whole South is now open to swell the returns.
Third. The fact, which must be apparent to all,
that the consumption of tobacco, as a luxury,
is increasing steadily each year to a great degree.
The same sources from which we have drawn
the above figures show that returns were ren-
dered in the fiscal year of 1863, of smoking to-
bacco, amounting in the aggregate to 8,448,882
pounds, on which $334,798.91 tax was paid ; for
the year 1864, 24,191,792 pounds, tax, $1,209,589
63; for the year 1865, 14,176,166 pounds, tax,
$2,080,019.26 ; and for the first nine months of the
year 1866, 6,837,527 pounds, tax, $1,504,055.93.
But the totals of cigars and smoking tobacco are
less astounding than those of the single article of
chewing tobacco, in its various forms of cavendish,
plug, twist, fine cut, &c. In the fiscal year of
1863, 15,231,174 pounds were returned, which
yielded a tax of $2,244,173.49 ; in 1864, 39,180,634
pounds, tax, $5,877,095.11 ; in 1865, 22,462,854
pounds, tax, $5,936,101.37 ; and for the first nine
months of the year 1866, 18,330,647 pounds, tax,
$7,329,428.63. The same considerations as to