The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1873-12-06
MAKING TOBACCO.
Row the suceulent weed is Rendered Fit
for the Dedication or Mankind The
Trade NJ Rich mOmd.

Trade NJ 8tcmm mmOm0.
Richmond Correspondence Cincinnati Commercial.
Not one man in hundred who bites off
delicious square inch % plug tobacco,
and rolls the sweet morsel under his tongue,
ever thinks Of the number Of hands EN-
ployed in Its growth and manufacture, nor
the number Of nigger feet that have walked
over it in the drying room.
The tobacco manufacturing interest ex-
ceeds all others in Richmond. The amount
Of revenue paid to the government by the
Richmond manufacturers aggregates nearly
two million dollars per annum. The bulk
of the tobacco manufactured here is raised
within radius of hundred miles of the
city, although large quantities come from
North Carolina and the region bordering
the Blue Ridge Mountains. Notwith-
standing the heavy government tax Of
twenty cents per pound for all kinds of to-
bacco, the production gives profitable en-
ployment to tens of thousands of labor
ers, and the profits are fully as great as
under the light taxation before the war.
The consumers finally foot the bill, Just as
they foot every other bill Of taxation,
whether they know it or not.
The large buildings which served during
war times as prisons, are now noisy with
the hum Of tobacco manipulators, and rank
with the smell of the weed. A visit to
any Of them will repay the tourist in more
ways than one. At all events, he will be
likely to use less tobacco hereafter.
Most readers know how tobacco is grown.
They have seen it in the fields, and per
hals sweat over it in sultry days. The
younger ones, especially in Kentucky, are
no doubt acquainted with the process of
taking two sticks and going out into the
green and inviting tobacco field to look
among the leaves for the peculiar green
worm which loves the weed almost as much
as man, and slaughter that animal, lest he
eat up the profit on the crop.
After the tobacco is cut and properly
dried, it is packed in hogsheads and
brought to Richmond. First it is elevated
to an upper story in the manufacturing es-
tablishment, then placed in a room as near
air-tighr as possible, and given a steam
bath until it is soft, moist and altogether
pliable. Ii is then taken from the bath,
placed in piles on the floor, in large room,
and covered with blankets until the
''stemmers" are ready for it, The ''stem-
mers" are women aud children, almost in
variably negroes, Qor our African fellow
citizens naturally take to tobaccol and
their business is to ''stem" the leaves
that is, take the stems ont. The leaves
are then tied in small bundles with stem
and thrown to one side.
Of course, all the stems cannot be used
for wrappers, and the surplus is shipped to
Bremen, where they are ground into snuff
to be clipped" by Southern ladies', and
snuffed up into the nostrils Of nervous
gentlemen and old women.
The "stemmers, like cotton pickers,
are paid according to the amount they ac-
complish. Fifteen-year old boys and girls,
for instance make from three TO six dol
lars week older hands more
The bundles Of stemmed leaves are hung
in the large and airy drying-room until
dry They are then ready for the appli-
cation of syrup and licorice, which gives
sweetness and flavor to the ced not pos
sessed in its natural state. This mixture
of syrup and licorice is prepared i'll large
iron kettle, over fire, and kept at boiling
heat. Into this the bundles ara dipped as
they are brought from the drying-room,
the heat causing the pores of the leaf to
expand, and the sweet, but not altogether
clear-looking syrup, penetrating every
| fiber
The bundles, all sweet and dripping, are
then carried out on the roof of the factory
to enjoy the sunlight and dry themselves.
The sun is altogether the best drying ap-
paratus that can be used. In addition to
drying the tobacco. it imparts sweetness
which nothing else will After the sun
bath, the bundles are taken into another
and better drying-room, where the tenn
perature is kept at 80 degrees during the
day, and run up to 12O at night This
dries the tobacco thoroughly, and the next
application is that Of the best New Eng
land rum, together with several favoring
extracts.
After the RUNNING and flavoring, the
weed is piled on the floor, covered with
horse blankets, and patiently awaits the
coming Of the Jumpers and twisters, as
the next round of operations is styled
The Jumpers and twisters take it to the
twist room" and lump it and twist it.
A ''twister" grabs handful of leaves and
rapidly molds them into shape, tying them
with q green leaf in punches weighing
about half a pound each. The twisters
make more money, perhaps, than any
other class of hands connected with the
factory, their wages averaging twelve ano
sixteen dollars a week
The twisted Jumps next go int the mt
ting cases, iron compartments, which they
exactly fit and fill up. In these they ar
pressed until they resemble the finished
plug, although the pressing process is no
through with. Another set Of presses re
ceive them, and they are again pressed
until they are hard plugs. and ready TO
package and sale.
This is the last you see of the Tobacco
until opened by tie retailers in distant re
gions, and peddled out to their cleanly
mouthed customers.
As rule visitors are not welcomed
the Richmond tobacco factories. tn
more a man sees of the method of mani
facture, the less Of the weed he will cor
sumo, and the demand will fall of accor'
ingly.