St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-22
THE GUM We CHEW.
What Composes the Wads Be-
tween so Many st. Paul
Jaws.
Dealers Say the Chewing
Habit Is Really a Diges-
tive Aid.
The Foundation Of the Gum
Is an Emulation Of Trop-
zeal Trees.
Pure Sugar SWeetens and
Popular Extracts Give the
Flavor.

The refined and graceful art of chew
ing gum has required great many
years to bring it up to its present high
state of development. Enthusiasts con-
tend that gum chewing is alluded to
Gin cipher in the works of Homer, He
rodotus, Pliny, Confucius and upon
some of the Egyptian pyramids. The
habit could not have been very widely
prevalent in the colonial days
of America, because there is
no enactment against it among
the blue laws. For many years
tobacco chewing initiated against
gum chewing-among the sterner sex
partieularly--but a great many people
will be surprised to learn that tobacco
is gradually losing ground as a chewine.
and gum is gaining. Herbert Spencer
and other close observers have pointed
out that it is just as natural
for the genus homo to chew as
it is for that near neighbOr,
the porclne Quadruped. The propen-
sity universal of infantile humanity to
masticate the toes of their slippers, ETC.,
is sufficient argument, If argument is
needed. Oliver Wendell Holmes tells
us that the philosophy of eating roll
is in the chewing. There is no delight
in it unless there be sufficient crust to
give the jaws, with their immense
strength. something to do. The woman
with the iron jaw was great gum
chewer, as was her mother before her.
All people cannot hope in single gen
Grafton to develop jaws of iron, but all
may be benefited by judicious gum
chewing. The human anatomy is now
so generally understood that it needs no
argument to prove that the neglect to
use member will result in paralyz-
ing its functions. Tie one arm
strength will leave it. The teeth
culatiOn of blood and nerve force,
which is superinduced by proper eX-
ercise Of the lower jaw. Nature intends
that a certain quantity Of saliva shall
accompany the food to the stomach.
The coffee drinking habit, of course,
dispenseS with the need of saliva as
LUBRICAToR FOR THE THROAT.
but it does not act as substitute in the
process of digestion. Gum chewing,
therefore, for an hour after every meal
will be found to be beneficial in a great
number of cases where the digestion has
been impaired by wrong living. This
is the testimony of many prominent
dentists and physicians. Children born
Of early settlers upon the unbroken
prairies of the great West can
remember how they procured their
chewing supply by gamboiing
from flower to flower, gather
ing drops of coagulated sap from the
lofty gum weeds, little by little. as bees
gather honey. But all the luscious
fruitage when the cleaning was over!
A pOnderous chunk Of perfect mastI-
eating material, white as wax, and with
an Incompatible flavor, suggesting the
rarest of scents. new-mown hay! The
present revival of gum-chewing began
in 1882, and it is one Of the booms
that have shown no sign of
decay. Formerly the East set the
fashion in gum chewing, now the prac-
tlee is almost extinct in the East, and
the West and South have been drawn
together In vast gum-chewlng COM
bination, working Independently OF all
established presidents. The paratflne,
or mineral wax, coal product, so pOpu-
lar couple of decades since, has passed
out of use and has been succeeded by a
series OF gums, all of which have for a
base a rubber-like substance which is
the emulation of tropical tree found
chiefly in Mexico. This gum is
shipped to the United States solely for
use in the manufacture of chewing
gums. This industry is secret, though
not much of secret. The principal
component of all the popular brands of
chewing gum now in the market is
PURE WHITE SUGAR,
All the new gums are highly favored,
some with chocolate, some with vanilla.
others with peppermint. Vanilla, al
though a popular flavor, cannot be used
in chewing. gum successfully, because
it does not last. Peppermint is cheaper
and more lasting, though even this
familiar aromatic is not exempt from
fraud. The gummaker who desires
that all his material shall be pure has to
contend with the practice of adulterating
peppermint. The active principle of
peppermint Is menthol. This is very
valuable for making Chinese" menthol
pencils; it is extracted for that purpose,
and the deficiency is supplied with oil
of fieabane. Then again, care is not
used in distilling peppermint, and bit
ter weeds are permitted to go through
the process with the mint, which spoils
the extract. The general public has a
false impression regarding the gum
business; many suppose that it is
something small in itself, but with
immense profits to the maker
in proportion to the expense of produc-
ton. 1t is alleged by gentlemen who
have had lifelong experience in the
''gum game" that the con trary is
the truth. The question as to whether
achild may swallow bit of chewing gum
without injury was asked st. Paul
manufacturer yesterday. He replied
that the three best brands, '"Tutti:
Frutti," "Yucatan" and Honolulu
are absolutely harmless, not be-
cause of their digestibility, for they
are absolutely indigestible, but they
yield to the warmth of the stomach,
mingle easily with the food and pass
away without the slightest trouble.
The chewing gum of st. Paul manufac-
ture sells well in st. Paul, though it
has been more difficult to introduce
here than farther west-this despite the
boasts of the chamber of commerce that
our home industries are and shall be
sustained. The first shipment of chew
ing gum of st. Paul MAKE to San Fran
cisco was made yesterday.