St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-10-14

and figures were given in the GLOBE to
prove the truth of the assertion that st.
Paul was one of the great centers of the
boot and shoe manufacture in this coun-
try. There were some who would have
enjoyed the privilege of denying the
statements made in that article, but the
figures there presented were too1much
for them, and they gave up the idea.
This morning another of the great in
dustries of st. Paul will have its growth
and development described. Like the
boot and shoe industry, 1t is prosperous
In the highest degree, and Is yearly in
creasing in Importance. 1t is the manu-
facture of cigars and smoking and chew
ing tobaccOs.
While Minnesota is not a tobacco
growing state at the present time, it is
a tObaccO-consuming one, and contains
q city from which nearly all the cigars
consumed in the great Northwest are
distributed. St.Paul is to-day probably
the largest igar-manufacturing center
west of the Allegheny mountains. st.
Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Davenport
and other once lively and still impor-
tant points in the cigar-manufacturing
line have all been distaIced by the COM
mercial metropolis of the Northwest in
the cigar-manufacturing line in the last
three or four years, and now very
large proportion of the cigars dIstrib-
uted from this point are made here.
ALL grades of cigars are manufactured,
except the very cheapest, for which
there is no demand in this section of the
country. The lOwest-priced cigar made
In any quantity are sold at about $50,
while the highest-priced goods of st.
Paul manufacture bring the makers
somewhere in the neighborhood Of $40
per thousand.
Growth of a Decade.
This business has been growing
steadily for about twenty years, but
most rapidly in the past ten years, like
almost every other industry in the city,
keeping pace with the growth and de-
velopment of the Northwest. At the
present time there are nearly 100 cigar
factories in the city, some being among
the largest employers of labor within
her borders. The following table shows
the growth of this industry in the last
ten years:
No. No. Value of
fac hands Amt p'd No. cigars manufd
tories. emp'd. i'll wages. made, product
1884, SO SS SSS 15SSSS S ss sSSSS
This table given above tells its own
story. 1t shows that st. Paul is doing
in the cigar manufacture exactly what
she is doing in every other line-maklng
the goods her wholesalers distribute
throughout all the vast region tributary
to her. 1t is only fair to remark in this
connection that by far the largest pro-
portion of the growth indicated above
has been added during the past three
years.
For long time st. Paul was handi-
capped in this industry by lack of
suitable labor, but all this is changed
now, the city having reached that point
in her growth when the particular class
of labor needed is plentiful. Another
thing worth mentioning is the fact that
there has been marked change in the
last few years in regard to the way
in which the trades are regarded
by the people. Time was, and not so
very far back either, when there was a
decided aversion on the part of parents
to allowing their sons to learn honest,
useful and valuable trades. This feel
ing happily no longer exists. and the
people are now glad to have their chill
dren taught trade like cigar-making,
that is both lucrative and permanent.
st. Paul cigars are sold all over the
Northwest. There is q ready demand
for them wherever they have been ir-
troduced, and it is the experience of the
large factories that the demand in
creases much more rapidly than they
can increase their facilities. Three
years ago one of the factories COM
menced business. Thirty hands were en-
ployed the first year and 100000 cigars
were turned out, of the value of $75, 900.
Fifteen thousand dollars were paid in
wages in that year. At the present
time this same factory Is giving employ
ment to over 100 hands, will make this
year over 100000 cigars, worth, on a
low estimate, 100000. The cost of the
labor for this entire year will not be far
from $4,000. When business can be
tripled in three years in dull times,
what can it do when everything is
booming and everybody is floating at
the high tide of prosperity?
One Factory Increase.
The oldest cigar mandatory now in
in operation in the city commenced
work only sixteen years ago with two
men, partners. They made frst-class
goods, which kept gaining in the esti-
nation of the public until in 1881 the
number of men in the employ OF the
firm had risen to forty. 1t is now lis.
The following table will show all the
facts connected with this growth:
No. hands Amt paid No. cigars Val. of
employed. in wages. made. cigars
1881 $3.50. 40 5000 1,5OO,OOO 10000
1891 .......115 $4,000 100000 $4,000
There are half dozen other factories
with an output of over half million
cigars year, and at least twenty give
employment TO ten hands or more, and.
aside from these. the larger institutions.
Then there are, of course, large num-
Der where the capital is small and the
business in proportion; but the grand
total is something that cannot be
equalled, much less eXcelled, in the
West.
But there is no reason why this bust
ness should not be enlarged until 1900
hands are given employment, where 900
find work now. The demand is here
and it ought to be supplied. Here is
what one of the leading manufacturers
said on this point yesterday:
Give US more cigar factories. We
will welcome them. The more there
are the better it is for those that are
here. They will bring more hep. alc