Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-26
CIGARS FOR A SONG,
You Can Euy Good Ones for a Penny
Each in Eastern Pennsylvania.
MKINLEY DOOMED THE SECTION.
The Quality Of the I eaf Improved and the
Acreage Increased.
A TEN CENT SMOKE Is A NOVELTY

Nearly every male citizen from the age of
II upward smokes-not cigarettes or pipes,
but cigars, and mighty good cigars at that.
At all cigar stores in a score of bustling
towns and cities throughout this region can
be seen marvellous displays of good and
cheap cigars, attractively arranged in the
showcases, and known as ''twofers'' and
''threefers," selling at 2 for cents and 8
for 8, besides most alluring exhibits of
straight "5' and some few boxes of gilt
edged 40" in a remote corner. Very few
of the latter are sold, and these only 10 local
nabobs, who happen to have more money
than they need
The 'twofers" and 'threefers" are supe-
rior in quality to the ordinary 5-cent cigar
sold in thousands of saloons and corner gro-
ceres in Pittsburg and Philadelphia, and
the ''fves" as rule are fully equal to the
10-cent cigar sold in most cities The
cheapest of these cigars are made from good
homegrown tobacco, while the ''fives" are
made mostly of imported stock, either clear
or mixed with domestic filler. In any of
these Eastern counties one can buy, direct
from the manufacturer, for So 80 per 100
fine, fragrant, handmade cigars, all Havana
filler and Sumatra wrapper, which else
where would retail at 10 cents apiece.
Farmers Make Their Own Cigars.
There is no revenue law now to prevent
tobacco farmer from making cigars free of
tax for his own personal consumption, as
cigar-makers habitually do in factories, and
this is one of the reasons why the use of the
fragrant weed has lately become SO popular
with the farmers as well as all other classes
ofpeople hereabout
The other reasons for the abundance,
cheapness, superiority and popularity of
East Pennsylvania cigars are that the to-
bacco is raised here, made up into cigars
here and sold here forthwith without going
to any great extent through the hands of
middlemen. The rich soil of Lancaster.
York, Dauphin, Lebanon and Berks coun-
ties is admirably adapted to the production
OF fine tobacco leaf; expert and dexterou
cigar makers are to be found in every vii |
lage and town and in nearly every farm |
house in the region; and the retail dealers |
are content with a small margin of profit |
because they are assured of steady and |
continuous business.
The keystone State raises more tobacco |
product ia of as fine quality as that grown |
anywhere in North America. The county |
OF Lancaster alone raises more tobacco than ]
any other county in any other State.
Tobacco for All Purposes.
The Pennsylvania leaf is used not only !,
for filters and binders but for wrappers as |
well Heretofore the Connecticut leaf has /
been deemed the best domestic wrapper, |
but the quality of the Pennsylvania leaf is
rapidly coming up with it Next to the
States of Pennsylvania, and Connecticut are
Wisconsin, Ohio and New York
in the production of domestic
ed hereabout for wrappers, now brings so |
and 60 cents per pound, whereas a few years
ago only 20 and 25 was received for it In
addition to raising the largest acreage of
leaf, this region has of late become one of
the largest centers In the production of
manufactured cigars. The city of Bing-
hamton, \. Y, was formerly the greatest
inland cigar making town in the United
States, but now the palm must be accorded
to the city of Reading. The Collector of
Internal Revenue for the First Pennsylva-
mia district estimates that los, 000 600 cigars
will be made this year by the ITO cigar fac
tories of this city-the greatest production
on record, and that over 600, 900, 600 cigars
will be made in the entire district, which
comprises the counties of Philadelphia,
Montgomery, Bucks, Berks. Chester, Le-
high, Schuylkill and Northampton. In the
whole State of Pennsylvania ], 500, ,000, 900
were made in the year 1891.
The Effect of the Mckinley Law.
Owing to the impetus given to it by the
Mckinley bill the tobacco industry of the
Eastern counties has grown exceedingly
profitable, and within the last two years
the growers, makers and dealers have made
a more specific study of all its ramifcations
than ever before. The results have been a
revelation. The acreage of tobacco
has been greatly increased, prices
have risen rapidly and appreciably while
the price paid by the cigar smoker has re-
manned substantially the same, and in the
lower grades of cigars diminished consider
ably. As yet little or no smoking tobacco
is manufactured hereabouts, chiefly for the
reason that manufacturers have not turned
their attention to it, or to the production of
chewing tobacco, confning themselves al
most exclusively to cigars
All through the tobacco counties of York,
Adams, Dauphin, Lebanon, Berks and Le-
high, the farming population are mainly
descendants of German peasants and con-
stitute the thrifty and intelligent class
known as 'Pennsylvania Dutch" Here
the curious spectacle is seen in tobacco-cut-
ting time, of women working in the fields
as they do in Continental Europe, equipped {
with heavy shoes and sunbonnets, and their
dresses and gowns caught up to their knees
to promote freedom of movement
Doing the Indian Act.
Usually the farmer and his male help
stand about assisting incidentally in the
work Of gathering in the crop, or supervis-
ing the details, without performing much
personal labor themselves This is called
doing the Indian act." Likewise in the
care of the crop while growing, much of the
preliminary work is done by the women and
children. From the time the seed is planted
in May until the crop is housed in Septem-
Der, the crop needs constant care and watch
fulness. But the crop is highly remunera-
tive, thanks to the benefcent effect of the
Mckinley tariff on imported tobaccos, and
the farmers, who have just housed good
crop, are now rejoicing over the prospect of
assured prices that will more than compen-
safe them for all their trouble.
Another unique feature of the Pennsyl-
vania tobacco and cigar industry is that
since the petty exactions of the internal
revenue laws attending the sale of leaf were
wiped out by the Mckinley act, cigar max
ing is no longer confined to capitalists and
large factories, but has become popularized
and domesticated in the homes of thousands
IF families
Henry Clays at Penny Each.
During the long winter evenings in Lam
caster and Lebanon counties, for instance,
he young folk of the community-farmers'
IONS and daughters and boys and girls in
'mall towns-utilize their time by making 1,
cigars No tax is collected upon these a
'lgars unless they are sold or disposed of to ].
eglstered manufacturers The employ n
nent OF these "non-professionai' hands, as