Evening journal., 1892-05-28
FILLER AND WRAPPER
The Cigar Making Industry Of
Wilmington.
SUPPLY NoTEQUAL ToTHEDEMAED

"A Man Who Pays More Than Fifteen
Cents for Cigar 20 stuck Many Girls
Employed In This city A Healthfai
business The Pennsylvania Competi-
tors.
"The man who pays more than 10
cents for n cigar is stuck, said well
known cigar manufacturer and dealer
yesterday afternoon.
what makes you say thati' asked
the reporter. Because the dealer can
not put enough material or work upon
them to Justify the price. he replied, his
tongue and fingers working at the same
tlmd TIiemav buy a high-priced i'm
ported cigar, but il he pays more than 10
cents he is Simply paying for the name.
what are the plans and specifications
of two for cent cigary "lhey are
made out of short and cheap filters. The
3 cent cigar is made Of HAVANA, Spanish
mixed with Dutch, while others are made
of Florida and Spanish mixed filters.
"What is It makes another cigar see
see this one and 90 II five bettery "lhe
10 cent cigar. II is generally made Of
pure Havanna filler The 10 cent
clEil lh lht nAhit, blllN ihtIt may h'
little better goods in Il aud a little more
care exercised in making it. The men
only make from 200 Go $50 OF them in
day"
lis Wilmington a city Of smolxersg'
Yes IL is pretty good town. but the
output here is not equal to the demand.
great many of the cheap grade Pennsyl-
yania cigars are smoked in this city.
"ls the cigar making business health
fu oney" 'Yes. / think so. / have
been in it for fifteen years. have had
very good health, and during that time
have only had one friend who was in
the business die. When they do it is
from drinking too much rum or some
other cause equally natural, if not so
spiritual
How many cigar makers are there in
this cityY' About sixty men and
women, employed in the twenty odd
manufactures. About one-half of them
are girls.
do the women belong to the unionY'
YES.
How many cigars is considered a good
days work for a MANI" -Four hundred
of the cheap kind In a great many of
the big shops where the high grade goods
are made, the worl1men are only allowed
to make certain number in order to
ensure good work.
"What kind of work do the girls dor
"Not as good as the men, as n rule but
some of them are hard to beat
What is the payg" Here in town
they get from SO TO $t2 per Thousand,
according 90 the grade The girls are
paid the same as the men. but they do
not average more than 800 TO 300 a day
/ The men average 800.
How many cigars do you suppose are
made in Wilmington in week. About
/ 1OS. 600 You see we have much compe-
tition. A dealer can buy cheap cigars
from Pennsylvania for 50 to $i2 per
thousand in 10000 lots. II costs us
about $40 per thousand to manufacture
them
How can they afford TO manufacture
them at such hguresY In the first place
the labor is very cheap. A farmer will
grow his own tobacco, cure IL and put his
children to work making 10 into cigars.
He keeps his whole family at il all win
ter Some of the factories there buy up
the scrapngs of the big packing houses
and work them into cigars The work
men in those places could not live in
Wilmington at the wages they get there
They work from daybreak until 70 o'clock
NJ night / was recently in n factory up
in Lebanon. where they were only getting
So per thousand. They can't make more
than from S4to SO week TO save their
necks Many of these cheap cigars are
sold here, and it not only hurts the
smokers but it also hurts home trade.
We cigar makers spend our money here
and Wilmington smokers should patron
ize MS,
What do filters costg0 "From q
TO % cents per pound, tC
mix Havana is worth about 81 90 pei
pound. Seed wrappers cost from 40 to "a
cents per pound Sumatras are worth
from $3 to $i a pound.
How many pounds Of tobacco to th,
one thousand cigarsY' From twenty
five to thirty pounds, that is for ont
Thousand cigars ready for the box. w,
buy most of our leaf from Philadelphia
aud New York. You see a cigar Is made
in three parasitic filler, binder am,
wrapper The filler is the body o
the cigar; the binder is the inside wrap
per that holds the filler i'm place while i
Is being prepared for the mould O
manipulated by hand We use gun
arabic for FASTING the wrappers. Tn
handmade cigars IS made with long fill
ers A great many smokers think tn
hand made cigar is better than those mad
In the mould, but I don't see why
mould-made cigar, if properly worked
should not be just as good.
, Your union fixes a regular scale o
wagesg' Eyes. l don't belong TO thu
union. No boss makers need apply
There are about fifty members of III
union here
you are never bothered by strikesi
!, "No, the journeymen and bosses g
along very nicely together, because yo
see 1t is piece work.
All the time the cigarmaker was tall
4 ing he was binding. wrapping pastin.
4 rolling and clipping cigar after cigar, an
piling them up in front of him.