The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1893-09-23


Previous to the present century fine
cut chewing tobacco was unknown, and
all chewing tobacco was in the plug or
twist; the leaf was made up nearly IN a
natural state, very little foreign matter OF
any description being used. The first
sweetened plug i'll the country was made
~ Baltimore by man named Patterson,
seventy years ago. and he for many years
managed 10 keep the formula a pro-
found secret, until one day sailor. cut
ing of q suitable piece from his plug
with his jack knife, struck & piece of lico-
rice and The secret was exposed. Sweet
ening caught on To the public taste. and
even farmers fell into line with their
hoine-nade plGg, making it by an inge-
NOUS method which, TWO years ago, was
seen III operation in the Mississippi
alley. log about twelve or eighteen
inches in diameter was secured. and in
this the farmer would bore with an auger
a dozen or more holes, according to the
length, using Bit OF an inch or more
in diameter. Into these holes he would
press, with q hammer OF wood, little to-
Dacco, then little honey or maple syrup,
then more leaf and more sweetening
until the holes were tilled. Then he
would plug each one with piece OF
wood. and at intervals of week, roll the
log slightly around so as 10 give the
tobacco from all sides. Then he would
split the log down the center with a
wedge and his plug would fall out ready
Tor use, and not bad chewing by any
means.
About 1880 appeared the first fne-cut
chewing, and il is difficult to say which
OF six firms originated it. 1t doomed III
an unprecedented manner, made fortunes
and totally upset all previous records and
methods OF business. This, however,
was an unsweetened chew, made first OF
Virginia and later of dark Kentucky,
and the popularity it reached III the East
was undoubtedly due to the fact 1t could
be procured fresh from the factory, as
alter keeping little time it became dry
and very pungent. To remedy this
drying-out sweetening was added and
tiavoring substances, but west OF the
New England States it could never be
doomed into popularity.
The stories surrounding the chewing of
tobacco are many and amusing, for most
of our famous men in the past have been
devotees OF the toothsome ''cud." The
Rev. II. s. Tiffany, ID. D., tells story OF
how he was once at conference in Phil
adelphia, stopping with Rev Mr. Muir
ply, and knowing that as his host did
not use tobacco in any form, he would
not be able TO smoke in the house, he
went and bought some chewing tobacco.
Bishop Scott called next morning and
they started out for the church, DIR. Iii-
fanny taking the precautiOn before leaving
the house to secrete a gOod-sized "cud'
in his cheek. They had not gone far
when the Bishop suddenly seized his
arm, swung him around, and said in an
awful voice: Young man l am shocked!
Here are you on your way to the house OF
God with your mouth full of tobacco"
lF1f
and went on: You have now in your
mouth twice as much as any man ought
TO chew at one time, and towering his
voice. here l am perishing for little"
DR.. Tiffany says the alacrity with which
some was furnished to the hungry Bishop
is better imagined than described.
Henry Watterson is another great de-
voice Of the "cud." A story is told of his
going to a hotel. and when the waiter
came around him, he gravely asked for
"a kentucky break FAST" The cOIored
gentleman was nonplussed, sought the
head waiter, and the chief, but get nc en-
lightment, and so III fear and trembling
had to go empty handed back to the guest,
who informed him that any man IN his
senses knew that Il kentucky breakfast
was Two bites of tobocco and drink OF
whisky.u Colonel Bob Ingersoll is
another man who thoroughly believes in
mote good viii and comfort. He cheWS
necessarily around the house, and says
that tobacco is the greatest ciyilizer in
the world. He says; SHOW me savage
lazy, naked and dirty, and [ will reform
him in short time. / Will give him a
piece of tobacco, and tell him ii he wants
more he must work for it. His jaws Will
have scarcely rolled it over once before he
viii be looking around for a JOB, and he
ho ri nj nj irl V
decent by the same persuasion, but he
Will steal-tobacco when he gets a
chance"
Not long since at Youngstown, Ohio. a
man named Washington LOVeleSS sought
a divorce from his wife because he could
not persuade her to quit chewing tobacco.
She had chewed from 3 years old, and
was then %; she preferred tine cut, and
said that when she married her husband
he had chewed also, but that some crank
had reformed him, and in consequence
he had taken TO drink" The Judge dis
missed the case, and they left the court
room arm in arm.
Some years ago mushroom million
aire who was great chewer OF tobacco
wanted a coat of arms, crest and motto,
for his carriage, ETC., and applied to a
well-known literary man for an idea.
s'Ouid rides was suggested which
y
and diamond rampant representing
the plug was to be the crest. 1t was put
into use, and for months he never found
out why his educated friends wore a
broad smile. When he did there was
war;
1t is not generally known that the prac-
tice of chewing tobacco is the cause of a
great deal of trouble and annoyance to
people using the telephone. When a
man with a cud in his mouth talks over
the wire his voice sounds squeezed, as if
words were spoken through quill, and
so are barely distinguishable. Any one
noticing this fact should, in future, re-
Quest the speaker to take his ''cud'' out
and they will astonish him, and get bet
ter results. A heavy mustache will
often have similar effect, and when the
two are combined the result is chaos!
One of the most powerful arguments in
favor of the practice OF chewing is found
in the case of Peter Coulter of Russia
vile, Ind, who is acknowledged to have
been actually kept alive by chewing for
over seventy years, and who, at last hear
ing, was bale and hearty at the age of 81.
When a boy he had fever which left a
dangerous sore in his side, and after trying
all remedies to heal it, his doctor, an old
man, said: TRY using tobacco" He
commenced smoking, but the sore still
spread; then he tried chewing, being then
only IA years of age. The sore soon be-
gan to heal from the outer edges, and
finally closed up, and at the solicitation
of friends he quit chewing for some
months with the result of the sore break
ing out again. Twice he tried this with
the same result, and finally settled down
to chewing as steady occupation for his
leisure moments, and so became a firm
believer IN tho efficacy of tobacco as
chewed, over tobacco as smoked.
1t is not generally known that under
old colonial laws tobacco is still a legal
tender in Washington. It would doubt
less create fun to some day pay the sala-
ries of the members of Congress in long
F,,,+ fttro ConotOrc ~ T,o Hupt,II FOL