Daily camera., 1898-12-07
CIGARS OF MANILA.
Now Much Better Than Americans
Used to Smoke.
Some Interesting Particulars of the
Tobacco Business in the Phil
ippines-The Work and
Wages.

Cigars and cigarettes are remarkably
cheap even in the face of the economic
conditions that exist in the east. The
cheapest cigars are sold for ten dol
lars per LOCO, and the most expensive
for 500 per 1000. Reduce that to
gold basis. and you find yourself won
dering how they can be made for the
money. The cigarettes are even cheap
er The cheaper grades retail for IL
and 2h cents Mexican per package OF
"a and 80 cigarettes. and the grades in
most common use sell at the factories
for $50 Mexican, or $3.50 gold. per 1000
packages of "a and 80 cigarettes each
The best cigars can be bought at lat
the cigar stands for five and ten cents
Mexican. and it is recorded that in the
days of the monopoly very fair cigar
as Manila cigars go. could be bought
for one and two cents Mexican. The
genuine Manila cigar of to-day is not
known in the United States. and if
ever it finds it way there it will at
once spring into immense popularity.
The old Manila cigar, short and stubby,
or the cone-shaped, is rapidly passing,
and in it's place modern cigars are be-
ing made. All of the modern shapes in
vogue in Europe and America have been
introduced since the monopoly ceased
to exist, and anything that pleases the
fancy may be had at the kiosks of Ma
Mia. The modern cigar. made of the
best Cagayan or Isabel tobacco. is not
as good as the Cuban product, but it
will bear comparison with it. and is GER
tainly the superior of scores of domes-
tic brands sold in the United States.
The tobacco is milder. and there is no
flavoring introduced into it nor any
chemical processes resorted to in treat
ing it,
There are $4,000 Americans in Ma
Mia now. and they take very kindly to
the better grades of Manila cigars, and
freely predict a revolution in the cigar
industry in the United States in the
event of the annexation of Luzon or
the Philippine group. The cigarettes
are also made of pure tobacco. The en-
tire industry has suffered on account of
the inferior grades that are shipped
from here. and Manila cigars have been
unfairly condemned.
The average small native planter
grows no more tobacco and does no
more work than is absolutely necessary
to earn living, He plants in Novem
Der and garners in March. and in the
interim raises what maize he needs for
his house and farm. He has no other
cares. and borrows none. He pockets
the market price when the buyer ar
rives, and it keeps him until he comes
again. He has to sort his leaves into
five sizes and bundle them into manos
each of which contains 100 leaves and
there end his troubles There are
eight large. and between so and 100
small factories in Manila and the for
mer employ from 400 to 1000 opeara-
tives each. In the manufacture of the
better grades Of cigars men and boys
are employed almost exclusively. while
on the cheaper cigars and cigarettes
women are most generally employed.
The former are, as rule paid on the
piece system while the latter are often
contracted for in gangs and answer
to their employers only through sub
contractors. Wages vary. not only as
to the grade of the cigars made, but
as to the skill of the operatives. and
there is wide range in pay. Expert
cigarmakers in the large factories can
earn one dollar Mexican. or As cents
on the gold basis. but the average is
nearer to Is cents Mexican and among
the children and less expert operatives
wages ranges down to 20 and 80 cents
Mexican per day.-Manila Cor. Chicago
Inter Ocean.