The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1898-12-19
MANILA CIGARS.
They Arc Of Good Quality and Are
Highly Esteemed by the
Americans.

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 1000, and the most expensive
for $500 per 1000. Reduce that to a
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 III
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 boughtatretailat
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 60, 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
nila. 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
favoring introduced into it nor any
chemical processes resorted to in treat
ing it.
There are $4,000 Americans in Ma
nila now. and they take very kindly to
the eNbetter grades of Manila cigars, and
freely predict 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
condemned.
The average small native planter
grows no more tobacco and does no
more work than is absolutely necessary
10 earn living. He plants in Novem-
Der and gamers 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
he market price when the buyer ar
ives, and it keeps him until he comes
lgain. He has to sort his leaves into
i've sizes and bundle them into manos,
each of which contains 100 leaves, and
here end his troubles. There are
light large, and between so and 100
mall factories in Manila, and the for
ner employ from 400 to 1000 opeara-
ives each. In the manufacture of the
'etter grades of cigars men and boys
ire employed almost exclusively, while
IN the cheaper cigars and cigarettes
women are most generally employed.
The former are, as rule, paid on the
'iece system, while the latter are often
ontracted for in gangs, and answer
o their employers only through sub
ontractors. Wages vary, not only as
o the grade of the cigars made, but
S to the skill of the operatives, and
here is wide range in pay. Expert
igarmakers in the large factories can
arm one dollar Mexican, or As cents
N the gold basis, but the average is
carer to rs cents Mexican, and among
ne children and less expert operatives
wages ranges down to 20 and 30 cents
fexlcaan per day.-Manila Cor. Chicago
nter Ocean.