The suburban citizen., 1901-08-03
IT'S CHEWING GUM TINE
THE SALES ENORMOUSLY INCREASE
as. IN WARM WEATHER.

ana the sales OF the various chewing
gum companies have bounded upward
Holiday makers include chewing gum
In their festive equipment. Bicycllsts
are abroad in the summerland, and
the bicyclist is your gum chewer ex-
traordinary. Then, too, there is a Sc
riOus and scientific justification for
gum chewing In warm wealth, though
It is to be doubted whether many NOR.
tails chew in order to fulfil a duty to-
ward their physical mechanism. The
chewing Of gum in hot weather ex-
cites the saliva, moistens the throat
and relieves thirst Natives of tropi-
cal countries know this and often
chew pure chicle, which is the basis
of all good chewing gum, or even rub
ber while working in the heat Chew
Ing gum is often recommended for sol
diers' use on long marches, and last
summer officers in the Philippines re-
ported that the gum habit was of
great benefit to the men, because it
lessened their drinking and enabled
them to go without water longer than
possible under other circumstances.
SO hot weather and chewing gum are
affinities. Nevertheless the sales of
gum at any time OF the year are tre-
mendous. Even a statement Of them
is enough to appeal to the imagination
of the individual chewer and make
his jaws ache. Within recent years
a number of the most successful chew
ing gum companies have consolidated
and now most Of the best brands Of
gum are manufactured and controlled
by one large company. This one COM
pany sells on an average 135,000,0O0
packages of chewing gum every year,
and the sales are constantly increas-
ing
When to these 1350O0,00O packages
of good gum one adds the tremendous
quantity of cheap and inferior gum
that is in the market the sum total
wakens a feeling Of awe in the breast
Of the investigator About 100000
pounds Of chcle is imported by the
United states yearly and, though chi
Gle is the fundamental principle of
chewing gum, 1t is mixed in manufac
AulG win many Alll0p lbo WNA5hb VI
sugar, paste, essential oils, etc, so that
the 100000 pounds is but small
fraction of the weight of the chewing
gum manufactured in the United
States each year,
This tremendous demand has grown
up within comparatively few years.
The chewing gum industry did not be- |
gin to assume much importance until !
about fifteen years ago. but after it |
got start it struck surprising pace. |
It's first great impetus came with the |
discovery of the possibilities of chicle |
as a basis for the gum, Before that |
chewing gum was made, but it was poor |
and unsatisfactory in quality, the old
fashioned spruce gum being perhaps !
the best of the assortment.
A New York man with an eye op0n
to good things went down to Mexico
and met some other men who dreamed |
about getting rich in quick fashion.
Later these friends heard Of chicle
gum and believed that they had
dreamed true-not that they had a
nightmare vision of 135,000,0O0 pack
ages of chewing gum. They weren't
really dreamers OF the first magnitude.
That was reserved for the New York
man. But the men in Mexico believed
that chlcle at few cents pound
could be prohtably used for the adul-
teration of rubber.
They sent a consignment of chicle
to their New York friend. He wished
they hadn't. He tried the rubber idea
and found nothing doing. Just as he
had about decided to throw away the
rest of the stuff he had an inspiration.
The very qualities that spoiled chicle
fer rubber might fit it for gum. He
boiled some of the chicle, cut it into
sticks and originated the old-time New
York swapping gum. Il was pure Chi
Gle with no sweetening and no flavor.
Chewing it was a good deal Ike being
to hard labor, but It sold
like hot cakes. The demand ran far
in advance Of the supply, and from
that small beginning the present great
Industry was evolved.
Chicle was used for various things
long before it's chewing gum apotheo-
sis. 1t is said that mention was made
Of it In New World reports in the time
Of Ferdinand and Isabella. However, ,
It's use was purely local, and the Amer
lean demand for it has fairly revolu-
-ionlzed the districts from which it
comes. So far, it has been found only
N Yucatan, and the entire supply is
shipped from the various ports along
he Yucatan coasts. Its name is Mex
can for the Acbras sapole, the tree
rom which 1t is procured. /
These trees are found only in the in p.
erior, and the work of Obtaining the
rum and transporting 1t to the nearest
shipping point has always been trou-
,lesome, though it has been much sim
lifted in recent years. There are many l
firms in the Yucatan coast b
owns, many of them under the man Ii
cement of Northern men. Mexican I
icons are taken into the interior and t
york for a five months season, at s
wages ridlculOusly small. The pay Il
>, however, fairly well propOrtloned to h
he quality Of the work, and the wear v
nd tear Of handling che wOrkmen, II
yln ara q bnna1aec N vNwnpnefffOV | 4.