The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-02
6,5OO,OO0 USE SNUFF.
CHIEF CONSUMERS ARE IN NEW
 ENGLAND

Well.
 For the fiscal year ending July 1, 1901 x revenue tax was paid on snuff consum- < ed in the United States to the extent < of 16,691, 900 pounds. For the fiscal year X of 1900 consumption was 14,917 ,000. This x shows an increase in production of L. 774,000 pounds.
 Some idea of what this means may
 be gained when 1t is learned that snuff < comes generally in one ounce packages.
 An ounce is sufficient, used in the or A d1nary way, to last a snuff taker a agWeek. In the course of a year, there
 fore. he will use only little over three z pounds, so that the consumption of 16, Z bsl,0OO pounds annually means that there are 5,bO0,O00 people in the United \ states who use tobacco in this form
 Fully 75 per cent. of all the snuff
 used In the United States is sold south \ Of Mason and Dixon's line a fact
 which means to the initiated that it is used not as the average person would W imagine, as a snuff for the nostris but Mn snuff dipping and chewing, The ~ other 25 per cent. of the sale is scat
 tered all over the country, though a
 large proportion of it is confined to the Z rlAnufacturering districts of New Eng
 Hand and around the great chain of 1! lakes.
 A feature of the snuff traffic that has lately caused considerable comment is Its use by mill opera tives in the Eastern
 cities and towns. In Fall River, 4 RProvidence, Holyoke and other points X where the majority of the employees are women there has been quite an 'outcry
 against the habit of snuff chewing,
 Which Is denominated as both disgust Y ing and harmful. Most people, If their attention is ever called to the use of
 enuff at all, recall the dainty flop of
 pAHt centuries with his befrilled sleeves
 md his extravagant yet graceful ges- lures, so charmingly brought back to
 lie for our deiectation by Richard \ Mansfield in Beau Brummel." Ssst But modern snuff taking as exempli- ! lied in the South and among the work
 CTS in the cotton mills is an entirely Adifferent matter. The ordinary man or < woman of cleanly habits cannot regard \ my feature of it but with feelings of lyepugnance.
 There are four methods of using Senun adopted by the working women AAnd girls in this country. They are
 dipping, rubbing, chewing and securing. Dipping is practiced mostly in the feOuth, while New England and the Mid- Adle States claim the greatest number AOf votaries of the rubbing habit. Chew
 Ing Is a custom that only the unso- AphiSticated and the amateur indulge in, : while securing is also in great vogue tn the Eastern states. The dipping Spr0cess is very simple. By means of a 2niece of card or paper pinch of snuff Its taken from the can or package and dipped into the mouth, to find a lodg- Ing place between the lower lip and the 5EiltFs Here it is manipulated into ahhll and allowed to rest in it's place until It's strength has been entirely ex- StrAoted, when it is elected.
 x Rubbing consists of the dipping, with | the addition by the manipulator of a | 1chewing process, which helps to extract | the strength and flavor from the ball | sooner than the dipping alone. Scour- Ing Is the method most in use in these 'Ggilla, where cotton waste is easily ob- ltainAble. The mill girl or woman takes Il small quantity of the material, mois-
  Peppermint or other favored essence purchased at drug store. The damp waste Is then dipped into the snuff and the mess rubbed along the lower teeth and gums before it is rolled into ball md allowed to rest in the usual shelter ed nook, between the lips and gums.
 In different sections of New England the choice of fiavors vary. Sometimes e. Q- | ing, and then the habitual users of that particular kind are satisfied to dispense with their own essences. Spirits of cam phor, oil of wintergreen and oil of pep permint are all popular, and then the Aavpring Is incorporated into the mass and sold at the same price as its con- sumption increases.
 The use of favored snuff is said to be confined largely to women, as men addicted to the habit-and they are few -rprefer the stronger varieties. Those who are fighting the practice in New England are strong in their condemna- ton of the effects of the snuff used in this way on the health of the female operatives. They say that it's use dulls the senses of the victim almost as com pletely as would opium or other narcot- |c. If this be true it is cheap form of dissipation, for cents worth of snuff Is generally enough to last for several lays. Tt is stated that some of the mill girls ire such slaves to the habit that it is ; no uncommon thing for them to sleep | III night with a. ball of snuff in their mouths, and in some of the New Eng and towns the druggists or tobacco ( leaders who keep full supplies on hand I lge not surprised to find, on opening heir places of business in the morning, women who have been waiting patient 7 v for them perhaps for hours, in order ' Q purchase a fresh supply. Even the a igarette and the chloral fiends are not o nore eager to renew their practices. 2 That the habit is gradually finding T ts way into the mills and the factories Il # New York state and into the rope [ walks and other manufacturing plants f Brooklyn and New York city, where fl v0men employees are in the majority, is D aid to be an assured fact. Where the t ractice is not of long standing, how II yer, as it is in New England and the u outl, the devotees have the good grace Il Q be ashamed of the habit and they b ake their supplies oehind closed doors. d LJx rfr,,x al ! n