Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-09-02
IT'S CHEWING GUM TIME
THE SALES ENORMOUSLY INCREASE
IN WARM WEATHER.

covery of Chicle.
The chewing gum season has begun,
and the sales of the various chewing
gum companies have bounded upward
Holiday makers include chewing gum
in their festive equipment. Bicyclists
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 OH 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 sre
hffinities. Nevertheless the sales of
gum at any time of the year are tre-
mendous. Even statement of them
Is enough to appeal to the imagination
Of the individual chewer and make
his jaws ache. Within recent years
4 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 135,000,000
packages of chewing gum every year,
and the sales are constantly increas-
Ing.
When to these 135,o0000o packages
of good gum one adds the tremendous
quantity Of cheap and Inferior gum
that is in the market the sum total
wakens feeling of awe in the breast
Of the investigator. About 100000
pounds of chicle is imported by the
United states yearly and, though Chi
chewing gum, it is mixed in manufac-
ture with many times its weight of
sugar, paste, essential oils, etc, so that
the 100000 pounds is but a 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.
Its first great impetus came with the
discovery Of the possibilities of chicle
as q 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 open
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 q
nightmare vision of 135, 100000 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 chicle at 4 few cents 4 pound
could be profitably used for the adul-
teration CT rubber.
They sent consignment Of chiclc
to their New York friend. He wished
they hadn't. He tried the rubber idea
md 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
for rubber might fit it for gum. He
boiled some of the chicle, cut 1t into
sticks and originated the old-time New
York swapping gum. 1t was pure Chi
Gle with no sweetening and no flavor.
Chewing 1t was good deal Ike being
condemned to hard labor, but it sold
like hot cakes. The demand ran far
In advance Of the supply, and from
t,at small beginning the present great
Industry was evolved.
Chicle was used for various things
long before its chewing gum apotheo-
sis. 1t is said that mention was made
Of 1t in New World reports in the time
Of Ferdinand and Isabella However.
Its use was purely local, and the Amer
lean demand for it has fairly revolu-
tionized the districts from which it
comes. So far, it has been found only
in Yucatan, and the entire supply is
shipped from the various ports along
the Yucatan coasts. Its name is.Mex-
lean for the Achras sapole, the tree
from which it is procured.
These trees are found only in the In
terror, and the work OF Obtaining the
gum and transporting it to the nearest
shipping point has always been trou-
blesome, though it has been much sim
plifed in recent years There are many
exporting firms in the Yucatan coast
towns, many Of them under the man
agement of Northern men. Mexican
poems are taken into the interior and
work for q five months season, at
WAGES ridiculously small. The pay