The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-06-03
From the New York Commercial.

N N oxidized carbohydrate contain \PV ing a little rosin-thats all.
 Otherwise, chicle; which is to say. chewing gum. Until 1897 the word chicle was known only to the trade and to few other persons. In the summer of that year. the Dingley tariff bill being under discussion in congress, some states man conceived the notion that the chew ing gum manufacturers might reasonably be expected to pay tribute to the govern ment in the form of tariff duties, and that led to some inquiries as to the mate rials entering into the product Of the gum factories And so 1t was that in a way. chicie was "discovered by the sen- ate of the United States.
 The dignifed senate was simply amazed by it's discovery. for it was found that in 1s95-two years before-the chewing gum manufacturers of the United States had imported about 100000 pounds Of chicle. The senators on the finance committee immediately decided to assess duty or 10 cents a pound on it. That was done
 The theory was not one or protecuoh to home industries, for no chicle is pro-
 duced in the United States; but 1t was
 argued that chewing gum, like diamonds
 and St. Gall laces, Is a luxury and not necessity; therefore, let 1t be taxed! The result is that last year the collector of customs at the port of New York col
 lected more than s4OO,ooo in duties on
 chicle.
 Yet nine persons out of ten never heard of chicle. (Ask the next person you meet what chicle is) Chicle is the dried milky juice of the Bully tree, and is native of a comparatively narrow belt lying be- tween Mexico and Guiana. The word does not appear in Webster's Dictionary and the larger encyclopedias barely mem
 tion 1t.
 In physical properties, chicle is midway between india rubber in its natural state and gutta percha. In England, where the chewing gum habit Is not generally char acteristic of both the high and the lowly as 1t is in this country, chicle is used as an adulterant of and substitute for gutta percha Probably some of the golf balls
 in England are made partly Of chewing
 gum When bleached, chicle IS very
 white but it Is not thoroughly bleacheo
 in the manufacture of the several brands
 of "pepsin' gum in this country.
 The tariff on chicle Is equivalent 10 an
 ad valorem duty of from 40 to @ per
 cent, according to the market price,
 which fuctuates more or less. Nearly all
 of our chicle comes from Mexico
 It is for the statistical fanatic to
 reckon how many chews of gum there
 are in the great bulk of chicle annually
 imported into the United States and the
 figures will prove as interesting, in a
 way. as the statistics of tea and coffee
 and whiskey drinking. Roughly estimat- ed. the probability is that the chewing gum bill. of the people of the United States Is not less than s3000,000 a year; but these figures, which certainly are not an exaggeration. are subject to cor rection by the chewing gum trust for the trust" alone knows.
 At any rate. the importation of chicle into the United States last year amount ed to 4,2S2,2E pounds, valued at a little less than s1.0oo.ooO The duty on this would raise the total cost of the raw material, exclusive of freight, to nearly | s1. 500.000- Allowing a liberal outlay for | the other ingredients entering into the manufacture of chewing gum. and