Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-05
100000 WORTH OF ToBAc { o sHlEs

the sea and the harbor The building Is
one of four stories and 1t consists of great
rooms running around a central court
that everything is flooded with light and
fresh air. In this factory only the choicest
tobaccos are used. Much of the wrappers
cost 50 and upwards a pound. and some of
them are almost worth their weight in
silver.
I was taken through this esta blishment by
Mr.. Townsend, formerly of Washington city
and one of the chief employees. We went
first to the basement. which was filled with
| bales of cigar leaves wrapped up in the
leaves of the royal palm. There We're sew
eral rooms filled with such bales. and I
was told that the tobacco in them was
worth at least $500 900 l watched the OPEN
ing of a bale and went with the cigar leaves
from room to room until | saw the whole
process of cigar making.
The leaves are dry when they come to the
factory. and they must be dampened be-
fore they can be used. This is done by
sprea ding them out in the court and sprink-
ling them, after which they are so soft that
they be handled without cracking or
breaking. At this time the leaves feel like
the finest silk. They of a beautiful
An Acre of Cigar Girls.
Leaving these rooms We entered what
might be called the cigar factory proper.
l mean the rooms where hundreds of men
and women were making cigars. The first
hall large. If you will imagine
acre of girls, each with her sleeves rolled
up to the elbow, her head bare and her arms
moving like lightning, you may have some
idea of what l in this hall. Every girl
had a barrel between her knees with to-
bacco leaves laid on the top. She picked
up leaf after leaf and tore out the stem,
putting the rest of the leaf into the barrel.
The girls were of all classes. colors and
ages. Here a negreSs black
your boots there a Chinese as yellow as
gold. and at the next barrel a Cuban of
rich Jersey cream. Most of the girls were
young and not a few pretty. Some were
humming, some singing and others chatting
as they went on with their work. There
We're about 400 in the room, and they were
the most strenuous women workers l have
ever seen. l asked as to their wages, and
was told they were paid by the piece, and
that they each made from s1.75 to 81
day The total wages of these 400 girls
are more than $500 a day. They are among
the highest paid women laborers of the
world.
The work was dirty, but the girls were
surprisingly clean. They have dressing
rooms with all toilet conveniences connected
with the factory, and they powder and
primp every day before leaving Indeed, on
the street one would not imagine them the
same girls he had seen stripping tobacco.
All classes of labor in Havana cigar fac
tories are high. From this establishment
no cigar goes out which costs less than
ten cents, and the most of those made
tail from twenty-ti cents to dollar
The best cigar rollers receive 81 and
upward day. Men who strip the
leaves and prepare them for the rollers
get $3.50 per day and some of the rollers
work by the piece. making much more
There SEQ men in the factory who do
nothing but roll cigars: each makes his
Ii, fiy and -nryC hat LII n
year in and year out.
Cigars of many varieties. lean and
fat. long and short, Light and dark. big and
little, pretty and ugly. The cigar makers
go in as boys and work the trade all
their lives, learning it so well that the
manufacture becomes almost automatic,
and they could roll cigars in the dark
Professional Readers at $40 a Day.
A singular feature of these cigar fac
tories is the professional reader employed
by the cigar workmen In each ROOM
in a pulpit fastened TO the wall high
above the workers stands or sits a
man who reads for hours to the men and
women below. They bring the daily news
papers, poetry and stories and. in fact,
ANYTHING that the workmen demand and
read away hour, after hour. They
chosen for their voices and ability to read.
and the usual rate of pay is about $40 gold
per day. The men pay them out of their
own wages They are a feature of almost
every factory in Cuba
l spent some time in the rooms where
the cigars are sorted and packed ready for
the market. Every one is gone over again
and again. Those of the same color and
size are put together and after this they
are laid just so in the boxes. The ring
labels OF red and gold are put on by girls
who hold the labels between their lips in
such a way that the dry ends are mostened
by the saliva. The other ends are mucil-
aged and the fastening is SO done that the
saliva does not touch the cigar nor carry
any strange microbes to the mouth of the
smoker.
Speaking of high-priced cigars some of
the boxes exported from that factory re-
tail for $3.50. They contain one thousand
cigars and put up in cabinets which
would be fine pieces of wall furniture KING
Edward of England and other European
monarchs order such cigars, and 1 doubt
not some which handled may yet kiss the
lips of a king.
During my stay in the factory l asked
some questions about the care of cigars
and how to smoke them They should be
kept in the boxes until used and if posi-
BILE at a temperature of about 60 degrees
above zero. A good Havana cigar is del
icate article. The leaves will take up mois-
ture like sponge and will absorb any
impure air or bad smell. They evaporate
as quickly they absorb. and II the box is
left open and exposed to extremes of heat
or cold, moisture or dryness, the cigars are
ruined
The experts tell me that Havana cigars