The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1906-02-01
OUR CHEWING GUM.
HABIT THAT HAS BECOME AL
MOST NATIONAL.
Effect on the Users Rather Bens-
Acial Than Harmful-Souros
of Supply of the
Substance.

Now and then one sees men as well
as women chewing the cud in public |
with a steady persistency that exer-
cises a certain fascination upon others |
in their neighborhood, as, for instance, |
In the cars. They are not masticating
candy, and the men are not slaves to
the tobacco habit. Presently one be-
comes aware that the penny-in-the-slot
machines, which, when properly fed
and manipulated, propel small slabs
of chewing gum, are by no means pat
roniEed by children alone; they are
there for adults also.
Chewing of gum has become almost
a national habit. To its credit may be
set down the fact that among men II
has to a great extent driven out the
chewing of tobacco. Chewing itself
seems to have some obscure necessity
| behind It, as II, like the exercise of the
teeth in squirrels, rats, mice and other
rodents, It were an instructive act for
| the purpose OF keeping the teeth sharp
and In good condition. Perhaps our
soft food weakens the teeth by disuse,
and the chewing of tobacco, gums,
melon seeds and other materials offsets
the tendency of the teeth to become
loose and gradually drop out. In Ire
land. for instance, the peasant Is said
to lose his teeth early in life owing to
a potato diet. At any rate. we must
| give the chewing-gummers the benefit
| of the doubt. In the country II has
always been habit with children to
collect the gum from cherry and peach
trees for their private iun and profit,
but with the tremendous increase OF
the habit enterprising makers OF chew
ing gum have ransacked the world Tor
The best substitutes Tor and improve
ments on the crude product OF the
farm. And in the Achras Sapota OF
Central and South America, a wild
tree, called in some places the Chico
Zapote, they have discovered a gum
called chicle, which fills the bill in
more senses than one.
Unfortunately for the manufacturers
of chewing gum, there are very few
places where this tree grows In abund-
ance; as in the case Of the rubber tree,
there has not been time enough to as
certain with certainty If when culti-
waited the sap can be relied on to keep
up to the standard Hitherto they have
had to depend for their supplies Of
chicle on the Indians, who would not
or could not bring the material out Of
the woods in sufficient quantities to
meet the demand. Therefore the price
of chicle has been rising, although
manufacturers do all they can to econ
omize and slip substitutes into the
sticky mass 80 much loved by school
children.
There Is one part of one province of
Mexico, namely Yucatan, where the
Chico Zapote grows in great quantities,
This is the district called Quintana
Roo, bordering on the caribbean sea
just north of British Honduras, an
important mahogany country. too
where the hennequin plant, which has
so greatly enriched the Yucatanese
! grows wild. The Mexican government
has just completed from the little por
Of vigia, on Ascension bay, railwa!
to a new capital called by the Maya In
dams Chan Santa Cruz, but now bap
tized Santa Cruz de Bravo after Gen
Bravo, who opened up this wild regiol
l. | after conflicts with the Indians. II
!. proposed to continue this line down t
, Belize. Meantime, it has opened VI
- what apparently is the richest sectiol
for chicle In all America In fact
10 the tree is so abundant in this regio
,e that the greater part of the ties lai
1, by the government engineer were GU
from the Chico Zapote trees along tn
y track.