The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1907-04-27

In Wow Of the recent advances II
the price Of cigar boxes and the at
tention which the attitude Of local
box makers has attracted, the follow
ing article. which appeared in the
Philadelphia Record, giving an &C
curate and exhaustive description OF
the industry, should be of interest to
the trade:
The cigar business presents as good
an example as any to be fClnd OF that
feature Of modern industry where by
the cost OF nearly all manufactured
articles is increased through the ne
cessity OF packing goods for suitable
handling between the wholesale max
er and the consumer. In some cases
such packing is simply that and moth
ing moro: in others it involves the
presentation Of the article in an at
tractive form which will Eelp TO sell
it. and part of the cost of Il may be
fairly chargeable to the advertising
account. Every boz, case, can or
other covering, and every printed Ia
bel is, of course, paid for by the con-
help to advertise, the cheaper the
goods are, because of the increased
demand and larger output which
every sort OF advertising helps.
There is probably not q cigar srlo-
ker in the land who has not won
dered, at one time or another, how
much OF what he pays for his smoke
s.,fn i,o how Md irh
graphed labels and the gilt bands and
the like A boz which holds fifty
cigars costs from eight to FIVE and a
half cents, according to what it is
made Of, and this is without counting
the labels and bands or anything but
the wood and nails. The cost of these
boxes used in the United States foots
up to S5,S00,O00 every year. Some
of them go to Havana, but they come
back with the cigars in them. OF this
immense output, which is for wooden
boxes only, and does not include the
pasteboard boxes used for certain
kinds of all-tobacco cigarettes some
times called cigars, Pennsylvania
share is S1,553,O05, and the wage
earners engaged in the business num-
Der 1000. Pennsylvania product.
as will be seer, is more than One-hfth
of the total, and no other State makes
SO many, though New York is close
second, with s1,537.217. More than
fifty per cent. OF the cigar boxes
made in this State are manufactured
n Philadelphia.
Perhaps the most interesting and
least known fact about this industry
is that, while some cigar boxes are
made of cedar, 4 greater number are
made Of poplar veneeTed on one side
with cedar, while still others are
made of poplar without any veneer.
In the latter case the wood is printed
in imitation of cedar by the use of
ink of the proper color and ma
chine which carries a printing roller
on which are the lines to resemble
the granting CT cedar wood. The bot
tom and top of a cigar box Of stand
ard kind is thirty-five seconds of an
inch in thickness, while the ends are
seven-thirty seconds. Despite the
very small amount of wood needed, it
Is cheaper, however, to use the We
neered poplar than the cedar, and
still cheaper to print the poplar.
Solid cedar boxes to hold 100 cigars
! now cost about eleven cents, and the
half boxes, or those for fifty cigars,
about eight cents. The correspond
| ing prices for veneer are about cent
less, while for printed poplar the
prices are seven and five and a half
cents.
Such prices are only made possible
| by the use OF intricate machinery and
subdivision of labor, and it is also
important to waste as little OF the
material as possible. To this end the
wood of the proper thickness is not
sawed from the log, but sliced or
split by special machine. The same
indeed, a special machine, invented
in Philadelphia, and controlled by
Philadelphia makers, is used. The
machine cuts 100 sheets of veneer to
the inch without waste, and at the
rate of sixty-five pieces minute.
The log is steamed and the cutting or
elicing done with sliding knife. The
resulting veneer is so thin as to be
seml-transparent, but it has all the
grain and markings of cedar wood. as
well as the pleasant odor. The We
neer is cut in widths to match the
widths needed in the boxes and in
lengths of several feet The poplar
Is cut in the same size and shape, and
the veneer is put on simply by apply
ing it to the poplar upon which a
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