The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-27

I packed in great bulky packages and
 shipped to the various factories in the | United States. It Is cleaned of par
 ticles of grit, bark and grass after fl
 reaches the factories. It is then chop. ped fine, dried. and cooked in steam I jacketed kettles. It is then made into 1 a dough with sugar and favorings Of l various kinds--spearmint, vanilla, orange and wintergreen.l This last process, with the secret of it's havors is what makes the difference between i the kinds offered on the markets by the l manufacturers. The dough is rolled out and kneaded. and rolled again, and then out into the thin. rectangular sticks. These are collected in packages of five ] or six each, wrapped in tin foil. sealed l and labeled, and sent to the market. In all in the United States there are fifteen manufactures of gum, and be- i tween 2,500 and 5000 people are ef1l- ployed in these plants Besides the factories that manufacture the gum proper, there are those that make only the boxes, others the wrappers. and others the machinery for the gum fac+ | tories. 4te
 The importation of, chicle now. I amounts to 100000 pounds or more every year, and the amount Is increas- ing. In August of this, year, for ex- ample, the amount imported was 276,- 955 pounds, and the value was s1e1s9s3. There Is still a market for spruce guin, despite the invasion of chicle. The Maine harvest is 15.000 pounds a year, and 1t usually sells at $t a pound. Nearly 12,0o0 pounds of this Is gath cred in March, and by July the harvest is over, for the sun of summer makes the wax bitter and pungent. There was a period of experimenting with paraffin as a basis for chewing gum, hut fa d chicle came to be the mainstay of the gum manufacturer.
 The sightseeing car was born. of Denver enterprise. About twelve years ago a real estate man of that city adopted the fashion of giving free street car tickets to prospective buyers, so they could visit his subur- ban lots. and provided a lecturer with each car who told of the greatness of Denver--its climate. it's mines and its business opportunities. The tourists began to ask permission to travel on these cars as the best way of learning about the city, and special cars with price for the trip were then put into service.
 The Idea was success from the start. Special cars were put on the Wash ington Street railway lines in 1900. Then Los Angeles was added to the group, then Philadelphia, then Boston, and then New York, New York's geography made the sightseeing car difficult to manage. since the streets run chiefly up and down. and there are no lines on the principal residence streets. When the treasurer happened to be in Milwaukee and saw the "cen- tennial coaches" there. he thought of putting the idea into operation in New York. So five coaches, with six horses each, were put on for the sight-seers in New York. but when the congestion of Broadway interrupted the trips, 1t was decided that other motive power must be had. Edward K. Somborn, the manager of this New York sightseeing company, solved the problem by having an electric company build a car that would hold thirty-five or forty people. And so, in 1902, was built the first sightseeing automo obile in the world.
 Other companies throughout the country have followed fast on the heels of these pioneers, and now every progressive city has either street cars fitted for the purpose, or automobiles that take the tourist about and instruct him in the historical, commercial, in- dustrial, and intellectual advancement of the city. These lecturers are espe- cially trained for their talks. Each IS given the salient features that he must cover, and each must repeat hls Iec- ture before a board before he offers 1t to the company's patrons. this pre- caution being taken to see that every statement is correct and that no dis pleasing personalities are indulged in. As a result a new factor in educa- tion has arrived that has as much value as the ubiquitous souvenir post. card, and through the enterprise of sightseeing companies hundreds of thousands of people are coming every year to know more of the big cities of the nation than they ever know be- fore
 Copyright. 1908. by Frederic J.
 Haskin.)
 TOmOrFOw--EIectrifyi steam Roads,