The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-10-19

There is more whisky now stored in Ken
| lucky than there was in the whole coun-
try a decade ago.
And tobacco?
| It's value last year when turned into
cigars, cigarettes, plugs ana SNUFF was
S46,0O0,000. This, of course. is perha ps
half what it eventually costs the -moSer
| But on this basis alone the. value of our
TOBACCO manufactures is more than the
product of our car shops, S4O5, ,601 600; or
women's clothing. 1884, $4,000; or sugar,
S2i9.249,0OO; or butter, cheese and milk,
$274.55S,0OO, its nearest competitor.
1t costs us more to light our cigars and
cigarettes than 1t does to light our kero-
sene lamps and our gas jets, for the lat
ter items are valued at $236, 1895, 600 and
$166, $4,000.
Just 100000, 900 cigars smoked in Il
months and more than 14,000.000 cigar
cites. In three years the consumption
of cigarettes alone has doubled.
For our cigars we have paid $5S5 $50, Coz
and for our cigarettes $70,000,000 Some
217000,000 more cigars We're smoked in the
last year than for the year previous anG
nearly 3,0O0.00O.OOO cigarettes more. Other
forms of tobacco foot up to 4O3, ,O00,0Oo
pounds and 32,2O0,O0O pounds of snuff. All
OF this paid a tax to Uncle Sam of more
than s30oOoo,00o every penny of which
might have been saved if we didn't smoke
or chew. And it was the smoker and
chewer who paid the tax not the grower
of the weed the manufa cturer of the
cigars and cigarettes, plugs and SNUFF.
Our national debt is 81 ,027 100000 If we
swore off tobacco for one year we'd have
enough to pay it.
Autos Cost Money
Today there are $4,000 automobiles in
United
clal trucks. Last year we bought $249,
100000 worth of new cars here and about
$4.WoOO0 from abroad. During the same
period we paid all the public school teach
ers of the United States s253, ,9l5, 10, which
is less than the 100000 chauffeurs and me-
ehanics receive in wages.
And the furniture bill for our homes
was but s2S9, ,ss7, ,OOO-something like SO 900, :
000 less,
| The United States supports 221, 433
churches. Likewise, $4,000 saloons, more
than all our churches hospitals colleges
and high schools combined,
! Our bumper corn crop of last harvest
was worth 1866, ,25S, 900, the most stupen-
| dous of all our items of revenue. And we
| spent it all for beerl And for each one of
several of the pearl necklaces we bought
abroad we had to send a cargo of cotton
| to pay for it.
| Drawing the long bow? Nonsensel
The story is told that one gentleman
gave his wife necklace that cost $500
00o That's worth more tS3n a cargo of
cotton. And the $750.Q00 diamond necklace
stolen in Paris the other day was to have
been shown In an American. Three ships
could not have carried the COTTON to pay
for the bauble which you could hold in
the hollow of your hand!
Mrs. George d. Widener lost her bus-
hand and her son when the soul-freighted
fn jtc Il
2Ooo fathoms deep, but she saved her
SfooWO necklace. All her Jewels couldn L
buy their lives back for her. thought
And for Diamonds
In 10 years. we have sent s3Oo .OOo-
600 abroad for our diamonds This year
we have added $42,55O. 600 more and
Slc'0oO,0OO for pearls. This would paw
the interest on, the national debt for
two years and then leave enough to
buy a first class battleship or a cou-
pie of cruisers
Our American demand for oearls is
greater than the supply today and
prices are soaring. There are more
Jewels in the city of New York alone
than in any other city of the woil Id A
conservative estimate put the total
worth of them at $500, 900, 00O This is
more than twice the value of the build
ings of all the universities, colleges
and technical schools in the entire
country-double the money in diamonds
in New York city alone than in the
buildings for higher education for all
the United States, which are worth
, $225. 600 900,
only a 1.-THE of our 1uxuries, classed
by the government as ARTICLES OF vol
untary USE" come from abroad Yet
our bill for the past year las been
more than s250.O00,000. with increases
all along the line. Besides the dia-
monds and pearls, we bought $4,000
900 worth of laces from abroad about
double what we bought 10 years ago
Art works from Europe have set us
back some s60,000,000, new high rec
ord.
Our soda water costs $500 100000 a
year, as much as our leather. Our candy
| bill is s1S4.000, ,000-s10, ,000,O 900 more
than our bill for paint and varnish One
ostrich feather worth IS a few years
ago now costs SIS. Some foreign per-
| fumery brings $35 for a 12-ounce bottle
Where will If all end9