The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1917-09-05

VI chewing gum! some people chew 'A
gun because they maintain it aids
their thinking apparatus or their di-
.gestion. There are all kinds Of argu-
ments advanced for and against it,.
but the fact remains that America
chews gum in enormous quantities.
The Sammees in France have been 4
introducing it to the poilus and the
Tommies as new diversion in the q
life of soldier. The chewing gum
industry is one Of the best organized
in the country among manufacturers
of so-caled luxuries. They are turn :.
ing out thousands upon thousands of \
sticks of gum every day-and selling
it. Something like five or ten mil
lion dollars worth Of the raw chicle \
gum, one of the chief ingredients of
chewing gum is imported normally. !.
Finery for Ladies. Al
And, oh, the ladies'! Nothing de-
lights us better than to see them
decked out in the very finest of fine
things. But it costs money. The in
dustry producing millinery and lace
is reputed to turn out annually pro-
ducts worth somewhere around $780,
100000. When the war began we
were importing $10,000,O00 worth of
plumes. Australia still produces os-
i triches and our Pacific commerce is
not much hindered by the war, so that
we are very likely keeping up the pace
in 1917 in thic Iirocfson
! Less than ten years ugo we were
spending $23,000,OOO for artificial
flowers and plumes, and it is safe
bet that there has been no decrease up
to the present time. In recent year
we imported $35,000,0OO worth of cot
ton laces and spent more than 3d.
100000 for foreign silk laces and en-
broideries. Think also of the textiles
produced at home.
Of course, we must have music, and
it would be hard to catalogue it
among the luxuries. AS the war broke
we were paying $2,000,0O0 for i'm
ported foreign musical Instruments,
while the domestic production was
way above the $3,OOO,000 mark. Fora
monographs alone we are now buy-e
ing them at the rate of approximate
ly $20,000,00O worth annually.
| Kangaroo Meat!
| But, coming down to genuine lux
uries, did you know that in a very
recent year we imported more than
'$2,000,000 worth of beads and nearly
a million dollars worth of kangaroo
meat? 'Tis fact!
. Flags, society cmblems and banners
cost something like $10,000,00O every
year, and the war has stimulated the
flag industry. Flags, however, are
not likely to be classcd as luxures
at this stage in the affairs of the
world.
Fireworks formerly cost us lot of
money. In view of the popular move
ment to safeguard youth the imports
in pyrotechnics have fallen off mar
vclously. They reached high tide in
1910, when we imported more than
$6,O00,000 worth of fireworks. Since
that time the imports have dwindled
to small proportions.
! Jewelry does a business estimated
at close to $1OO,OO0,OOO annually.
Wedding rings are said to be going
out of fashion, but wrist watches
have come in, and where the trade
loses in one line it makes up in an
other.
! Every year we spend more than
$1O,000,000 on pet poodle dogs. Ca
nary birds, goldfish, cats and other
pets all go to make up tidy sum.
The Philadelphia New Year Shoot
crs' parade, the famous Mardi Gras
in New Orleans and other spectacular
stunts cost quite few dollars, too.
One might go on indefinitely thru
the records of the United States Gov
rnment and the reports of the various
industrial lines Of the nation bringing
out the odd things in the way Of
money spent on thosc things defined
in the dictionary as "that which graft
fics ones desires" The list is long
and the figures always are astonish-
ing.
Suffice it to say that the nation
faces the period where it must put
some things into the discard. Some
things are certainly to be marked
luxury" before long and put on the
taboo list-rin fact, same such meas
ures already have been instituted, as