El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-09-22
-TNsTON-sALEN n.

II MAKES tlAdLeL6 DL the ul4LlOu6
. day and ships out trainload
Of chewing and smoking tobacco
every "a hours. 1t makes more
plug tobacco than any other town
in the country. and it pays to-
bscco taxes to the amount of
almost 100000 per annum Just
now the factories are running at their
full to supply me extraordinary de-
mands on account Of the war, and
the same is true of every tobacco
center in the United States.
But few people realize the extent
Of our tobacco industry. Il brings
in 10 the farmers more actual cash
than We get from our gold mines
The crop yields them something like
2lO0.OOO-00O a year. and the taxes
upon IL drop into the United States
treasury more than $4,000 an hour
day and night. year I'm and year out
The industry employs about 100000
hands To pays cut IN wages mill
lion dollars a DAY. and the value Of
the product including the manufac-
lures thereof, is more than 100000
600 per year
Ten Pounds for Every American.
Our total production of tobacco an
uually amounts TO more than 1.000,-
COO 900 pounds We make enough to
give ten pounds 10 every man, woman
and child in the United States. We
produce about two thirds of all the
tobacco used by mankind.
Our chief competitors are found in
the countries of Europe. Russia
grows one fourth or one fifth as
much as we do. and the product of
Austrla-HunEary and Germany in
normal times is in the neigh borhood
Of 100000 pounds. which is far less
than the amount they consume. IL
seems strange to speak OF tobacco as
an element OF warfare. but IL ap-
the trenches. and those who have
contracted The habit of using it lose
their nerve when it is not supplied.
Our exports have greatly lncrea ssd
since the war in Europe began. and
this increase viii be still greater now
that we are sending our own troops
to the front
As it Is now, our exports Of to-
bacco are more than four hundred
thousand cigars and ciEarets valued
at millions Of dollars. We are now
making eight billion cigars every
u months and our ciEaret output is
three times as many. The cigaSs
which the United States ma kes in one
year. If laid out end TO end. would
reach several times around the word
on the line Of the equator. and the
cigarets are so many that If they
we're Joined they would make a line
Of small smokes four times as long
ss the distance between the earth and
noon.
Burn Up 21,OOO,OOO q Day
Our consumption OF cigars is so
great that We burn up more than q
million a day We smoke 100000 CT
Esrs every hour, more than $1,000
minute. and over $50 q second As 10
c1garsrs. the United States is now
using something like so million
DAY This means 4 bout two and
half million per hour. more than 90
600 a minute, and about zoo 2ve--
time the watch ticks from Ja1ue-y
70 December, year in and year out
The internal rev euue receipts from
tobacco would build a fleet Of 50
ocean sreyhounds each as big as the
Lusltan1a 20 carry our fo1d supply
m the allies, or 1t wouid build and
EQUIP 10 biz oarrleSn1us to al1 rs IN
destroying the fleet OF. the Germans.
This viii give you some idea Of The
extent OF the tobacco industry re-
duced TO brass tscks- II has many
ramifica rIons and its products are
equally surprising 7 do not know
just how many tons OF plug tobacco
the United States now consumes, but
there Is one factory here which Gov
ers several acres and is devoted to
nothing but plug.
employees we're operating machines
making the square and OblonE pack
ages sold in the stores and others
were standing at tables twisting out
the black snake like ropes Of chew
ing tobacco called twist" The weed
has TO be specially treated in the
making Of plug. II is saturated with
hcorice and sugar and favored TO
Americans stiH Use snuff.
You may think that the custom OF
snuffing IL dying out The statistics
show that We are still producing about
81. 600. 900 pounds Of snuff every year
or enough 10 give pound and a half
Of this nose-itillst ing mixture TO
every American family. It vas at
Durham n C., that ] saw my first
snuff factory. In making the powder
the tobacco leaves are half rotted
and mixed with other ingredients re
fore they are ground into snuff The
stuff is packed up for market in o.
blsdders in balls ranging in size from
that Of your fist to your head and II
is sold by the ounce Of the pound It
Is used largely in the mountain dis
tricts Of the south after the custom
known as snuff dipping" In this
the snuff is not sucked up the nose
II is taken into the mouth being ap-
piled with a cheWed stick which IS
dipped into the mixture and thea
common throughout the southern Ap-
palschian mountains
The custom of using snuff for the
nose is fast dying out. although II
was more or less prevalent among al
classes IN colonial times Dolly MAD
ison. the wife Of the president, was
an artistic snuff user. She had two
hsndkerchiefs for the purpose One
Of these, she said. was for blowing
and the other, a delicate lace affair,
she used as a polisher- Not long ago
many of our United States senat tors
used snuff and in my own time as a
correspondent at the capitol AZ Wash
inEton 2 large snuff box was kept in
the senate chamber, the powdered to
baCco IN which was supplied TO such
senators as were addicted to the habit
at the expense Of the government.
The south is now making three
fourths Of the tobacco Of the United
States. The weed can be grown al
most anywhere from Canada to the
equator. but there are certain lOcalt-
rles and soils which produce far better
tobacco than others In Connecticut
the conditions are especially good for
making cigar wrappers and they
raise some Of the finer tobsccos under
tents at cost OF hundreds OF dollars
per acre.
Some OF the Kentucky tobaccos are
20 fine that the plants are bsgged in
order 10 keep the seed pure. and each
region has its own speciality. The
finest Havanas are grown in q little
district in western Cuba where the
soil is worth almost its weight ii
gold Not long ago when a railroad
was put through that country the
people scooped off the top earth and
brought in poorer material 10 build
up the right Of way for the tracks
They used the top soil for their to-
bacco fields, treating it somewhat as
q fertilizer
As 10 the southern states. Rhich
make the bulk Of our tobacco crop. }
have before me the figures for the
crop Of 1918. At that time Kentucky
produced in round number about