The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1918-10-10

tODdSSO-Fb OilS anu EiiNaN1 NkCu-
eies Have Responded Generously to
caIl-New Departure in Providing
"Luxuries."
Tobacco is now q staple munition
of war. In the Iron Dukes time any
! soldier found drinking was liable to
the severest punishment, and up to the
time of the Crimean war tobacco was
totally prohibited in any army. Today
uncountable millions of cigarettes and
hundreds of tons of tobacco have been
sent out to the armies fighting on the
western front, S~alonica, Italy and
Mesopotamia. In the crash of larger
issues the fact seems to have escaped
the notice 1t deserves-this war is the
first great conflict in history which has
been fought on tobacco.
In all previous wars the nations en-
gagged have concerned themselves In a
more or less generous spirit with food,
equipment and material, but rarely to
any appreciable extent with the 'lux-
uries" of the fighters. In the present
war public and private agencies have
been at work since the outset In all
the ~belligerent countries to provide the
men with little extras, and the chief of
these has been tobacco.
In Britain the provision made In this
respect by the army authorities was
promptly supplemented by the public
working through special funds or
through newspaper organizations,
which made 1t their business to see
that the men who were fighting were
duly supplied with adequate allow
ances of tobacco in all forms.
Public Responds Generously.
The combined results of efforts In
which the general public has taken the
keenest and most generous interest has
been the dispatch to the various fronts
of an incessant supply Of smokes" Of
all descriptions.
So far as the British army Is con-
cerned, all this tobacco or practically
all of 1t, goes out to four or five mil
lions of men duty free, but 1t is a sig
nifcant circumstance that despite this
fact and also despite the fact that
successive increases during the wal
have brought this duty from. roughly,
81 to $3.50 a pound, the consumption
of ~duty-paid tobacco still has gone ON
increasing.
Apart from these enhancements OF
the duty, the cost of production also
has risen steadily. Low-grade, dark
American tobacco has gone up from II
cents to 48 cents a pound and has In
addition to bear enormously increased
freight charges. A light China tobac
co, in great request for blending with
better grade leaf, was purchased be-
fore the war for IL cents a pound. II
is now a dollar a pound and is still in
demand even at that price and 81 on
top of 1t for duty.
The anxieties and nervous strain in,
separable from a great wal are un,
doubtedly responsible for this in,
creased consumption at home. The
testimony from the front Is universal
that were 1t not for generous supplies
of tobacco in all forms 1t would be Inn.
possible for the men to stand the strain
VI II
The same argument may not unrea,
sonably apply, though In a lesser de
gree, to those at home who by per
sistent and unwearying effort are keep.
ing the fighting men supplied with all
their requirements In the way of guns
shells, clothing and all the other colos,
sal needs Of the greatest war In his
tory.
Substitutes In Germany.
France and Italy, with less extensive
sources of supply, have been no less
enthusiastic in their efforts to meet the
tobacco needs of their soldiers, while
until b raw material gave out 1t was
part OF the duty of every individual
cigar maker in Germany to manufac,
ture, free of cost so far as wages were
concerned. 400 cigars within a certain
stipulated period for the use of the
kaiser's troops. AS we have seen re-
Gently, Germany has so little tobacco
left that beech leaves and other sub
stitutes have had to be used to supply
the demand, the result being dlsas.
trous consequences In the health of the
men.
England's chief source Of supply has,
OF course, been the United States,
though a certain amount of leaf has
also come from India, Borneo, Java
and elsewhere. With the enormous
number of men called for the American
army, however, the adequate working
of the great tobacco plantations in the
States may soon become an extremely
difficult problem. Even as 1t is, imports
have been decreasing In so marked q
degree that the bonded stocks Of to-
bacco in Britain have become danger
ously depleted.