Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1918-10-30


"LUxuries."
Tobacco Is now a staple munition
Of war. In the Iron Dukes time any
soldier found drinking was liable to
the seyerest 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, Salonica, Italy and
Mesopotamla. In the crash of larger
issues the fact seems to have escaped
the notice 1t deserves-thls 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 It is a sig
nihcant circumstance that desnite this
fact and also despite the lact that
successive increases during the wal
have brought this duty from, roughly
81 to $3.50 pound, the consumption
OF duty-paid tobacco still has gone OF
increasing.
Apart from these enhancements Of
the duty, the cost Of production also
has risen steadily. Low-grade, darh
American tobacco has gone up from L
cents to 4S cents a pound and has in
addition TO hear enormously increased
freight charges. A light China tobac
co. in great request for blending witt
better grade leaf, was purchased be
Tore the war for IL cents a pound. Il
is now dollarla pound and is still il
demand even at that price and SO OF
top of it for duty.
The anxieties and nervous strain in
separable from great war are un
doubtedly responsible for this in
creased consumption at home. TIL,
testimony from the front is universal
that were it not for generous supplies
OF tobacco In all forms it would be i'm
possible for the men to stand the strair
of continuous conflict.
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 al.
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 extensiv,
sources of supply, have been no less
enthusiastic In their efforts to meet the
tobacco needs of their soldiers, while
until the raw material gave out it wa,
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
stltutes nave had to be used to supply
the demand, the result being disas
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 a
degree that the bonded stocks of to,
bacco in Britain have become danger