The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1918-10-04

|
History Which Has Been Fought on
| Tobacco-Public and Private Agen-
cies Have Responded Generously to
calI-New Departure in Providing
| "Luxuries."
Tobacco is now staple munition
4 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, Salonica, Italy and
Mesopotamia. In the crash of larger
issues the fact seems to have escaped
the notice it 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 appreciate 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 it 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
nificant circumstance that despite this
fact and also despite the fact that
successive increases during the war
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 Il
cents to 4S cents a pound and has in
addition to bear enormously increased
freight charges. A light China tobac
co, In great request for blending will
better grade leaf, was purchased be
fore the war for II cents a pound. Il
is now a dollar a pound and Is still In
demand even at that price and So or
top of 1t 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 1t not for generous supple!
Of tobacco In all forms 1t 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 lesser de
gree. to those ut 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.
I France and Italy, with less extensive
8 sources Of supply. have been no les
enthusiastic In their efforts to meet tn,
tobacco needs Of their soldiers, Will,
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 wer
concerned. 400 cigars within a certain
stipulated period for the use Of tn
kaiser's troops. AS we have seen re
D Gently. Germany has so little Tobacco,
2 left that beech leaves and other sub
8 stitutes have had to be used to suppl,
q the demand, the result being dlsas
4 trous consequences in the health Of tn
men.
England's chief source Of supply has
y of course, been the United States
n though a certain amount of leaf ha
q also come from India, Borneo. Jaw
n and elsewhere. With the enormous
number of men called for the American
army, however, the adequate working
of the great tobacco plantations In thu
States may soon become an extremel,
% difficult problem. Even as 1t is, import
4 have been decreasing in so marked |
IS degree that the bonded stocks of to
s bacco In Britain have become danger
ously depleted.