Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-03-15
AMERICAN WOMEN
ARE FAST BECOMING
CIGARETTE SMOKERS
BY CLARA SAVAGE.
Ueased Wire Service to The Journal

Copyright, 1921
NEW YORK, March 12.-"Nil-
lions Of American women are secret
cigarette smokers"
This is the statement of one Of the
best known manufacturers OF wom-
ems cigarettes in the United States
to whom the writer today showed
that portion Of the annual report of
the internal revenue bureau which
deals with cigarettes. According to
this report, igarette-smoking among
women is steadily increasing. They
are now smoking approximately 20
00,000,C0O cigarettes a year and
they are held responsible for an in
crease of Sc per cent in the sale and
manufacture Of cigarettes in the
United States in the past twelve
months.
These figures look big to a person
on the outside" said the manufac-
turer. IF a person lives IN town
or even a medium-s1zed city. he prob
ably doesn't see many women smok-
ing. They smoke in secret. He
should have a look at our books and
see what tremendous mall order
business we do with women. They
don't want to buy cigarettes right in
their own home towns. They don't
want their next door neighbor to
know they smoke. When they send
in their order for several hundred
cigarettes-we don't sell less than
hundred-they ask us to send them
in plain wrappers. That's so the
postmistress nor anyone else can
guess what is in the package. Wo-
men all over the country, in small
towns, and big, are smoking more
every year
TIE manufacturer pointed to
on the wall of his office. 1t was dot
ted over with pins, indicating the
location Of women mail order Gus
toners ordering cigarettes from tn TINS is
Maine to California, from Florida to
the state of Washington, those pins
zig-zagged their way through the
most remote rural districts, through
little towns and big: 1t was a most
surprising geographical revelation of
the truth of the figures based on
the report of the bureau of internal
revenue.
1 interviewed the keepers of sew.
eral cigar stores in various parts OF
the city. They declared that New
York women were not among the
into the open about cigarettes.
They come into the store and by
"They Used to send their husbands
or their brothers or some one else's
brother, but now 1 should say that
half of my customers are women"
MY women customers buy the
same brand of cigarettes as men
smoke" said another storekeeper.
"They don't like these dainty little
feminine cigarettes. They want
Recently Joseph French Johnson,
dean Of the school Of commerce at
New York university, created a SEN
sation by declaring that if women
would smoke, he wished they would
take to pipes as less harmful than
cigarettes. Manufacturers state.
however, that at present, the women
trade shows no disposition to follow
the deans advice. A woman smok-
ing small black pipe in a fashion
able New York restaurant, the other
night, attracted a good deal of at
tention and comment. I have seen a
few women smoking small cigars in
New York, but at present, the ma
jority seem to prefer the taste of
cigarettes or perhaps find cigar
cite more becoming.
women have long smoked, the greater.
freedom Of women, and changing
fashions are given as some Of the
reasons for the increase of feminine
smokers. Perhaps a manufacturer
touched the root of the whole matter
when he said:
It's another case of women chang
ing their minds. They used to
think smoking was naughty. Now
fhnU think it's smart"