HERIU SANA SANCTA. I The Creation of the Justly Celebrat ed Havana Cigar. Somi'thlnK About America 1 * Acqui*!- tton in the Vuelta %linjo—Oh*er \at lons on tlie Tobacco Culture of Culia. fSpeeial Kingston (Jamaica) Letter.] DID the late war with Spain have no other result than the open ing of the great Havana cigar industry to American enterprise, this should alone prove ample compensa tion for the financial sacrifices involved. Hut it so happens that it is only one in a long procession of advantages to ac crue from American control of Cuba, and for that reason its individual sig nificance is apt to be obscured. A brief descriptive sketch of the industry may therefore be found of timely in terest —the more so, if based, as is the following, on exact information derived from experts. Tobacco grows all over Cuba, as also in Borneo, Jamaica, Java and other quarters of the globe. Hut in onlv one rpot in all the world does the genuine leaf grow from which the famous "Ha vana" cigar can be made. This s]>ot is the Vuelta Abajo, or the province of l'inar del Rio, west of Havana. Even the aboriginal inhabitants recognized this superiority, and long before the close of the sixteenth century the Con qilistadores of Velasquez had estab lished the tobacco industry which has latterly gained such magnitude. Hut it was not until the middle of the eighteenth century that the govern ment established a roy<il factory, and the systematic development of the A'uelta Abajo was commenced; and yet another half cOnt ury elapsed before the removal of the government monopoly gave a real.lmpetus to the industry. Development then became rapid despite SCENE IN A HAVANA CIGAR FACTORY. the handicap of characteristic Spanish yestrictions, until in 1890 the Yuelta crop valued $30,000,000. 'flie general character of tobacco soil is arenaceous and the temperature moist; the chemical secret of Yuelta Aba jo is, however, one of the unsolved mysteries of nat ure. "It is so because it is so." The technique of cultivation re quires the "vega" (or farm) to comprise but one "caballeria" of 33 acres; but of late years economical concentration lins been adopted by combining two or more plantations. ISananas are grown for the double purpose of screening the young plants and feeding the workers, this fruit being their chief sustenance. Each vega must have its own establish ment, no system of cooperative central ization being practicable, as in sugar I cultivation. The hands are mostly poor j whites and mulattoee, who can engage In this form of manual labor in that tropical land because most of the work is done in the cool hours or under shel ter, and at night. Apart from the secret of the soil, which in beyond human cognizance and 112 A TOBACCO CARAVAN. control, the most important "mystery" in the cultivation of Havana tobacco is the ■cguero's art —or rather instinc tive knack- how to regulate during the growth of each plant the exact quanti ty and quality of its ultimate product, it is claimed to be a hereditary gift that no acquired skill can rival; and the ex perience of foreigners has invariably corroborated the claim. A certain in telligent :md moneyed American spent 20 years in endeavoring to acquire the art; and when the insurrection ruined and drove him out he was no nearer the goal, but still depended on native em ployes. It appears to be an extraordi nary development of the faculties of feeling as though the fingers possessed .tome Miporphysical delicacy. Hi it what it may, the practical result ap plies tr> the limitation of buds which regulates the height of the plant and the trimming necessary to produce just precisely such and such quality as well lis quantity of leaves uniformly oil tk* vega. This is the basis of the arbitrary qualities* of tobacco of which one hear# so much rind can ascertain so little about, although it is of course In the cigar factory that the distinction is de veloped to its ultimate conclusion. Hut the veguero encounters other and far more ordinarily appreciable cares in the maturing' of his crop. His is no ideal existence, but one of incessant toil and warfare with inimical powers, the most notable of which are the in sect posts that threaten his work at every stage. All trials and chances of cultivation overcome —of which we have here but a suggestive outline —the raw product is divided into four great classes, each having its subdivisions. These classes of tobacco are the "deseeho linipio," the choicest, leaves from the top of the plant; the "deseohito," or second stratum of leaves; the "libra," the small, inferior leaves from the top, and the "injuriudo," or leaves from the ground layers. The manufacturers of il l' richest luces <lo not handle their delicate fabrics with more gentle care than does the veguero his "deseclio" and "desecliito" when making them up into "gavillas" for shipment to the Ha vana factories. There is an unvarying uniformity in the making up of the "tereios," or bales, for shipment, which is itself no unimportant branch of the business, and when finally neatly cased up in palm leaves the bales weigh from 100 to 125 pounds and are conveyed to the factories by mule caravans. So much for the simon pure raw ma terial. Let us now consider the proc ess of converting it into our familiar friend, the incomparable "Havana." All told, the "fabrieas" of Havana ex ceed 200 in number, many of which make an average annual output of from 15,000,000 to 30,000.000 cigars, while the less pretentious grade off to modest hundreds of thousands. As this ap plies only to the bona fide "Havanas" of commerce, the reader may form some idea of the magnitude of tshe Cuba to bacco industry as a whole. Taking any average good factory for our observations, we see the bale con taining our specimen cigar opened in a room on the ground floor, the arrange ment of which as to light, temperature, etc., is carefully adjusted on aell-de fined principles. And here the leaves are separated and sorted with a rapidi ty little calculated to indicate the con summate skill really employed. In the moistening-room, whither they are next taken, they are carefully layered in lurge wooden vats containing a solu tion of saltpeter, where they remain some hours. The next stage is the press ing process, which has been reduced to n fine art only equal to thatof unfolding the leaf again and detaching the stem —which is the succeeding operation. The unfolded and destemmsd leaves are now finally separated according to classes into "capns" and "tripas" (the wrappers and fillings for cigars), which is done by workmen seated at large ta bles down the middle of an immense room, and under the eye of experts called "escojedores," one of whom pre sides at each table. Around the sides of this room are ranged numerous small tables, which are occupied by the cigar makers proper, or the "torcedores." These take caps and fillings by the liandfuls as needed from the large cen tral tables, and with a celerity that is astonishing to the uninitiated specta-. tor seem to conjure finished cigars out of the litter of coffee-colored strips and rags before them. It is really quite difficult to follow this process. Our torcedor spreads a strip of "eapa" before him and flashes a gleaming knife about it. The eye— ours, at least —cannot follow the move ment, but almost instantly, with no oth er measurement than that of the e3'e, he has carved the leaf with mathemat ical exactness. Then with equal preci sion and swiftness he grabs the neces sary amount of filling from the pile, places it on the cajwi and rolls the cigar into shape. The whole process is one of "Hey, presto!— Your cigar, senor." It is more than mere expert work—it is positive jugglery, because for all his infinite celerity his cigars never vary a fraction in size or weight, accord ing to the class he may be making. Horn instinct as well as experience is necessary for his work, which is second only to that of the escojedor. He is not, therefore, overpaid tit five dollars a day any more than is the escojedor at seven, whilst the subordinates at the large tables earn from three to four dollars. Our "havana" is now made —and we will enjoy it 'ill the more for having wit nessed its creation fi-om the green leaf in the vega to the fingers eif the cour teous torcedor. Hut we must notsmoke it yet. To get the full flavor we should allow it to mature through the sorting re;om, where we next witness its Clas sification. counting in and doing up into a bundle of 2S, to be boxed under one of 'lie numerous brands known to the trade. , T. P. PORTER. CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1898 DON RAFAEL IGLESIAS. rrmtilcnt of Ihr Republic of f«»W Itiea. Central America, la a Liberal Statesman. Renor Don Rafael Iglesias, president of Cos*a Rica, recently on a visit to tliis country, is a true statesman, im bued with the modern spirit of the most enlightened nations. No South American state is more wisely or just ly governed than that over which Senor Iglesias presides. Unlike other coun tries in Central and South America, Costa Rica is no breeding spot for revo lution. Its politics is pure and its prog ress rapid and permanent. President DON RAFAET-. IGLESIAS. (President of the Central American Re public of Costa Uica.) Iglesias comes of an ancient and dis tinguished Costa Rican family, lie ia only 30 years of age, but his face re veals his grave and earnest character and clearly shows that he is possessed of acute intelligence. He is most dem ocratic >n manner, and his perfect sim plicity, cordiality and courtesy make him most popular among his country men. The republican form of govern ment is not a mere mask in Costa Ilica That place is truly a free country, im measurably in advance of its Latin neighbors. Iglesias wants a free press and has it. lie is opposed to monop olies, and one of his greatest perform ances as president was the abolition of the tobacco and alcohol monopolies, which had been used by the govern ment. These industries are now flour ishing under the stimulation of free competition. Such is the work of the young ruler of Costa Rica, who came to this country to benelit his health and to study, incidentally, the institu tions of the United States. JOHN H. BANKEEAD. Alulinnin Coi>Kre>i*nien Want Illm t« Succeed Mr. Ilalley, of Tem«, an i'art.v Leader. Congressman John 11. Hankhcad, whom the democrats of Alabama have proposed for party leadership in the next congress in place of Mr. Bailey, is an interesting character. The Fifty sixth congress will be the seventh to which he has been elected. He is pop ular down in Alabama, but whether he will please the silver people remains to be seen. There are those who Bay that Mr. Bankhead likes gold, although \n 1896 he ran against a gold democrat —A. S. Yandegraff—and defeated him by nearly 0,000 votes. The Alabama delegation say that Mr. Bant head will get the support of the east and of a majoriiy of the South Atlantic states. HON. JOHN H. BANKHEAD. (Alabama's Choice for Democratic Hous» Leadership.) Bankhead is a self-made man, 56 years old, and all the education he has he gave himself. He is a scarred veteran of the confederate army. Since the close of the war li* has never been out of politics, and he has many qualities which make him capable of being a wise leader. He has age, large experi ence and is master of his tongue and his temper. He is popular in Washing ton, and many of the old war horses of the democracy would be pleased to see him made the spokesman of their par ty in the house of representatives. nirtti nnd Dentil Records. There are a great number of curious niperstitions as to the time of day when a dying person is most likely to to draw his last breath, and the fide, the moon and the wind have all been supposed to have some share in ♦he matter. to the British Medical Journal, Uaseri, who has an alyzed 25.474 cases of death and 30,515 01 birth, where the exact time of day was noted, finds that the maximum number of deaths occur in the early afternoon (two to seven p. m.), and the minimum in the last hours before midnight, while the maximum number cf births occur in the early hours of the morning and the minimum ic the early hours of tb» afternoon. As re gards the cause of this, he points out that the hours of the maximum number of deaths are precisely those when the pulse rate and temperature are at their highest in health, and when there la a febrile exacerbation in illness. AUSTRALIA AND ITS PEOPLE. Australia contains an area of about ".000,000 square miles, or nearly that of the United States exclusive of Alaska. Ilefore Europeans went to Australia the natives never in any sit uation culti vated crops for food. They never raised any cattle or had any domestic animal except the dog. One of the most notable character istics of the Australian continent is its scarcity of riversand fresh-water lakes. The entire central part of the continent is a plain. so destitute of water courses as to be almost a desert. The aborigines of Australia form a distinct race from that inhabiting the most of fhe islands of the Indian archi pelago. They are found only in Aus tralia, New Guinea, the New Hebrides, New Caledonia and the Solomon islands. Many attempts have been made to civilize the Australian natives, but with little success. They readily adopt the European dross, but have a great aver sion to any regirlar labor, and even the youth are but slightly susceptible to in struction. Australia was first visited during the seventeenth century, and i.ll the latter half of the eighteenth century was ex plored along the coast, while in 1788 colonization began by the transporta tion of a shipload of criminals from England to Port Jackson. The color of the Australasian is brown-black rather than jet. his lips are not so protuberant as those of the African negro, nor is his nose so flat, and his hair is black and curly, but not woolly. lie is less muscular than the African, but is capable of great endur ance. The Australasians never had bows and arrows, but were expert in the use of fhe spear, and one of their peculiar weapons was the boomerang, a curved blade of wood, which when thrown sweeps from the direct course, some times returning so as to hit an object behind the thrower. GOLDEN FACTS. The world coined 2 J / X times as much gold in 1897 as in 1800. The world will produce in 1898 com plete more gold l than it produced goid and silver both in 1888. The world produced 14 per cent, more gold in 1897, the latest full year re ported. than in 1890. The gold coinage of the world in 1897 was the largest recorded, amounting in value to $137,719,342. against $195,899,- 517 in 189G; excluding recoinage. this amount was approximately a net ad dition of $291,097,148 to the stock of go'd coin. The deposits of gold bullion at the mints and assay offices of the United during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1898, were the largest in the history of this country. Exclusive of redeposits, they were of the value of $147,093,194.83, against $87,003,337.71 in the previous year. On July 1. 189S, the Russian treasury held over $70,000,000 of United States gold coin, $50,000,000 worth of English sovereigns, $27,000,000 worth of Ger man gold coins, and $15,000,000 in francs, besides the coins she may have previously melted and a great stock of bars. The world's production of gold in the last five years, according to the annual estimates of the bureau of the mint, has amounted to $977,632,100. The indus trial consumption has been about $300,- 000,000. Stocks of gold in sight in Eu ropean banks from December, 1893. to December, 1597, increased $525,811,000. or about 43 per cent. AND TIE. The London & Northwestern Railway company- issue yearly 50 tons of rail way tickets. Russia's railway system extends to the length of versts a verst be ing about two-lffirds of a mile. Mexico has more than 7,000 miles of railways. Thirty-eight of the railways are subsidized by the government. Tramway companies in Buenos Ayres are not allowed to build any tracks except such as can be used by ordinary vehicles. During the year ended September 1 one passenger was killed for every 2.250.000 carried 011 the railroads in the United States. Most of the railroad stations in Rus sia are about two miles from the towns which they respectively serve. This is a precaution against fire, as many of the Russian dwellings are thatched with straw. At three of the large London railway stations —Charing Cross. Cannon street, and London Bridge—more than 33,000 movements for signal and point levers have to be made every 24 hours, quite apart from the telegraphic operations. The best locomotives 011 steam lines weigh 154 pounds per h. p., but 011 an electric traction line at Baltimore, which was opened in 1895, the electric traction locomotive weighed 126 pounds per h. p. These locomotives weigh 90 tons, nnd develop 1,000 h. p., distributed on six independent driving axles. MUSICIANS AND THEIR HAIR. Wind instruments, especially the cor net and trombone, are fatal to heavy heads of hair. Certain music prevents the hair from ♦ailing, according to one scientist, while other kinds have a disastrous ef fect. Composers lose their hair like ordi nary artists, but composers who per form their own works 011 the piano al ways have luxurious locks. The violoncello and harp keep the hair in pretty well, but the flutecanno? be depended upon. A number of pianists, including Paderewski. are cited by a scientist in confirmation of I this theory. THEIR PICTURES SELL. William 11. Crane is a favorite, his pic ture going off rapidly. There is a heavy demand for photos of Viola Allen as Glory in"The Chris tian." Julia Arthur's pictures have l>een .selling well for a year and the demand is still strong. Of the men, John Drew and William Faversham are mosrt popular among picture buyers. E. 11. Sothern's pictures-sell well, but the demand for those of his wife, Vir ginia Darned, has fallen ofF. Richard Mansfield has never been very popular with picture buyers, but as Cyrano many of his photos are asked for. Madge Lessing and Edna Wallace Hopper find their photos in demand. Delia Fox's photos, however, are at present a drug 011 the market. Many people buy pictures simply be cause they are pretty and for that rea son the princess of Wales and the Eng lish beauties are in constant demand on this side of the water. Ever since she went on the stage El len Barrymore has been a favorite with picture buyers. Maxine Elliott sells weM. whether she is playing in the town or not. She takes a very striking picture, no matter what the pose. For years i t has been Lillian Russell's photograph which was the best "seller" the shops had. Nowadays! it is Maud Adanrs' which everybody wants to buy. The requests arc almost all for costume pictures rather than the mere photo graph. CARE OF THE HORSE. Tt usually will pay to raise good colts. You cannot get a horse in good con dition unless he has proper food and ex ercise. ar.d it costs no more to keep a horse in good condition than otherwise. If your horse does not masticate his oats, put a handful of dent corn in and mix it through. Tie will not swallow the corn whole and w ill then chew it all. Horse buyers everywhere report that good drivers are getting scarce. There are whole sections of country where a f:ood driving horse cannot l>e found. Do not neglect the hour or two in the paddock for every horse that is not. used regularly. Pull the shoes off the unused horses and groom them every day. If a horse fall on an icy road where 110 ashes or sand are at hand to roughen the surface and enable him to rise, spread the horse blanket where he can get his feet on it. Give the idle horse*; wheat bran. It will keep them in much better condition than to winter them upon hay alone. It will cost 110 more. Never stuff a horse or colt with hay. A sole leather hoof pad has been in vr ntied to keep horses from slipping 011 icy roads or smooth pavements, and which als-o keeps the snow from "ball ing" in the hollow of the foo;t, or stones from jamming there. It is easily re moved for cleaning or when not needed. —Farm Journal. SHOWN BY LOCAL RETAILERS. Solid silver cigar sets. Empire fans, five inches in length. Light grenadines for ball gowns. Ebony brushes with silver trimming. TafFeta with a striped or floral bor der. Gobeli« tapestry portieres in old col ors. Upholsrtery remnants for cusl'f*jj covers. Military capes, in sizes from ten to fifteen years. Men's lounging coats of English plaid cloth. White astrakhan capes trimmed with blue fox. Handsome cases containing one bot tle of perfume. Gauffred silk, imitating puffs, .for fronts and yokes. Many greenish-gray and grayish green leather articles. Children's house slippers of red felt, edged with fur. Tailor-made gowns of boxcloth, with flare collar of fur. Fancy willow baskets of various sizes, lined with quilted satin. Colored canvas pillow, worked in cross-stitch, with heavy silk, and edged with ruffles of ribbon. Photo frames, with the pennant and cry of different colleges printed or em broidered upon the sides, and the affair framed in gilt.—Dry Goods Economist. ITEMS FOR THE CHURCH-GOER. Arizona has 16 Methodist Episcopal churches. Chicago, with 1,950,000 people, has 648 churches.. The centenary of Welsh Methodism w ill be celebrated in 1900. The queen of Holland is a Presbyte rian and worships in the new church of Amsterdam. The 29.000 German Baptists of the United States gave Vast year $62,000 to missions. Baiiington Booth says that on Man hattan island there are 500,000 young men who do not. enter a church. It is stated that in the last eight years the number of Protestant converts in China has more than doubled. The roll of the Students' Missionary union comprises 6,000 names, 1,000 of whom have gone to foreign fields. There are 1,4.30 Young Men's Chris tian associations in the German empire, with a total membership of 85,000. A Homo Missionary society has been organized among the Japanese Meth odists. under the auspices of the Cana dian Japan conference. Baltimore clergymen interviewed by the Sun of that city generally agTeed that the length of a sermon should be from 20 to 30 minutes. PET DOGS OF ACTRESSES. Julia Marlowe has a liositon terrier. Olga Ncthersole culls her brindle pu£ Caniille. Julia Arthur owns a spaniel of the ruby species. Maude Adams has a collie aptly named the Little Minister. Maria Dressier hasi a terrier wliic'i she calls Paddy Gleason. Melba has with her this year a beauti ful Pomeranian dog, which carries the awful name of Niebelungen Lied. Fanny Davenport had two beauties. Scout and Frisco, deerliounds. given IK i by the earl of Dunraven. Mrs. I.angtry's French poodles ar» world-famous. She sometimes brings one on the stage with her. Lillian liussell possesses several ex pensive Japanese dogs, but her special pet is a big St. Bernard. Jessie Bartlett Davis has some fine fox terriers at her Willowdale kennels. Two of them, Boots and Saddles, have won many prizes. Edna Wallace Hopper owns a tin* French bulldog which cost $1,200. it was given her and was a prize winnej at the last New York dog show. Vernona Jarbeau's black and tar:. Trix, weighs but 15 ounces when togged out in collar, blanket and boots. IJ« is the smallest of his kind. lie is n brave dog, however, and is decorated with a medal given by the Humane so ciety because he once saved his own er's life when a hotel was on lire by waking her with his sharp barks. May Irwin lovesdogs and owns many, among them Dick, a fox terrier, with ;; pedigree a yard long; Czar, a St. Ber nard, worth $1,500, with plumy ta J ! like a feather boa; Jones, a terrici which has been stolen more times than any other dog in the country. Up t« date his owner has paid out over slo€ in rewards for his return. FOREIGN ITEMS OF INTEREST. In Berlin sheet music is sold by weight. London has 1,380 miles of streets; Paris 000. The very finest brand of Havana ciga? fetches $1,500 a thousand in Paris. Ghent, in Belgium, is built on 2G is lands, which are connected by SO bridges. The number of Belgian breweries in creased from 2,977 in 189G to 3,057 in 1807. A large orphan asylum in St. Peters burg is supported by the tax on playing cards. In certain Parisian restaurants a shil ling is charged for the use of the table cloth. There are in the German empire about 490,000 persons belonging to other countries. As many as 111,000.000 bottles of champagne are stored in the vaults of French producers. They represent a cost price of $50,000,000. In Spain Hebrews are not permitted' to erect and maintain houses of wor ship. They have no civil rights, and ex ist in the kingdom only as aliens. AN UNASSORTED LOT. Paris* contains 10,000 individuals who live by begging. It costs a littlo more than SIOO,OOO a year to cara for the capitol building at Washington. Of the 17,000.000,000 letters forwarded! annually in civilized countries, th<i United States contributes 5,000,000,000. What is called tortoise shell is not the bony covering or shield of tin turtle, but only the scales which cover it. More men have died and are buried in the Isthmus of Panama along the line of the proposed canal than on any equal amount of territory in the world. It 19 asserted that David's tomb cr« Mount Zion, which is a Mohammedan shrine of the most sacred character, and to which Emperor William was re cently admitted by the sultan's express order, had never been seen by a Chris tian since 1187. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION It is stated that there are more th 40,000 mud 1 cabins in Ireland which co» tain only a single room. More than 80 per cent, of the ships of the world are built in the British isdes. Tame snakes are used in Morocco to clear houses of rats and mice. The tensile strength of a wet is only one-third the strength of the rope when dry, while a rope saturated with) grease or soap is weaker still. The hair and beard of a man rarely grow gray together, the ene being al most invariably darker than the other for several years. There is no rule as to which changes first. Boiled cabbage is claimed to be u eure for drunkenness. It is< recorded that the ancient Egyptians ate boileii cabbage before their other food if they intended to drink wine after dinner. ARE USEFUL AND PRETTY. fiun metal chain purses have ap peared and are very attractive. A sword hilt within a horseshoe set with diamonds is a very pretty scarf pin. Among the many useful articles for presents is a tape measure of silver or gold set with amethysts-. A miniature sword is used as a pa per cutter. It has a steel blade and the handle is ornamented with gems. A hand mirror with a silver handle has a prettily pa'nted lake scene undeT the glass, giving the effect of nature's mirror. Some very pretty articles of jewelry for admirers of horses are shown. Pins formed to represent articles employed in riding and 1 driving are numerous. The greatest demand is for match safes enameled with the heads of thoroi'ijh breds.-—Jewelers' Weekly.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers