Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-08-18 | Page 33 | Tobacco is Great Boon to Fighters

TOBACCO IS GREAT BOON 10 FIGHTERS I Without .It Many Could Not Withstand Strain of Continuous Conflict. LONDON, Aug. 17. This war, a London Lon-don paper points out. is the first gTeat conflict in history which has been fought on tobacco. In all previous wars the nations engaged en-gaged have supplied their fighters more or less generously with food, equipment and munitions, but rarely with luxuries. In the present war public . and private agencies have been working from the outset out-set in all the belligerent countries to provide pro-vide the soldiers with little "extras," and the chief of these has been tobacco. To British soldiers almost uncountable millions of cigarets and hundreds of tons ; of pipe tobacco have been sent, duty free. 1 But, despite these enormous shipments, the consumption of tobacco in the British Brit-ish Isles has steadily increased. The cost of tobacco has climbed from 12 cents to 43 cents a pound for the low-grade dark American product, and a light China tobacco to-bacco used for blending purposes jumped from 12 cents to 96 cents a pound. Anxiety and nervous strain inseparable from a great war are held responsible for the increase in smoking at home. Testimony Testi-mony from the front is that without generous gen-erous supplies of tobacco the men could not withstand the strain of continuous conflict. England's chief source of, supply is the United States, and the fear Is entertained here that, owing to the war's possible interference in-terference with production there and an increased home demand, the amount available for this country may be materially ma-terially lessened. Bonded -stocks here are even now dangerously depleted owing to decreased imports. France and Italy, with less extensive sources of supply, have spared no efforts to meet the tobacco needs of their soldiers, sol-diers, and the same is true of Germany. The Jxmdon press is speculating whether it may not yet become necessary to institute some system of tobacco rationing ra-tioning for those smokers not engaged in productive war work.