Show amerian smokers puff one billion cigarettes daily per capita consumption io of coffin hails zooms to 2324 a year washington smoking devotees in the united states are blowing smoke rings to the tune of one billion cigarettes a day the wartime business boom gave a terrific boost to cigarette smoking especially among teenagers teen agers and women with good paying jobs sales bales of factory made cigarettes jumped from billion in 1939 to billion more than double in a per capita consumption of 2324 thirty five years ago the respectable cigar smoking business man regarded the smoker of a factory made cigarette as a sort of 0 social outcast back in the spittoon era many members of congress were tobacco chewers and proud of it A tapi typical cal newspaper advertisement of the period pictured speaker joseph cannon of illinois with the caption the thinking men of america chew twist today the factory made cigarette not only has wide social acceptance but is a sizeable item in the national economy it Is estimated that the cigarette tax increases the U S labor departments consumer price index by nearly one per cent in 1946 american consumers paid atonal a total of 34 billion dollars f for t tobacco products and smoking sul supplies the 1829 1929 expenditure for tobacco products was 17 billion dollars cigar use falls olf off treasury tax experts who recently made a study of tobacco use report that cigarettes in 1946 accounted for 77 per cent of the total tobacco used in production back in 1915 cigarettes accounted for only 10 per cent the use of cigars and smoking tobacco for pipe and roll your own cigarettes has had a big drop in the past 30 years the biggest slump has been in tobacco chewing consumption recently was less than one third that of 1918 cigar smoking to in this country reached a peak of 81 billion cigars in 1920 the silk shirt year it dropped to 45 billion in depression 1933 picked up some in the years immediately before and during the war government research experts say there has been a significant decline in cigar consumption since february 1947 they explain that recent increases in the cost of living ining may have affected the demand trice price increases consumers recently were paying scents 6 cents apiece for cigars which before the war sold at two for 5 cents an increase of per cent changes in hi smokers income or in the price of cigarettes seem to have had only moderate effect on the demand between 1929 and 1943 a period which included many depression years average changes in volume of cigarettes consumed were less than half as large as the ever average changes in income levels other govern government t surveys have indicated indicate d t that hat ren in n hard times many people cut clothing and even food purchases before reducing their customary c us I 1 mary purchases of cigarettes and gasoline the consumption of snuff has been unchanged tor for about 30 years thirty four million pounds were produced in 1916 forty one million pounds in 1829 1929 and thirty six million pounds in 1933 the production peak was pounds in 1945 |