NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | March 4 , 2016 | PAGE 9
Labor 100 Years Ago — March 4, 1916
A look back at the front page stories of the Oregon Labor Press, March 4, 1916. A digital version of the front page can be seen on our web site at www.nwlaborpress.org
* What Cigar Industry Means to Portland
Editor Labor Press: In your is-
sue of the 26th inst. I read with
satisfaction that the Portland
grocers have decided to boost
“Home Industry,” and as an
evidence of good faith have
through their organization
taken practical steps to that
end.
The cigar industry can be
made a valuable asset to Port-
land if the grocers and other
dealers in cigars will carry out
the program, which the Retail
Grocers’ Association declares
is the proper method of aiding
Portland manufacturers.
In order to bring forcibly to
the attention of retail mer-
chants, and also to the users of
cigars, I want to show just
what it means to Portland
when a “home made” article is
*
given the preference (the same
logic applies to all commodi-
ties made here, whether they
be candies, brooms, shoes, fur-
niture, clothing. food products,
or cigars), but I will illustrate
by giving a few figures dealing
with that branch of our indus-
try.
In Portland there are some
250,000 people. Of that
number about 50,000 are
male adults, and of the latter
number about 30,000 use ci-
gars. A conservative estimate
of the number of cigars used
every day in Portland is
100,000 — 3,000,000 a
month—36,000,000 a year.
The average cigarmaker
turns out about 50,000 cigars
a year, working 48 weeks,
which means that it would
require 720 cigarmakers to
supply the Portland trade. At
the rate figured the average
weekly wage would be about
$18 per man, or $622,080 a
year—a payroll not to be
sneezed at.
Of course there is no like-
lihood of the complete suc-
cess of a home industry, but
if one-half of the cigars used
here are made here, it means
in round numbers a yearly
payroll of $300,000 distrib-
uted among more than 300
workmen.
We see in the great dailies
of the city, occasionally, that
the Chamber of Commerce
is boosting “Home Indus-
try”; that the Ad Club is do-
ing good work for the city;
but Portland, despite its mild
climate, its wonderful high-
way, its attractive scenery, its
splendid location, will never
be a successful city in the
broad sense, until it becomes
a city of “industries”; and it
will never become a city of
industries until its citizens
conclude that home-made
goods are worthy of prefer-
ence, all things being equal.
The grocers are to be com-
mended upon their initial,
practical step. The manufac-
turers and the consumers
should co-operate.
E.J. STACK