Daily Yellowstone Journal

The Work of Making Cigarettes.

[New York Sun.]

"How many cigarettes can a girl make in a day?" was asked of a manufacturer yesterday.

"That depends upon how nimble her fingers are. A smart, quick girl can make about 3,500. The pay is from 70 to 80 cents per 1,000, according to the grade of cigarette made. There are very few girls who can make more than 2,000 per day. Making the cigarettes looks easy enough, but if you should try it you would find it very hard and tedious."

When a girl goes to her work in the morning she receives a small bundle of papers and two and three-quarter pounds of tobacco, from which she must make 1,000 cigarettes. A small piece of extra heavy paper about twice the size of a cigarette paper is used in rolling a cigarette. One edge is pasted fast to a piece of marble or a smooth flat stone about one foot square that is on a table. A stick about a foot in length and about as thick as a match is used to paste with. The paste is made of pure starch and water. The cigarette paper is laid on the heavy paper, and a small quantity of tobacco is put on it. Then the edge of the heavy paper is turned over, and, by sliding the flat of the hand over it, the cigarette is rolled. Then the paste stick is run over one edge of the cigarette paper, and one more roll completes the cigarette. After the ends are cut off it is ready for the trade.

Great caution must be used when rolling and pasting, for if any were pasted crooked or soiled in any manner, or made too hard or too soft, the 1,000 would be returned to the maker, who would have to make them over again. This happens very often, and is a loss of several hours to the maker. There may be plenty of enjoyment in smoking cigarettes, but there is none in making them.