Missouri and 

 Tobacco 



n the development of the tobacco industry to its 

 present-day proportions Missouri had an important 

 share. Some phases of its participation in the national 

 tobacco commerce were, indeed, unique. 



Not only was Missouri a producer of desirable leaf 

 but St. Louis became for a while the center of tobacco 

 manufacture in the United States. Missouri's ingenious 

 backwoodsmen evolved a product which was long the 

 dominant form of tobacco used in America and thus 

 brought a new phrase into the English language: "plug 

 tobacco." 



Its farmers created a novel pipe — the corncob — an 

 article which found its way around the globe. A petite 

 and pretty citizen of St. Louis became the first lady ciga- 

 rette drummer and made headlines in her time. The most 

 famous smoker of his day— a world citizen— was a Mis- 

 sourian. No one writing on the development of the 

 tobacco industry in America can ignore Missouri's 

 contributions. 



Today, together with some 60 million fellow Ameri- 

 cans, most people of Missouri have a high regard for 

 tobacco. The extent of their interest in one of the most 



