212 The Soverane Herbe 



pounds cleared for consumption. This represents 

 2 pounds per head of the population. But this 

 does not give the consumption per smoker. Deduct- 

 ing 30,000,000 non-smokers (women, children, and 

 25 per cent, of the men) it appears that Britain's 

 ten million smokers consume 81,000,000 pounds of 

 tobacco per annum. Thus striking an average each 

 devotee of Lady Nicotine reduces to ashes 8 pounds 

 of the sacred herb in the course of a year, or 2J ounces 

 per week. 



The authorities attribute the increases of recent 

 years to the growing popularity of the cigarette. In 

 his Budget speech of 1896 the Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer stated that the Custom officials esti- 

 mated that not less than ;^ 1,000,000 sterling a year 

 is literally thrown into the gutter in the shape of 

 cigar- and cigarette-ends. 



The tremendous increase in the consumption of 

 tobacco is shown also by the advance of the revenue 

 from the truly ' soverane herb.' A hundred years 

 ago the revenue from tobacco was not a million 

 sterling. In 1849 — half a century ago — tobacco 

 brought ;^4,425,040 into the Imperial Exchequer. 

 In 1 89 1 it for the first time produced more than half 

 the Customs' revenue. In 1900 it brought in the 

 enormous sum of ;^i 1,257,500 (including ;^96,ooo for 

 manufacturers and vendors' licences), or one-tenth of 

 the ordinary national revenue. 



About 56,000 tons of tobacco are imported into 

 Britain every year, and of this 36,000 tons are con- 

 sumed. Of this only 1,100 tons are foreign cigars, for 

 the pipe is England's smoke. The value, ex duty, of 



