Big Tobacco: The Mechanization Of The Tobacco Industry

Beyond inhalable tobacco and safety matches, cigarettes needed another mechanized invention before they could flourish in domestic and international markets. The mechanization of the cigarette came about when James Bonsack, son of a textile manufacturer, transformed one of his father’s carding machines to mass-produce cigarettes. In 1880 Bonsack submitted a patent to the U.S. Patent Office for his new Bonsack machine, which could produce 100,000 cigarettes in 10 hours. In the 1880’s, most journey level cigarette rollers could only produce about 1000 cigarettes per day. The mass production of the modern cigarette was set to launch(1). In 2008, the Hauni PROTOS-M8 cigarette machine was producing 19,480 cigarettes per minute(14)! By 1900, Big Tobacco in the United States mass-produced cigarettes at a staggeringly low cost(1). Coinciding with the rise of the mechanized cigarette was the rise of mechanized transportation, home radio programs, cinema, and newspapers. The mass marketing of cigarettes in the United States was incredible. Slogans began to appear in newspaper and magazine advertisements. During times of war, tobacco advertisements took on patriotic themes. During times of economic hardship, tobacco advertisements promoted savings. Big Tobacco was the first to use color ads, color billboards, comic

Born from the crashed economy of the Great Depression and the memory of the Great War, public attitudes towards foreign affairs turned inward. Perhaps best capturing this sentiment was a quote published in The Reader’s Digest that “War doesn’t determine who’s right, only who’s left”(16). In 1935 General Smedley D. Butler USMC published a book entitled “War is a Racket”, in which General Butler recommended an isolationist military policy, predicated on defense in lieu of undue aggression(17). It seemed, at least for a while, that U.S. foreign policy would be conscripted to an isolationist