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Philip Morris

Text of Remarks by James P. Richards, President, the Tobacco Institute, Inc. Washington, D.C. Before Dedication Ceremonies Miksch Tobacco Shop of Old Salem Restoration Winston-Salem, North Carolina Friday, 600422

Date: 22 Apr 1960 (est.)
Length: 8 pages
1003543599-1003543606
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Fields

Author
Richards, J.P.
Area
JOHN-WARE,JUDY/SHB FILE ROOM
Type
PRES, PRESS RELEASE
SPCH, SPEECH/PRESENTATION
Site
R22
Named Person
Miksch, J.M.
Request
Stmn/R1-037
Document File
1003543302/1003543654/600000 TI and TIRC Editorial Comment Informational
Named Organization
TI, Tobacco Inst
Litigation
Stmn/Produced
Characteristic
EXTR, EXTRA
Master ID
1003543302/3654

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24 May 1999
UCSF Legacy ID
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Page 1: gtv02a00
Text of Remarks by James P. Richards, President, '." The Tobacco Institute, Inc. Washington, D.C. '` ~~- Before ,.. Dedication Ceremonies h..; Miksch Tobacco Shop of Old Salem Restoration ,':. Winston-Salem, North Carolina ' Friday, April 22, 1960 _It is a . . privilege -- and a very pleasant one indeed -- to participate n the dedication ceremonies taking`place at the Old Salem Restoration today. .:, ... . .. . ,. _ people who have given so unselfishly of their time and thought, care ~ ~ money to this splendid work of preservation. ~ . . . , - . As a tobacco man, of course, I find special significance and more than the usual interest in the fact that this old building began its career as a tobacconist's shop -- a shop approved and supported by the Moravian community of idealistic and God-fearing people. We in the Tobacco Institute, an organization of manufacturers who produce almost all the cigarettes, snuff, smoking and chewing tobacco made in the United States, think it most appropriate that North Carolina has the oldest surviving American building in which tobacco was made and sold. 1003543539:
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This old tobacco shop will stand as a symbol of the beginnings of a great industry. How fitting that it stands in North Carolina:... .This state, which began humbly as a producer of tobacco, now grows :more leaf and manufactures more cigarettes than any other part of the Union. Today this little shop is only one of many thousand retail outlets in North How fitting it is also that this shop was first opened in the Moravian community of a people with high ideals, with a deep sense of community responsibility combined with a great respect for the rights and freedoms of the individual, and with a determined desire to encourage the search for truth through religion and universal education. I think we can be sure that those colonial Moravians who patronized this tobacco shop in their quiet little community would be proud today to know that their sense of responsibility and their leadership in education and spiritual matters laid a firm foundation that was to persist in this area into the present day. We see it not only here in Winston-Salem where your major industry demonstrates day after day and year after year its responsibili~ies in terms of both community improvement and advancement and in aid to educm and cultural institutions. It can be seen also among the other tobacco growers, manufacturers, and sellers in North Carolina and throughout the United States. community leadership that is exemplified by the works that we are 1003543600 Yes, I am sure that the founders of this Moravian community in which we stand today would be proud of the type of industrial, educational and
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'V: , as have _" r"- . . _ _ . . . _ ~ . . . . . , . , .,.. ~ It is well that we-have such restorations~as Old Salem to remind .,. ..~_: . ,_ . A'. ~...l ;. ._... . ., us of - tHe _ heritage on`which'our American li~e: is fo I unded. As Old Salem's sole tobacconist, Matthew undoubtedly felt that his -il W F .). T~nc•' r i 1 ri n.r ; T i r a cr~ 'rSi~+ i hi n cnnY. ~ao<+ f~;rcr i.nv-,o.7 4« '" During his travels abroad and in this country he lived in places ~ . . .. . -. ~ where practically every adult used snuff or smoked pipes. Tobacco, then '..:'.. ..~.~:, C..: now, was an important part of the daily routine of living. Matthew must observed that tobacco, which writers of old called "the divine -~ ~.~~ herb," ~X~;+ . . - . ,. .. ' ... .-... .. _.h` . . .. .. .- . .. ~ ... . f _ {I~- `~~~1~~ ~ ±~-,Y~ had a soothing effect on people. It gave them contentment -- made them ~; < ,,. .: . .. _ ., .. , .. . . . , . _ ., ., . _. _, ~FY.a~ ~ trade was something much more important than that of a routine shopkeeper. He was being socially useful in providing a commodity that brought pleasure .~..i \'. .. ... . . . ...:.. .. .. . -. .- .. . _':' , - '.. '.:: . ., . . . i . : .:. ' r~~~.,~,~~~ 7 {7.Y :-17.i ',1_5. .. . to the people of his community. Then, too, as was generally true of tobacconists in the later colonial period, Mhtthew did much more than_3ust _~ - - -. _ - -- - , - sell snuff and pipe tobacco. He also cured leaf, processed it into snuff, prepared smoking tobacco, stored his supplies and packaged his goods. . Matthew, in short, was a one-man industrya.. It's conceivable that Matthew, a one-man industry when he left this world., must be getting many a smile these days as he looks down from his heaven and sees what he would have to contend with today. Folks back in those days who were Matthewts customers liked his • store and his products. And if some snuff user or pipe smoker ever had 1003543601
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ny complaint about Matthew's tobaccos'or snuffs, itwas usually from . someone who thought his snuff could be just a little might moister...or ~ his tobacco just a wee bit drier. Matthew never had to listen to witch- hunting legions shouting about the imagined evils of tobacco. His ears irere hunting . . . . ... .. F - . .:~. ,~, . ~~ .~ . . '. v~'~~. } ~., d~~f~"~Sfr ~/,. t.~~ . .. _ .. . . .... ...... ... . .. - i ..•-_• :-:_1....~,~_ ':..,,. ..M._ ...,. :1 _'~- _._'y. _....: .~.~...-.-..... ..~- -keep trying to 1ink'cancer or heart trouble „ spare$ the calls of those who and of curing about every ailment. It has even been accused of causing much Sure, Matthew could remember that even in his time there would be . -: some complaints aboutYsocial'uses oftobacco." Even tYien this_oppositioii_ • . • ... ..~ . , .~ . , . . . -i1. - .. . wasn't new. -It had started in England some 350 years ago. Later, doctors thought tobacco had such great curative values that they opposed the use ,r; for pleasure of this inedicinal herb.And Prom time to time attacks would be renewed. I guess tobacco has been accused of causing about every ailment So even that far back Matthew knew that there was something seriously wrong with these medical argi.mments against smoking. Wasn't he also watching .a:~ . .. ~- ~ - . , . . . .. _ . . . .. .. the spectacular rate at which'the use of tobacco was growing? And wasn't he watching smokers generally living happily to ripe old ages? Yes, and Matthew, from his perch up there, looked down on some early hysteria in this country, too.* He'd had his laughs at the flare-ups of 1920's. A lot of prohibitory and restrictive laws were 1927, they were all rescinded, as the people made their tobacco. , choice to have opposition to the use of tobacco in the 1880's and '90's and again in the :" passed. Then, by ~ W ~ W
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^~- cc.: Now. what else. is amazing to - ono-man-.industry Matthew..up there? .Ts.xes: To Matthew, taxes were something-you only worried about if you owned a lot of property. -Matthew must get a snicker or two as he sees . . _ ; . . . ., ., , , . , . s*y* z..t today's tobacco users paying $2.7 billion in taxes to treasuries of cities, . `1 f~T + states and the United States. Several pennies.at a time on each tobacca product mounts up to this $2.7 billion -- a staggering sum to old Matthew. :then Matthew had the only tobacco shop for miles around. Tobacconists shops were few and far betweenianywhere in the colonies. Today, some ~ . , .. _.„ ..., ~ . -: _. .. , _ , . million and a half outlets supply a growing consumer'demand. •~Except for currency, nothing passes more frequently across dealers' counters in this country than tobacco. Inventory was no problem, either, in Matthew's time. A tobacconist stocked' a relatively small amount of goods. Today shelves are filled with all forms of manufactured tobacco, includingl several dozen brands of cigarettes -- those new contraptions that were not even known in Matthew's time down here. ..And in 1960 about.500 billion:cigarettes:will be manufactured Just a few thousand people were active in the production and shipping of tobacco in Matthew's time... Now the figure runs to many millions. And the annual farm production runs over a billion pounds... -America has long been the world's largest manufacturer of tobacco. The retail tobacco trade inthe America of the 1770's was not highly rated commercially. In 1959 the total of sales, tax included, was close to $7 billion in the United States.
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L " aC _t; E _ _. _ ... ,, and listen... There are some hard facts... not guesses, mind you... hard facts we should all look at because of their bearing on the use of.tobacco particularly cigarettes. Now, for a few minutes, may we let Matthew just sit quietly up there The greatest advance in cigarette smoking in this country came during the past half century. The figure is around forty times the number consumed . .. . .. - .. M ~ • ' . ~ ~ ' ... ;._._ . _...... .... . . _.. . -.,a.....L_.... ~ . ... n. ~- ~. . . ..'::/., .. . . .~~.r.. .o . . ....,.r-. ..: since just before World War I. On a per capita basis we consume more tobacco than any other people. And what is the health record of Americans? Our •~.~... . . , . . . ~~ . .. .. ... .. ...... q... ~:, -_. . . . . health~is collectively better than it's ever been; we live longer than our ., . . _ ... . .forebears; the stature of the newer generation is greater. Some 25 years . . - - . _._ _ _ _ _ -- - _ . . _ _ .. .... _.. , . . .. _ . .... has been added to our average life span in the past half-century. I know, we all know, that there are many reasons for this improved health status: better medical care and drugs, scientific advances in diet, sanitation, housing, working conditions. But it must be clear that the extensive use of tobacco, particularly cigarettes over the past few decades, has not shortened our life span as some people would have you believe. as is any other conscientious business group. Andd we are taking vigorous, practical steps in the field of scientific research on all aspects of :, 1 tobacco and its use, a research program that has been going on for many __.-.The tobacco industry is just as interested in matters of good health years. Through research we can learn facts to depend on, rather than relying on opinion. 1003543604 Some people in legislative, medical and educational circles are too impatient, too unwilling to wait until the evidence is in. Some of these people have proposed measures to curb, if not to destroy the tobacco ~..:.:
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industry. To them, the current witch Is tobacco. They would have you live r'`.-.. t rr tc•m nnr v.~ ~ t fn+ hn*. .r^+ F. 7?~i t . _ .;.~ in a world where you coulCin`t smoiie or use tobacco in various other rorms. ;? Some of them have attempted to have legislation passed which is highly .. ,,. .. . . . ..~ .. .. , . . , .. ~ .. . .. .. . . - ~~ .... discriminatory, downright silly and sometimes even dishonest. What has prevented them from carrying out their programs is the good, common sense ' bane. majority of people to whom tobacco is a boon -- not a - Americans have made it clear, very clear, that they do not intend ~f3_l?]rwi i7)c-Y }iafnrF~ [y!'1trjl.ri WS9r.. e, ...(1>i sa.T1lni+. no ?li_Y~h=:,,c-i.P Wca nnr~CtT,nP mnw.~ _. to be frightened away from smoking. That is a matter of their own free will, their own free choice. They are maintaining a tradition which has ' existed with successive generations over the past several centuries. areas. It affects the economic pattern of the whole country and, in one Finally, there is one factor I should like to comment on briefly. The business of tobacco is not confined to a few states or limited industrial - Thousands of farmers other than tobacco farmers and millions of ?productive workers in three-quarters of-our-fiPty states supply materials and equipment to tobacco manufacturers. Many other people are in services essentia]l to the industry. There is a crisscross of industrial activity {n this country, all directed to the needs of manufacturers and tobacco consumers. The next time you buy a package of cigarettes or any other tobacco product take a good look at it and try to figure what went into it in the form of labor, of machinery, of people behind the machines, and 4 of services which made the product readily available to you.
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The industry has lived through a series of attacks, some of them very intolerant ones, too. It has grown stronger through the years. It - ,.- .. . ~ will continue to grow. I make that confident prediction on the basis of :"history. The use of tobacco is a fixed part of our lives. It helps us to adjust ourselves to the quick pace of the day. It mellows our daily living. Just as the settlers in the old Moravian town of Salem -- a .. word.which means "'Deace" -- made use of tobacco as one of the auiet .iovs ':_of living, so today the 60 million and more Americans who enjoy tobacco . . , e-, in various forms find in it acomfort, a relaxation not provided by any

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