UNIVERSAL EXERCISE

When the Wrigley Chewing-gum Company can declare a fifty million dollar stock melon as it did two days ago, it is time for the tireless foreigner who delights in criticising America to sit up and take notice. The national propensity for ice-water, the erection of enormous buildings, and the proverbial love of the dollar are all designated as "typically American," but the gum-chewing habit is even more "typical". And the Chicago company's action will certainly cause statistic-hunters to chortle with glee at this unexpected windfall.

The average consumption per man, woman, and child per minute, day and year, will alone cause many gallons of ink to flow and many heads to nod in the wee small hours of the morning as this work goes breathlessly on. After these fundamentals have been touched on there will be endless startling revelations as to how many times those fifteen billion pieces of gum would encircle the globe if laid end to end, and how much the Salvation Army could get for the fifteen billion wrappers. Some especially gifted specialist will figure the horse power output of the jaws of America's gum-chewers, compare it with Niagara Falls, and reduce it to pounds of coal per annum. And next year, Mr. Wrigley will sell thirty billion sticks.