GIBSON BROS.

Gibson Bros., tobacco manufacturers.  The man who first discovered the properties of the “Virginia weed” had not thought of the solace and solid comfort he was about to bestow upon the human family.  This plant is the only gift of the vegetable kingdom to man that is in universal use, and this is more strange, because it is less than three centuries since it became known to Europeans.  What seductive powers lie in the broad, long leaf, that man should become so readily and abjectly its slave!  Among those engaged in the manufacture of this “weed of solace” stands the name of Gibson Bros., who have had many years’ experience in this line of business.  Their father, John A. Gibson, is a pioneer in the tobacco business, having for many years manufactured it on his farm in Christian County, and made a name for the brands now in use: No. 1, No. 2 and Cherry Juice.  These brands are known all over the Southwest and are made of a high grade of goods.  The plant is located in Ozark and turns out about 20,000 pounds of tobacco a year.  The plant is large and they have all the machinery required for business.  The goods are made from the native tobacco grown in this and adjoining counties.  This is one of the leading industries of the county and the brothers are doing a good business.  Furnishing, as it does, a gentle lethe for the corroding cares and worriments of life, it is not surprising that we should see such high authority as that of James G. Blaine for the statement that, with a vast contingent of the race, tobacco has become a necessity.