This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 Excerpt: ...thousand pounds in 1867. With the introduction of the stamp system in 1868, which reduced the opportunities for fraud to a minimum, a new era dawned for the firm. They gradually regained ground, and by 1891, when they sold their interests to the American Tobacco Company, their annual output was five million pounds and upward. The first part of the present factory building on Barre street, forty by one hundred and eighty-three feet, was erected in 1853, and in 1858 a front extension of one hundred and four feet was added, and also the east wing. The front extension west of the original building and the large warehouse on the corner of Charles street, eighty by one hundred and eighty-three feet, were added in 1886, and the building on Lee street some years later. Some years before the death of Mr. Ax, which occurred in 1887, Mr. Gail's son-in-law, Ernst Schmeisser, had been admitted to the firm, and upon the death of Mr. Ax his son, Christian Ax Jr., and Mr. Gail's son, George William Gail, became partners. The business is now a branch of the American Tobacco Company, and is managed by Messrs. Schmeisser and Gail, Mr. Ax having retired. Notwithstanding his engrossing business interests Mr. Gail found opportunity for the social amenities of life, holding membership in the Germania Club of Baltimore, the German Society of Maryland, the Maryland Club, the Baltimore Country Club, the Maryland Country Club and the German Historical Society. He was also identified with a number of other social and patriotic organizations. His religious affiliations were with the Lutheran church, of which he was a lifelong member, and in politics he was an Independent Democrat. Mr. Gail married (first), September 12, 1854, Mary Sophia, born February 8, 1837, in Baltimore, daughter o...