The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-03-18
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION.
LOUISA COUNTY, March 5, 1878

LOUISA COUNTY, March 5, 1878.
Editors of the Dispatch: Dear Sirs.--
In your issue OF the LIST OF March I find
an article from the tobacco.dealers, adj
dressed through your paper to the planters
OF Virginia, in which there is some good
advice; but must say that I do not agree
with them in all they say.
That the reputation Of our Virginia to-
bacco is not as good as it was twenty years
ago freely admit; but that it is owing en-
tirely to the inferiority of its quality / am
not disposed to admit, and will say few
words IN defence of the planter who raises
good article OF the old staple crop of Vir-
ginia. To the numerous class Of tobacco
raisers who come not under this head I
would say, Listen to the advice OF the deal
ers given in the article of March 1st.
Twenty years ago the tobacco-dealer Of
Virginia was 6 different manner of man y
from the dealer Of the present dag. Most
Of that honorable class have passed away,
and others, from different causes, have
ceased to be dealers, and with them has gone
Interpolation of the Virginia leaf. They
sacredly guarded that reputation by dealing
exclusively in Virginia leaf.
Did the Thomases. Hardgroves, Cosbys,
or any other manufacturer Of their day,
work into their famous brands such vile
counterfeits as are now poured into our
market from the West? Is the quality of a
No. l Western hogshead better than the
same quality of twenty years ago? Or is
the quality of a good Virginia filler of
a given standard inferior to the same quail
ty of twenty years ago? No! Then why is
it that the prices paid for our cured
filters are so far below what was paid for
the same article twenty years back? Because
81 n fIar do hos
reputation to guard. More particularly is
this the case with our manufacturers OF to-
day. Very few of them have brand which
is made up exclusively Of Virginia tobacco.
They have put upon the market mongrel
brand, made up Of the Virginia filler and a
porous, Shiny nondescript, which has to be
subjected to dose Of gum-arabic to give it
the appearance Of tobacco of natural stami-
ma. With this kind Of brand they have
fed the consumer until his taste has become
corrupted, and he now wants nothing bet
ter, and could not appreciate good chew
il it was his good fortune to taste one.
The manufacturer buys our filler now for
about one third less than he paid for the
same article before the war, and he pays for
western filler to work with it at least dou-
BILE what it could be bought for before the
war, which reduces the demand for our filler,
and consequently the price too.
The dealers say: .The West, with its
comparatively virgin soil. can and will pro-
duce the quantity, let Virginia produce the
quality" Now, gentlemen dealers, this is
good advice. Every planter would do bet
ter to raise a good article than he would if
he raised an inferior one; but when you
put his good article upon level with one
which is intrinsically far inferior because it
resembles it in appearance, and can be dis
guised SO as to pass for the genuine Vir-
ginia chew. You do the raiser OF good
Virginia leaf q great I'M ustice, and take
away the incentive which naturally follows
good prices and fair shake.
You advise the planter who has been rails
ing twenty hogsheads to make ten, and he
who has been making ten to make five, and
even to make greater reduction. How are
we TO make living If we make only half
crop and have to compete with the western
planter. who has 8. comparatively virgin
SOIL" and makes afull crop; for which he
gets nearly as much on an average as the
best raiser Of the best Virginia. snn-cured
fillerP Give us better. prices for our sweet
filler and pay less for the western
ull.faced, Shiny, coaTse-fbred nondescr1pt,.
which every Judge OF the article knows has
no pretensions to line article OF chewing
tobacco, and your brands will stand higher
with the consumer, which Will enable you
TO pay us the higher prices.
Our strips do not stand as Hight foreign: i
markets as they did formerly, but do not
charge the planter with the depreciation,
and feel confident that the dealer is more to
blame. than the, planter, us many OF them
have passed the western strips for Virginia
production. Il freely admit that there is o
or haS