The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1879-07-09
American robacco.

Daring February Congress reduced
the rate of the tax or tobacco thirty
three per cent--from twenty-foar to
sixteen cents per pound.
The late convention of manufactar-
ers at CincinnaI Il decided, however,
not to reduce the price of manufac-
tlred tobacco more than six cents a
pound for the best, aud not more than
half that amount for inferior qualities;
but expressed the conviction that the
government will lose less by the re-
dueed tax than any one has apprc.
hended, and that production and fab
rication will be greatly increased.
The commercial importance of the in
terest concerned is rarely considered.
1t is very great, and holds its own in
spite of the rivalry Of other countries.
The plant, it is generally known, is a
native Of tropical America. 1t first
entered Europe from San Domingo
through Portugal, in 1920, and was
known in France in 1872, or quite a
dozen years before Sir Walter Raj
eigh's second colony, under Sir Rich
ard Greenville, enabled its promoters
to win the glory Of introducing the
potato and tobacco to Europe. From
that time the cultivation q spread
around the world and the use has ex.
tended very far beyond the cultiva-
ton.
The cultivation on this contiGeat
reaches from Canada TO southern
Paraguay in Europe from northern
Germany TO the Mediterranean ; ex-
tends over much Of Africa and across
a large part Of Asia, and reaches to
the contiguous islands Of each of
these great territorial divisions.
Notwithstanding this vast spread
in production and use, passing that
of the potato at every point, The eul-
tivation and fabrication in the United
States have grown almost as though
the plant was Limited to our geogra-
ply. The yield varies with the soil,
climate and attention given-from
six hundred to a thousand pounds
per acre averaging about eight hun
bred, and a%ggregating $4,000 hogs
heads of 1900 pounds each, or 420,-
600, GOO pounds, of which we export
about 250,000 hogsheads and con-
sumo the residue,
1t is calculated that more than
522, 600 acres are constantly devoted
to this crop, and that every State
raises some. More than a quarter Of
a million persons are employed in the
agriculture alone; over one hundred
thousand are occupied in the various
stages Of preparation, and a third
more are employed in the retail trade
than ia the cultivation. Three years
ago the States north of the Ohio riv-
err and Of Maryland had a crop of
los, 600 cases of seed-leaf, valued at
S5,T5S, 900, of which Pennsylvania
produced 10000 cases, estimated su-
perior to the residue, and worth ST.
500, 600.
The value Of the leaf exported is
placed at S25, GOO, 000 annually. The
internal revenue lax derived from
1850 manufactures has amounted TO
SIG, 000, GOO annually, excluding the
sum derived from segags and licenses;
aud altogether all the advantages TO
labor, transportation and domestic as
well as foreign trade annot be ex-
actly computed, it is evident from
the facts recited that they are numer-
Gus.
The superiority of American tobac-
co has been established everywhere.
The Cuban, a limited amount, is pre-
ferred for fine segars, but this prefer
ence has caused o large importation
of that leaf, which, after fabrication,
is now exported to Europe, where it
vies with the best of the famous W.
elto Absjo. For general use none
grown anywhere else is at all COM
parable. The Manila leaf, like the
o~verpraised Latakia, is weak, and
wants essential virtues. The action
of the Cincinnati convention shows
the conviction of manufacturers that
the demand will grow. That belief
rests upon good grounds, and as the
country derives more than S25, 000,-
600 annually from its export of leaf,
and is increasing its export of manu-
featured qualities, and has such ad.
yantages fer making that Increment
more rapid and more influential in its
fcreign exchanges, as well as in It's
domestic industries, We may reasona-
bly, expect practical results from this
reduced taxation at an early day,
which viii be seen and felt over a
very broad field.
The effect in Pennsylvania should
and doubtless viii be considerable
Phiid. North american.