Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1889-07-19
The French Tobacco Contract.

ETlOay MOTnluE. ........'...'..J ulH AOtHs 1000
The French Tobacco Contract.
The annual tobacco contract of the
French government and the manner
in which it is made and filled has for
years been subject Of much talk with
gentlemen who have undertaken to
find out the cause of the continued
depression which embarrasses the mar
ket for our Maryland product. A
great deal has been said on this SUBJ
lect. 1t is said that the several leaf
buyers of Baltimore city will compete
for the contract, but that the contract
once obtained, all competition in the
purchase of the tobacco suited to its
requirements ceases and the contrac-
tor is allowed to fill his contract at
his pleasure, paying such prices as he
may desire.
This statement has always impress
ed us as resulting in large measure
from the imaGipations Of the earnest
gentlemen WHO have SC frequently
made it. 1t is difficult to see what
would be the sense of these Baltimore
buyers competing with each other for
the contract, if it were known all the
time that the men who obtained the
contract could fix whatever value he
pleased upon French tobacco in the
Baltimore market, without any danger
of competition from his fellew crafts
men. Any showed man would, under
these circumstances, be apt to bid suf-
ficiently low to make sure Of being the
lowest bidder and obtaining the COR
tract. But reputable gentlemen will
assure you that they have time and
again been in Baltimore, at the offices
of their agents, and that no leaf buyer
would make any bid at all on tobacco
suited to the French market. excepting
the French contractor alone. We be.
lieve this fact is corroborated also by
many of the commission merchants
themselves.
Now, assuming this to be fact, it
is as clear as the noon-day sun that
these Baltimore buyers never contend
ed with each other in good faith for
the contract; for, as we said before,
no sensible men would do such silly
business as con.eHding as lowest bid
der for contract, when it was already
foregone conclusion that no matter
how low the lowest mans bid was, he
would be allowed to fill it at his pleas
sure without any competition or effort
to ''corner" the tobacco on him.
Then, still assuming the fact of non
competition after contract obtained to
be proved; the only sensible conclu-
sion that can be drawn is that the ap-
parent competition among the buyers
for the contract must be q mere pre-.
tense and that there is a collusive
arrangement among them to that eff
feet. Assuming this to be true. then
there ought to be some large margin
of profit on the contract which would
serve to make respectable ''divide"
among the several parties to this sup
posed collusion. But from the figures,
which, according to our advices here,
the French contract is taken for, there
does not appear to be sufficient mar
gin between the contract price and the
Baltimore market value to afford such
a consideration for collusive action
among buyers.
Altogether the French contract
seems to be kind of mixed business
which our planters do not fully un-
derstand, but the discovery claimed
by DR.. Waring at the recent meeting
of the Farmers Alliance, that tobacco
which the French contractor pays 5
cents pound for in Baltimore, after
being manufactured by the French
government, sells in France for $1.4s
a.pound, would seem to be worthy, of
some investigation. 1t would seem,
4Mswe have heretofore suggested, that
-shE, a proper effort at this end of the
iihe on behalf of the producer, the
French government could be made to
pay more for tobacco upon which it
makes such an extraordinary profit.
There is evidently general spirit
Of distrust among the Maryland to-
bacco growers toward the middie.men,
who, as the trade is now conducted,
must necessarily intervene between
the producer and the consumer of his
product. Whether this distrust is
based on just foundation, or n.t,
we cannot undertake to. say; but it
certainly exists to large extent
Without undertaking to pass upon
the complaints of farmers. in regard
to the manner in which their interests
are served, there is no room to doubt
that it would be to tie advantage of the
producer if the middle man could be
entirely dispensed with.
But the question is how can this re-
suit be accomplished ? We know of
but one way in which this can be &C
complished and that! is, as we have
heretofore suggested. bY the organiza.