The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1891-10-09
ALLEN Is A WINNER
He Gets the Cigar Makers to Com
bine.
And Millions Will Be Put in the
Pool.
Mr.. ALLEN is WELL KNOWN HERE
The Small Fellows Are to Be Crowded
to the Wall by This Gigan-
tic Deal.

10 the W all 1nlS OlSan-
tic Deal.
The Advertiser of New York contains
this interesting information to people in
this section:
Twenty of the leading cigar manufac
turers Of this city held a meeting yester-
day afternoon in the office of T. H. AL
len, No. Is Broadway. The object Of it
was carefully concealed and all informa-
ton regarding il was withheld from re-
pOrters.
1t was learned, however, that the meet
ing was held to perfect plans for the fog
nation Of gigantic cigar trust to in
clude all the prominent cigar manufac-
turers in the United States. It is pro-
posed to organize the trust on the same
lines as the consolidation Of the five lead
ing cigarette factories which took place
less than two years ago. The meeting
was held in accordance with call pub
lished in The Tobacco Journal.
Mr.. Allen admitted to q reporter of the
Morning Advertiser that the cigar man
ufacturers present had agreed to form
combination which would include $4,000
manufacturers Of domestic cigars, and
that they would have an aggregate capi-
tai Of $25,000,000. A committee had
been appointed, and the arrangements
were we'll under way
1T is big undertaking" he said, "and
will require some time to be put on
working basis. 1t cannot be called a
trust, however; it is combination to
decrease the cost of production and to
rid the trade of number of middlemen,
who go between the manufacturer and
the retail dealer, and absorb all the profits
there are in the business"
Another manufacturer said: The OBJ
ject of the combine is to down the leaf
merchants by consolidating the big man.
ufactOries. We will send out our own
buyers to purchase leaf from the planters.
If it is found that the dealers demand too
high price for Connecticut leaf, the
buyers may go to Amsterdam and else
where for Sumatra wrapper. This action
will bring the native planter to terms"
The manufacturers Of clear Havana
cigars will not be included in the trust.
Only domestic goods are concerned.
Straiton & Storm have SO far fought shy
Of the trust, but they believe it will be a
good thing for the trade. If the combi-
nation succeeds it will be severe blow
to the jobbers who are now making
money by handling the goods for the re-
| tail trade. It is, as stated by Mr., Allen,
the object Of the manufacturers to drive
them out of the market and they will
probably make no terms with them. 1t
is likely that domestic <cigars will be
cheaper during the fight between the
jobbers and the manufacturers, but if the
| former are driven to the wall the manu-
facturers will be in a position to dictate
prices.
The idea of the trust was suggested
soon after the passage of the Mckinley
bill. Meetings we're held on a small
scale from time to time, at which it was
agreed to raise the prices, but the new
price list was rejected by the jobbers,
and a good deal Of "cutting" was the re-
suit. A lot of small manufacturers
sprung up and offered the jobbers Sum
atra- wrapped goods al low prices. The
big manufacturers then agreed to con-
solidate, and the first meeting was held
several months ago. 1t is understood
that the stock of each concern will be
appraised, and corporation bonds for its
value will be issued to its owner. The
factories will still be conducted by the
present owners, and each will turn his
profits into a pool, to be divided pro rata
Expenses will be much reduced.
The primary object of the trust, how
ever, it is said, will be to facilitate the
purchase of tobacco. This will be bought
in such large quantities that the manu-
facturers will be able to control its prices
absolutely. This is an important item
as the output of the factories included in
the proposed combination is over halt
the entire production Of the United
| States.