Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-03-29
MANUFACTURE OF pLUo-rosAcco.
The Business Gratifying. But Not SO Large
rs Has Been Expected.


as Has Been Expected.
RIoHi6SD, Va, March 20, 1891.
| To ne Editor of he Dispatch:
The New York Sun recently published
letter written from this city by i. Thomas
| Fortune. colored journalist, in which the
author. with evident goodwill. presents
| in olittering detail the magnitude OF oul
| tobacco industry. There Is, however. suc1
| q thing as damming with much praise a.
| well a. with the ultra-conservatlVe
quantity or quality. As view the ten
dency Of Mr.. Fortunes statements. one ol
the features of his subject is enlarged upon
| to an extent calculated TO produce incrc-
dulity as TO other reports of our varied IN,
dustries which are confirmed by facts and
figures. | refer to the manufacture Of
| plug tobacco.
MT. Fortune says, quoting information
given him by manufacturer: In the
city of Richmond alone we have forty
seven factories. The output OF the small
est is half million pounds annually"
The only consistent inference from TINS
statement is that these forty-seyen facto-
ries are p,ig-factories (cigars, cigarettes,
and cheroOts being treated separately
and their minimum aggregate output, say
| "a, 900 900 pounds annually. AS rev u
our factories produce 100000 poun9s
each. O number of them 100000 POUNDS
and more. aud many of them sun IN ex.
cess of the limit mentioned, oUO,V9u
pounds. annually, I am within bounds
when | deduce from the above premises Q
total grand output of say, at least 30OOO.-
600 pounds annually. Any interested per
son can ascertain from the revenue depart
ment reports that the actual producuon
of the Richmond factories is hardly one
half OF this number OF pounds, ana eau
also. by reference TO the directory, learn
that instead OF forty-seyen factories we
have in operation twenty-six-pIug ana
smoking.
Nr. Fortune states further that some OF
the factories have to haul Their revenue
stamps with draye When it is known tnat
a stout man could, If necessary, carry IN MS
arms at one trip all the stamps required 10
ship half million pounds, the necessity
for dray will hardly be. appreciated.
These truths do not reflect discredlt upon
our manufacturers. On the contrary; 40
not believe that anywhere else such de-
pressing conditions as they have encoun-
tered could have been more noOly COM
bated, When the demand for the Buriey
filler assumed large. proportions , our
manufacturers troubles began. The
taste for this mild grade becomlng
ali but universal in the North, East,
and West, the trade of the Virginia and
North Carolina filler brands became mostly
limited to the South and Southwest terri,
tory. Then followed the changing, OF Ola
brands, experiments with new ones, lessons
to be learned in the handling OF a new
grade requiring q manipulation dlnereh'
from that applied to the Virginia articie'
&c, &c.
At points adjacent to the Burley section
have arisen immense factories defying our
competition in many directions by the al,
vantages of contiguous crop-InaIkets ana
vast tributary trade territory. The COM
pulsory changes incident to this condition
of things, together with the contingent
Generalization of the leaf market, have
created the most radical revolution IN
every feature of the tobacco trade IN THIS
State, foreign shipping alone excepted.
Not to make this article too long l Will not
further pursue the discussion except to
add that, all things considered, the true
condition of our plug-tobacco trade - q
gratifying one. have not written 10 de-
preciate its progress but In the sincere pc
lief that such absurd exaggerations as MIR.
Fortune makes will not give credit TO the
many excellent and faithful records OF our
city's splendid development.
We should court appreciation, but not
accept palpable fattery. Unreliable boast
ing accomplishes nothing. Some months
ago one of our papers bad an editorial on
tobacco, crediting Richmond with an out
put of 40, 900, 900 pounds annually, which,
il stated, was equalled by one factory
Liegett a. Myers, in st. Louis, which city. it
argued, was not in tobacco section
The st. Louis firm only claimed for the
year previous 22,0OO,OOO pounds, and, as
above stated. our Richmond factories
hardly aggregated $4,000 900 pounds
The editorial concluded by saying:
Richmond should az least put out 1O0.-
OOO. 900 pounds annually! If we only
could reach that figure we would beat the
rest of the world combined. L reassert
that such statements do vastly more harm
than good. II is weak policy 10 assume
that Won have fools for readers, and once
you are discredited YOU are sure to have
applied ab unO disco onlnes.
Dawn T. BrTRR