Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1897-01-07

Commission. II
Total sis u
| 800 10 at IOc., a ~
i Expenses, $IS n
Net proceeds, A. a
no GRADE, 500 LIB.
Stripping, e.0
Conditioning, packing and hauling. Ia
Freight to Baltimore. III
| Drayage, =;
1 Insurance. M
Reinspection, 10
commission la
Total. ara II
| 500 Id. at lc, a. n
More than gross receipts. & n
Deduct from this for strippine "a
Conditioning, packing and hauling "a
And in addition to this about 10 per ct
loss IN weight, and you receive from
your Commission Agent two dollars and
ninety cents to pay the stripping, hand
ling, ETC., and your years labor is gone
besides.
| therefore contend that had that 500
ID. OF tobacco been thrown in the manure
heap, it would have helped to enrich
that, and the owner would have been in
pocket eight dollars and fifty cents which
he paid out for stripping and handling
A rigid assortment of the various
| grades must be made, so that each grade
shall stand upon its own merits. We
| are compelled to cater to the desires of
those who use our products, or they will
| certainly take that in preference which
does suit them. Mixed stripping is worse
than mixed packing and should be siren
uously avoided. When the hogshead is
found to he packed with different kinds
4 M fnh hos . l.. &
ing and through reclamations upon the
warehouses. But when two and three
cent tobacco, is tied in the same bundle
with eight and ten cent tobacco, there is
no getting at it, and if the samples show
this condition, it is sold, if sold at all.
/ at the lower prices, as is the case with
mixed packed tobacco.
The bad handling of our tobacco, in
the stripping and packing, is working
serious injury to the trade in MARYLAND
tobacco. l saw samples of trash re-
turned from France that were taken
| from hogsheads of tobacco which Mr..
Won Lingen assured me he paid as much
| as III cents pound for, consisting of
dirty black leaves, corn shucks, straw
and tobacco stalks, just such stuff as
you see on the floor of every tobacco
barn.
These samples were sent back sealed.
with the number of the hogshead and
| the name of the owner or his initials
| upon it. And / am assured by nearly
every buyer upon the Baltimore market
that they have been making a list of
these names, and when a hogshead of
tobacco comes to the warehouse with
one of these names upon il they will
not buy at all; and they are right.
Such dishonesty ought TO be stamped
out, and must be, or it wilkbe useless to
attempt to improve the trade in Mary
land tobacco. This bad mixing OF the
tobacco in the hogsheads, the putting
IN of leaves, trash and other stuff that
ought not to be there, has greatly in
creased since so much of our Maryland
tobacco has been selling in transfer.
These transfer shippers, whose profit is
so much per pound, endeavoT, / suppose
to sell all they buy, and resort to the
mixing process to get off the refuse.
And instead of putting their own names
upon the casks, use the name of parties
from whom they buy or fictitious names.
But some farmers are doing it and il is
to be hoped the iniquitous practice will
be stopped. Why should farmer in
jure or destroy the results of six months
labor in growing his crop by few days
of careless stripping or packing.
Much complaint has been made
against the rule adopted recently by the
Baltimore buyers, in limiting the weight
of the hogshead af tobacco to $50 pounds.
have conferred with several of the
buyers upon the subject and am fully
convinced that the demand for light
weights did not originate in Baltimore,
but they were compelled to do so by
their customers in Europe. can read
lily understand. II Is no advantage to
the buyer in Baltimore, or in Europe,
except the advantage that accrues to the
tobacco. The ocean freights and ship
ping expenses are all charged by the
hogshead, and they pay the same for a
60Olb h0gshead as they would have to do
for 100Olb. There is no question as to
the fact that finer grades of tobacco are
likely to be bruised when packed and
pressed heavily. And that even in the
common grades, which are held for
want of demand, when they have re-
manned in the warehouses for several
months, the heavy weights do not re-
draw to the same advantage that the
lighter ones do. If these people, our
only customers, to whom we are COM
PEELED to defer, require this, see moth
ing TO be done but to acquiesce, and in
so doing / do not believe we are being
injured.
The planter must weigh his tobacco
when he packs il SD as to avoid over
weight, as there is no demand for il
here or abroad. And l am convinced
that on all finer grades of tobacco a
maximum weight of 200 h., net, is of the
greatest advantage to the planter.
The growing of tobacco by our far
mers is indispensable; there is nothing
that can be generally substituted for IT,
The conditions of our soil and climate
and the habits of our farmers render il
a necessary product with US. To make
il pay is the consideration. In order to
do so we must recognize the conditions
under which we labor, and bend every
energy TO overcome the obstacles that
beset the paths TO success in its cultiya-
ton, do state il as an uncontroverfible
fact, that in every article of trade,
whether raw or manufactured, the ar
-ticle that presents the most attractive
appearance and best fulfills the demands
of the consumer. always commands the
highest market prices. There are, no
| doubt, some difficulties over which we
have no power or coufrol. hnt that