The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1899-04-28
THE
Wisconsin Tobacco Reporter,
Edgerton, Wisconsin.
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES.

has been said, the lndlcaClOnS are tudI
tremendously large crop will be planted
in this state the coming season. Ihe
report of the dealers in tobacco SEED
justify this statement as their sales ex-
ceed that of any previous season in many
years. Just as long as the growers OF
the west can find a ready sale for their
crop in the bundle at cents or even less
it is a hopeless task in attempting to
prevail upon them that they are pro-
ducing too much tobacco. 1t is nota-
BILE fact that Wisconsin farmers can
produce the leaf at a considerably less
cost than almost any other cigar leaf
state. The transplanting machines and
other labor saving devices has accom-
plished much late years in reducing the
cost of tobacco growing so that it is
hardly probable that the average cost
of producing tobacco in this state ex-
ceeds cents per pound So there seems
to be quite margin between the pre-
vailing prices for last seasons crop and
the cost of producing. But the increase
is likely to continue until this margin is
well near wiped out, or a year comes
when the grower is compelled to sort
and pack his tobacco which in measure
would have the same effect.
A somewhat different view of the stu
alton is held by the New England Home
stead which says:
"It is many years since there have
been such bright prospects for cigar leaf
tobacco growers as this year. Consul
mers. forced to use domestic leaf the
past four years because of the shortage
of Sumatra and Havana, are now taking
kindly to the home grown article and
the result is greatly increased use by
manufacturers. OF course, this Is re-
fected back to dealers, packers and job
bers. and even growers in nearly all cigar
leaf producing states have been, cleaned
out Of stock closer than for several years.
In fact, the crops of last year raised in
New England of $4,000 cases; New York
| $4,000: PENNSYLVANIA $4,000; Ohio $4,000;
Wisconsin 125,000, and Florida, Georgia,
| Texas, ETC., are unusually we'll sold. New
England holds only 5 to 10 per cent,
| Wisconsin hardly s per cent, New York
! but small portion, and IN ONO and
Pennsylvania the crop has much more
than half changed hands. Sowing seed
! beds has begun, and the acreage this
year will probably be larger than in 80,
| as the prices have been satisfactory"
***
The staid old tobacco town of Lancas-
ter, Pa, furnished a sensation for the
country last week when W. l.. Kendig,
leaf dealer, and w. M. Jacobs, cigar
manufacturer, were arrested on the
charge of counterfeiting. In the Kendig
warehouse was found complete outfit
for counterfeiting revenue stamps, while
Jacobs, through his factory, put the
cigar stamps into circulation. Jacobs
cigar factory is an eight-storied building
and fully 200 feet long. He employed
from 300 to 400 hands, and last year has
output was 23.8OO,O00 cigars. 1t was
noted by the revenue officers that his
purchase of stamps did not correspond
with the large quantities of cigars daily
shipped, and it became almost acertainty
that he was manufacturing his own cigar
stamps. His factory would have been
raided long ago had it not been that the
Treasury Department was more anxious
to secure the engravers of the $1OO silver
certificates and the plates than the forger
of the cigar stamps. But all thing being
ripe, the engravers arthur Taylor and
Baldwin S. BredelD were arrested in
Philadelphia with big counterfeiters'
outfit, the plates and some of the bogus
money in their possession and as they
confessed that they have been making
counterfeit stamp plates for Jacobs for
several years, the latter was also gath
cred in" More than a year ago 800
counterfeit silver certificate, the best
ever made. found it's way to the q. S.
Treasury. So alarmed was the Secretary
of the Treasury that the entire issue of
S26,000,000 was called in, and the Secret
OoTFICo uucu were puG Ou InO CoSO' All
the fine engravers of the country were
placed under espionage. AS all the coun-
terfeits that turned up came frona Phila-
delphia that place was suspected as the
home of the counterfeiters. Two young
engravers, it was soon found, were re-
ceiving frequent visits from Kendig and
Jacobs, and four months ago the Lam
caster men were carefully watched.
~
At the second inscription in Amster-
dam, out of $4,000 bales, $500 were sold
to American buyers. The prices were
high beyond all expectation and manu-
facturers are beginning to pick up any
desirable lots of the 97 crop. So far
about Is per cent of all the Sumatra
offered has been sold to this country,
and as there are, all told, 224,0OO bales
to be sold, at this rate our buyers would
take about 10000 bales. There are
almost $1,000 bales in first hands at the
present time, and, as we only need TO-