The evening times., 1899-02-06
WORRYING THE
TOBACCO TRUST
Control of the Liggett & Myers
St. Louis Concern.
Contest for Possession Won by the
Union Corporation.
Result of the Fight for the Great
Western Plug Industry-Purchas-
ed for Many Millions.

New York Feb 6.-It is announced here
| among men interested in the tobacco trade
that the Union Tobacco Company has won
the contest to obtain control of the Lig-
! gett & Myers Company of st. Louis, and
| now controls the plug output of the coun-
try.
Thus the American Tobacco Company
the Tobacco Trust-receives a defeat. The
deal was completed several days ago in
st. Louis, after negotiations which were
long and which were conducted by men of
rare ability on both sides.
The purchase of the Liggett & Myers
Company is the most important event
which has occurred recently in the tobacco
war, and the victors do not hesitate to say
that the deal has given them control of the
situation. They say that the St. Louis
company was OF such strategic value that
| ii was of the utmost Importance, and that
now the Union Tobacco Company, VIII ch is
only about six months old, has fought the
| trust to a standstill.
The Union company, in the beginning,
was started TO manufacture cigarettes. The
American Tobacco men went into the pug
! tobacco business, and the plug tobacco men
! retaiiated by beginning TO make cigar
! cites. The trust finding, it is said, that it
was losing money in its plug tobacco ven
! ture, decided To obtain control of all oi
! the plug business.
| To this end il began to buy up the small
plug companies throughout the country
! aiming, il was supposed to obtain a posi-
tion which would enable il to force the
! Liggett q Myers Company to terms.e The
trust started the Continental Tobacco
! Company. 10 conduct its plug tobacco in
/ terests, but the big St. Louis company, ia
stead of weakening, prospered in the fight
and continued TO have an annual output oi
/ 3G,000,Ge0 pounds.
The ST. Louis company, which was
founded in 1892, and whose buildings oc-
cupy space nearly three quarters Of a
| mile long, increased its output during the
| struggle and its profits, which have been
much as 81 500. 600 d year, were practi-
! cally unaffected.
Fighting the trust on all lines in cigar
cites, smoking tobacco, and plug tobacco
as well. ii becomes of supreme importance
that the Union Company should secure
control of the Liggett & Myers business
Now il has done so. 1t recently acquired
the Blackwell Durham tobacco. a smoking
brand, and il is now announced that il is
! TO place new cigarette on the market
for which all sorts of merits are claimed
Among the men who are backing the
Union Company are William G.. Whitney
Gen Samuel Thomas, Anthony y. Brady
Thomas F. Ryan, p. A. B. Widener George
( Elkins. Frank Tilford R. A c. Smith and
many other merchants and flnanciers OF
note. Some OF these men il is known are
interested in The American Indies Compa
ny and other Cuban enterprises and have
strong hand upon the raw material re-
quired by their tobacco company.
1t is not known at what price the Union
Company obtained the Liggett & Myers
business. 1t is noteworthy. however that
a st. Louis dispatch on December IS last
quoted Col. W. c. Wetmore, of the ST
Louis company as denying that sale hat
been concluded for sl2 900, 600 He hat
said few days earlier that his company
was not for sale, that il could not bt
bought for less than 500 600 600 and tha
he knew of no one who would pay so much
II is, however. declared that the Unior
Companys bargain was so good that j.
meant an immediate dividend. This as
sertion was based upon a knowledge of tn,
purchase price and the annual profits O
the Liggett e. Myers plant. President NJ
{. Wetmore and Vice President Charlie:
Hallowell, of the Liggett q Myers Com
pany, viii be retained by the Union Com
pany. William II. Butler, president o
the Union, is the man who made and earn
ed S3.000000 a year for the trust when ht
was in its employ.
The trust is said to have been attemptin,
to buy out the Liggett & Myers Com
pany for three years, having long beer
mindful of its importance to any corpora
tion which aimed TO occupy a controllin,
position in the tobacco world. Men higl
in the trust did not learn until Saturda,
Of the completion of the ST. Louis purchas
by their rivals. The tobacco fight viii
still 60 on, and it remains to be seen wha
will follow the Union Company's assertion
that 1t now has the upper hand in poin
OF cigarette making talent and in plug ant
smoking tobacco. The ST. Louis compaD,
can be used to great advantage by the pur
chssers, il is asserted, in pushing and dis
trihuting their smoking tobacco and Gig
arettes, as well as the plug output