The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-01-05
THE TOBACCO RUS

THE TOBACCO Z
The Reidsville Webster's Weekly has
made it very plain from the best of ev-
idence that until the cigarette trust got
hold of the tobacco of the farmers it
fetched at least % per cent more thar
1T fetched after the remorseless octopus
had fastened it's fangs upon the weed.
All opposition of Importance complete
Iy disappeared and with the unhappy
and most unfortunate incoming of the
giant grinder and paralizer. The Week
ly-thoroughly we'll informed-says
that after that leaf dealers who had
bought cutters were glad to unload on
h trusts terms and did not touch this
grade for five years." As we have sew
eral times mentioned, not less than
from 81, SOC, 900 have been taken from
Piedmont farmers alone in North
Carolina. That is their loss by the
course pursued of the villainouS trust.
To show the experience and the sorrows
Of the tobacco men in the old section
hat so long grew fine tobacco, we
quote from a Person count farmer
who wrote to the Raleigh Progressive
Farmer. He said:
Then again. we hear it said that
overproduction is the reason prices
are low. This is not true, for the rea-
son that all the crop is used and the
Buyers are still anxious and want more.
Also, when the crop is marketed we
hear of the big profits made in one sea-
son, and boast over it, and the poor
farmer did not realize enough to pay
his expenses, much less to a taxes,
etc. 1 was on the market some time
ago and noticed one man when his to-
bacco was knocked out, and the price
was so low that the man even wept
abou it, and there are numerous others
in that same condition"
A Warren county farmer, writing to
the same paper, says:
Before the advent of the tobacco
trust, when much tobacco was bought
for speculation, the bidding and buy
ing were spirited and lively. No man
could tell or guess how much a pile OF
tobacco would bring. Then the auc-
pioneering was pertinent and helpful to
the farmers. But now, since the great
bulk of the weed is bought by the
American Tobacco Co., which fixes the
prices to be paid for the several grades
to buyers In the various tobacco towns,
oh SSlullS SOAAlPCNiItOh lbs SCoSSos
We heard from excellent authority
that that a farmer in Granville, when
they made the finest weed, actually did
not receive enough for a load of tobac-
c to pay the charges of marketing and
selling. Recently an excellent Presby-
terrain minister who had lately visited
Granville, told us that he met a leading
member of his church who told him
that growing tobacco had become un-
profitable n he had abandoned it al
together for more remunerative crops.
But all this is an old story, for scores
of m could doubtless give a like
experience.
A letter from Tarboro lately sent to
the Raleigh News and Observer gave
this:
ITO the ~warehousemen and buyers
On this market I have put these Ques-
tons. to which you will find the follow
ing answers:
Have the American Com
pany produced any effect or change
upon the prices of tobacco on this
market?
Answer. Yes:
Has it been to increase or decrease
prices?
Answer: 1t has been to decrease
them very considerably.
How in it done?
Answer: The trust regulates the
trade, and in this way they operate
successfully in fixing prices. Even
now all the independent buyers are
completely at sea.
In your judgment what has this de-
crease amounted to?
Answer In tobacco selling for ten
cents and over, they ave dropped
prices one-half, and under ten cents at
least one-third."
Very disastrous truly to the toiling
farmers. A letter from Rocky Mount
to the same paper says of the ruin
wrought:
Its buyers control the prices on most
OF the smoker markets and on some are
buying more than half of what is being
sold.
The trade is completely demoralized.