The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-08-22

period of it's advancement, that our
 chart deals with the statistics of pro-
 duction. With the tax still at 50 cents
 per thousand, a production Of 2,23S, ,2b4,-
 6SO is recorded for the fiscal year 1890.
 The fierce storm of competition soon to
 break loose was not then anticipated
 and the only disturbance anywhere
 was the settlement of disputes with
 agents and partners who were dissatis- fled over the results of consolidation. Big profits were made on the cessation
 of the former competition, and this
 proved to be the incentive impelling those who had corraled 90 per cent. of
 the cigarette business to reach out for new worlds to conquer but these prof
 it's also became the lodestone which
 attracted new concerns to take up the
 manufacture of cigarettes. Had enor-
 nous profits been loss. or had higher tax been suddenly imposed at this
 point. some of the great changes that
 have taken place in other branches of
 the trade would not have come about,
 at least not in the way or at the time
 they did.
 By 1893 one company was in the field,
 and shortly after that date several Of
 the leading tobacco manufacturers were
 making preparations to preserve their
 business intact by producing cigarettes
 in enormous quantities and at or below
 cost This campaign was purely re- taliatory in its nature and the statis-
 tice of production show how intensely
 bitter the fight was, for over 1,OOO,0Oo,-
 900 was added to the tax paid product |
 rate made the twenty-fo- five cents
 package possible and for time these
 cheap goods made great inroads into
 the sale of those of hsher prices. The
 bitterest antagonism was shown ana
 most violent means resorted to to gain
 or preserve trade.
 The campaign of retaliation which
 went on between 1894 and 1897 pro-
 duced marked results. It cut big holes
 in the profits of the manufactures and
 sent the statistics of production up to
 the 4153252,47o mark in the year last
 mentioned. The public conscience was
 so aroused that the sessions of every
 state legislation found willing advo-
 cates of anti cigarette laws. Some Kind
 of ameasure for the repression Of the
 sale and use of cigarettes had been
 passed in every tate of the Union, we
 believe. yet so long as the tax re-
 mained at fifty cents per thousand
 these laws were of little effect in cur
 tailing productions.
 | Within the next year competition was
 somewhat lessened, but the increase or the tax from fifty cents to one dollar per thousand, has much more to do | with checking further growth than all ot her factors combined. The increase
 took effect July 24, 1897, and with 1t
 new classification separating the paper covered cigarette from the all-topacco variety, and calling the latter little cigars. This law also practically abol- ished the packing of coupons in boxes | of cigarettes. and thereby dealt death blow to the premium system so I long In vogue. I'M
 It will be observed that our chart gives the combined production of pa per-wrapped and all-tobacco cigarettes before and after July 1897, as well as showing by the dotted lines the produc- tion of paper wrapped cigarettes exclu- sively since that date. shortly arter this competition practically ceased in lyme, 1898, an additional fifty cents per thousand was imposed on paper coV- cred cigarettes to meet fin part the ex- penses of the war with Spain It will be noted that the combined output or both paper cigarettes and little cigars have steadily increased since the new tax of $150 per thousand on paper cigarettes went Into teffeot, and yet there has been an actual increase in f fthe production of little cigars. From this 1t will be seen that all of the loss of trade has fallen upon the paper va lriety. Tn other words, the higher taxed goods in which there is the least profit, and against which the hand of the law has been raised for dozen years or more. has been rapidly losing popularl- ty. while the little cigar, measured against itself, is gaining more friends year after year.
 It would be extremely hazardous to venture the opinion that the anti cigarette legislation has had little to do with the decrease shown in the pro- duction of cigarettes during the last three or four years Many of the job | bers and retailers believe that this is chief reason for the steadily shrink ing demand for paper cigarettes, and
 no doubt the stringent legislation has produced its effect, and the high license | type of law or ordinance has been es- pecially harmful. Nevertheless, we wish to call attention to the fact that originally the cigarettes thrived best under a low tax, and also that all of | the large reductions in output have come since the tax on paper cigarettes was increased to S1.5O per thousand. | Within the last three years 1,476,629O9S cigarettes have been clipped from the record. and the oppressive laws and or | dinances are scarcely more stringent than they were in 1898. This means either that an equivalent of at least 200 GOO smokers have ceased to use pa- per cigarettes or a larger number are more moderate In their use.
 Without setting it down as dic- tum, it is the writer's belief that the high tax Is almost wholly responsible for the results here outlined;. and on the other hand, we believe that new era of progress and prosperity Is about to open; that with the decreased tax under the new law. more effort will be
 made to extend the sale and use of cigarettes, and that competition will soon become exceedingly aggressive, although 1t may not be quite so fierce and effective as it was between 1885 and 1890 or so bitter in it's profit eating effect as between 1893 and 1898.