The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-29

poster which I saw in a cigar shop near l London bridge this morning. It is a cigar advertisement. backed with British flag and addressed to the British public. It
 "Americans whose markets are closed by prohibitive tariffs against British goods have declared their intention of monopolizng the Tobacco Trade of this Country.
 Tt is for the British public to decide whether BRITISH LABOR. CAPITAL | AND TRADE are to be s,rbordinated to
 the American system of TRUST MoNoP-, | OLY and all that is implied therein. The Imperial Tobacco Company is an
 amalgamation of British manufacturers
 who have closed their ranks with tn the de, | termination to hold the BRITISH TRADE ] for the BRITISH PEOPLE. Its aim is to provide the vast smoking public with CIGARETTES and TOBACCO | made solely by means of BRITISH LA | BOR AND CAPITAL" etc. etc. Cigar Shops in London. | It seems to me there are more cigar | shops than grocery stores in London. You | find them on every corner and in every
 block. They are different from our Amer | ican establishments The shops are small
 and more of the goods are in the win dows Little taste Is shown in display, and box after box of cigars and cigar | cites. with'the covers off and the tobacco | showing, are piled one on top of the other until the window Is full.
 | Every tobacconist sells pipes and to- bacco pouches. There are different brands | of fine cut and plug. and all sorts of | smoking tobacco More smoking is done | by means of pipes than cigars, and every other man you meet nas a short briar- | wood pipe in his mouth. This is especially | SO of the poorer classes. The British are | great smokers. They consumed S25 5,00o 900
 worth of tobacco last year and nine-tenths | of the product came from the United States.
 A Bit of Tobacco History. They have always gotten the most of | their tobacco from us. The weed was | first imported by Sir Walter Raleigh in | 15S6 and later on it become one of the chief articles of trade between the colo | nies and Great Britain. Some tobacco | was planted in England during the time | of James I. Tobacco smoking had be- come general among the upper classes, | and both ladies and gentlemen smoked | King James denounced the custom. He | prohibited it's cultivation in England. | Cromwell did the same and ordered his soldiers to tramp down the tobacco crops l wherever they found them.
 | Charles II. tried to restrict our tobac 70
 trade to England. He forbade the colo. | nies to ship the product elsewhere, and
 the result was the ruination of the Vir- l ginia tobacco industry and the rebellion
 of the Virginia planters in 1876, which | was in reality the commencement of the | struggle which 6ulminated in the Ameri- | can revolution and our independence In those days the English had the monopoly | and the profits. Now the Americans are
 coming to the front. and the probability
 ls that our trust will even up the exac-
 tons of the past.
 l 1 don't know the amount of capital l possessed by the Imperial Tobacco Com | pany. hut it runs high into the tens of | millions. The American Tobacco Com pany, incorporated in 1890 had d capital l of $25, 900 GOO. and in 1902 it had so added 70
 It's holdings, that it's outstanding securi-
 ties aggregated $70,000,O00. The Conti- | mental Tobacco Company, organized in | 1898, has capital stock and securities of
 ,out 100000. and there are other cohl- | panies which represent mi.ions more. It | is safe to say that the tob lcco compania5 a5 | of America altogether have a capital of | at least $150, 0On,000 and that most of them
 are more or less interested in this fight.
 American Tracks cn Old Landmarks.
 Everywhere 1 go in London I see the | footsteps of the ubiquitous Yankee. He | is either on the streets with his carpet
 nag and samples. in the machine shops
 with his American tools. or in the book
 stores. supplying England with his share | of it's literature. Mark Twain, Joel | Chandler Harris, Mary Johnston and 1th- | CT well-known American writers are as | popular here as al home. and their books | are sold by the thousands.
 1 find the American invasion not only m the hooks, but in the materials of which