Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-09-20
OFFICIALS ARE SILENT
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UitiUIHLu HILL uiLL1 !
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publication. and to refuse to deny OF
confirm rumors regarding its plans unit.
ii deems It wise to give on. a statement.
The other two representatives were not
In at the time
| just Eit of History.
When Mr.. Duke. the aggressive presi-
dent of the American and Associated
companies, invaded the English field, be
met bitter opposition and costly competi-
ton. The. British manufacturers, realiz-
| ing the menace to their business from the
American invasion, adopted the tactics OF
the American company and consolidated
seventeen or eighteen firms under the
name Of the Imperial Tobacco Company,
Limited. This company then determined
to reduce the cost OF manufacture in
| order to meet the competition more eff
fectivcy. In order to do this it was
determined to dispense with the middle
| men. the American expot and consign-
| ment firms, and the British intermediar-
| les. the commission merchants and irn-
| porters and brokers. In their stead the
| British company decided to choose Ameri-
| can representatives and secure their own
| buyers on the various markets, shipping
the tobacco purchased by these agents
direct 10 Great Britain. Factories have
! been bought and others built by the I'M
perial company, and preparations made
| to buy and place on the market topacco
at prices that viii enable it to compete
with the Duke companies in this country
| and abroad.
! Imperial Factories Here.
| Still later there were reports that the
Imperial intended to carry the war into
| the American field by n,anufa curing and
| Offering in this country it's products in
competition with the American and Con-
| tinental goods. Recent developments
| would seem to indicate that the Imperial
| really intended to manufacture goods in
America and offer them for sale. 1t
| has long been reported that the Universal,
the American rival Of the Duke company,
| would effect working arrangement with
/ the Imperial in opposition to the Ameri-
| can, and such an effort was made. 1t is
| now said, however, that the American
! outgeneralled and thwarted the Univer-
sails plan. Now comes the rumor that
| the American and Imperial are about to
effect an agreement.
Imperia1ss Future Buying.
In any event. the companies now en-
| braced in the Imperial will buy their leaf
| through their own agents and not from
! dealers as heretofore Even If the two
! companies effect an outright consolida-
| ton it will merely mean that some of the
representa- tives Of both the big companies
Will be dispensed with, and that the best
| of each will be retained to represent the
! lately warning combinations of capital.
| It is not even anticipated that the two
| will agree to the extent of consolidation.
1t viii merely be- If anything is effected.
| an agreement whereby ruinous competi-
| ton will be eliminated.
| The Commercials Story.
! The New York Commercial. one Of the
| leading financial papers of the country,
| and a very reliable one, takes the view
that there are negotiations looking to an
| agreement, if one has not already been
reached. This is confirmed to some ex-
tent by the Dispatches cablegram from
| London Yesterday. Here is the Com
| mercials statement:
| Thomas f. Ryan, of this city, who is
| one of the largest owners of the stock
| of the American Tobacco Company, is
| now in England. It was said yesterday
! by persons in a position to know that
| Dir. Ryan's trip abroad was undertaken
| for the purpose of effecting deal with
| the English Tobacco TruSt-the Imperial
| Tobacco Company. The company was an
| outgroWth of the entrance of the Ameri-
can Tobacco Company interests into the
| foreign tobacco field. The American To-
| bacco men stirred up hornets nest
| When, some time ago, it became known
that they had obtained control of Ogden's
| Limited of London. one of the largest
| English tobacco concerns. The purchase
of the Ogdens company threw the British
| trade into panic. 1t was taken at once
| as another evidence of the much-talked-
| of American commercial invasion. The
English tobacco men got together and
| decided that it was best to fight trust
| with trust. So the Imperial Tobacco
Company was formed with $75, 000, 900 capt.
tai.
| There has been war of the liveliest
sort since then. One step which caused
talk throughout England was the offer
ing of bonuses by both sides to the Eng
/ lish retail dealers in tobacco. The Amer
lean company people offered to divide
their profits for four years and LOCO, 900
a year in addition. This was regarded
as a crushing answer to the British COM
bine's offer to divide only its profits for
the same length Of time.
| While the controversy has been going
on between the American and British
| tobacco interests, President Butler, OF the
| Universal Tobacco Company, Which is
| now regarded as one OF the largest COM
petitors of American combine IN this
country, mas maze SeNeIdl tl4po ~ |li6
| land for the purpose of arranging some
| working agreement with the Imperial To-
| bacco Company of London. At once time
it was said that an alliance had been
| arranged between the English company
and the Universal Tobacco Company, but
later this report was denied.
| Wall Street takes it that the American
Tobacco Company has outmanoeuvre
the Universal Company at every turn.
| Not long ago the Universal Company
announced that it had secured control OF
the Henry Clay and Book Company and
the Havana Commercial Company. 1t de-
veloped later that the American Tobacco
Company had secured absolute control
of the Henry Clay Company as we'll as
the Havana Commercial Company. The
two concerns control the tobacco in
dustry OF the Island Of Cuba.
Over in England it has been said that
the Imperial Company in the home field
had delivered some whacking blows at
the American combines efforts to obtain
a Judgment in the British tobacco field.
| Doubtless Englishmen will say that Mr..
Ryan has gone there to make trade
because his company finds itself beaten.
Mr.. Ryan is likely to take an entirely