Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-04-12

| II is again bound with strips OF rattan
and marked for shipment to Europe
| The work OF handling the tobacco
| IL done very cheaply and not as care
| fully as II should be- The labor Is ev-
| erywhere so cheap that II the United
| States should remove its tariff on to-
bacco It viii be sent by the ship load
TO our markets
THE PHILIPPINES VS. THE UNITED
STATES AND CUBA.
In that case there would be at once
an immense increase in the tobacco
area. am told there are vast tracts
of wild land In the islands that might
be used for tobacco raising. Much Of
this belongs to the government, and
It will probably soon be offered for sale
Under the present conditions there is
no reason for alarm, for the market
for Philippine tobacco is already fixed.
The most OF the product now goes to
Europe and the greater part TO Spain.
OF the leaf exports IN 1897 Europe took
In round numbers $4,000 900 pounds;
England 100000 Singapore and India.
$4,000 China and Japan 27l0O0 and
Australia. 1900 pounds. We took cigars
only, Of which we imported that year
100000 as against Europe's 3000O.OOO,
Great Britain's 100000 and Asia's 9j,-
600 0O0 Cuba's tobacco crop exceeds
that of the Philippines by many mill
lion pounds. II produces twice as much
tobacco annually as the export of the
Philippine leaf, but its exports Of cigars
are about the same each closely app
proxlmating 600 per year.
WE LEAD THE WORLD.
Our own tobacco crop Is the biggest
OF all the world. II amounts 10 more
than 400, OOO, 600 pounds, or almost four
ffths as much as the tobacco crop OF
all Europe Our tobacco Is very cheap.
and is desirable for mixing with and
certifying the European leaf. II may
be that combination OF 1t with the
Philippine leaf viii produce excellent
results.
The Philippine leaf Is darker than
our American tobacco. This Is especial |
" so with the cigarettes, which are
as black as burnt coffee.
The people OF the far east Ike the |
Manila cigars. They are the favorlte |
smoke If the swels of China. Japan
and India not only ON account OF their |
guilty. uul dlNu VI tH'll 'hNhfiiN'N
SPANS TOBACCO MONOPOLY,
The Philippine Islands have not been
developed along the lines of tobacco
culture largely because Of the govern
ment monopoly. which prevailed here
until about twenty years ago, For one
hundred years prior to that time to-
bacco planting and tobacco selling were
entirely in the hands OF the Spanish
government. The people of the Rio
Grande valley were compelled to plant
tobacco on penalty OF losing their
lands. Every unmarried man had to
set out 1000 plants every year, and he
who had a wife was expected TO raise
at least 5000 plants. The government
owned the lands, and any
land that was not in tobacco for three
years in succession was liable to pass
out OF the hands Of the man who lived
upon II,
The government regulated Just how
the tobacco should be raised and cured
Ii prohibited the planters from selling
to anyone but the government officials.
and it fixed its own prices which were
80 per cent less than those paid in 1888
when the monopoly was abolished The
planter could not even smoke his own
tobacco except in certain places and at
certain times. His house was subject
10 search for concealed leaves, and
the officials sometimes even searched
the persons OF his family, including
his wife and daughters on the pre-
ense of preventing smuggling Insults
on this pretext frequently
'aused the death Of the officials
The laws provided Just where the to-
lacco should be raised and how Il
ihoud be handled at Manila, The gov
,rnment had FIVE large factories in
which 10000 men and women were en-
)loyed. II required 400 officials to man. .