The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-25
JAPAN's TOBACCO MONOPOLY.
An Account of the Working of Dis
 appointing Experiment.

London Globe.
 It is now over four years since the Jap- anese government established it's tobacco monopoly, says Mir. Consul Hall In his report on the trade of Kobe. So far 1t has proved anything but the grand source Of revenue expected of it Its promoters thought that. apart from the increase of revenue. it would improve the growth and enlarge the export. but in these re- spects also 1t has been disappointing There are no large tobacco planters in this country. Numerous small farmers raise each small quantity. hence, in or der to prevent offenses against the mo- nopoly laws, small army of officials is required. yet illicit dealings and snug gling are by no means uncommon. In the second year of its working the monopoly department reported the detection of over 1000 cases. The number of undetected cases may be imagined. So far from helping to increase the export trade in the leaf, the monopoly has killed 1t. Pri- or to the establishment of the system the stock of Japanese leaf in the United Kingdom-the only country to which 1t was exported-was usually about 1000 bales now it is nearly nil.
 The working of the system is as follows First of all intending growers must ap- ply for permission to the monopoly de- partment. stating the area they propose to cultivate. When grown, all the to- bacco must be brought to the monopoly office on or before March 31 of the follow ing year. The price to be paid to the growers is fixed before hand It Is ar rived at by dividing the crop into grades. In the year 1900 there were eighteen grades each of these again was divided into first, second and third quality. Then. again, in each quality the leaf was sep arated into four sorts, viz, top leaves and ground leaves thus making 216 grades and prices. On being brought to the local office of the monopoly the tobacco Is in- spected. graded, and paid for. It is then distributed to other places, each bale be- ing marked by a little wooden ticket giv- ing it's grade and weight and also a num- nei.
 The leaf thus packed is sold by the kwamme (about eight and a quarter pounds) on It's original weight. The mo- nopoly's profit was originally fixed at cent per cent, but has now been increased to 150 per cent. Among the causes that have initiated and will most likely con- tinue to initiate against this experiment may be mentioned the following: The growers chief object is to get his tobacco off his hands as soon as he possibly can, thus throwing any risk of deterioration on to the monopoly; and the earlier 1t is taken the better for him, as the moisture contained in it means more money to him. And now that he has a sure mar ket he does not take the same care as formerly, and thus the tobacco not seldom goes into the monopoly's warehouses in a half-cured state and owing to scarcity of competent experts 1t sometimes spells and becomes worthless. It is believed that there are considerable quantities of tobacco held by the monopoly in this state.
 To these drawbacks must be added de- terioration of the culture. An lad va lorem" profit of 150 per cent is gradually but surely forcing the finer kinds of to- bacco out of cultivation. because every rise in the per centage of profit causes the manufacturer to use a lower grade, thus the standard of tobacco used is low cred without the revenue being benefited Again, while the profit is collected on or iginal weights there is always consid- erable shrinkage by drying ranging from l2 to 9 per cent, hence the manufacturer has to pay 150 per cent on tobacco which does not exist. and though the precau- tions against smuggling are largely inef- fectual, the expenses of working the sys- tenn are wastefully high. Finally the inn port of foreign leaf, which is also in the hands of the monopoly. has been very small, the profit being the same as on the native leaf 150 per cent.