Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-01
HARD ON TOBACCO DEALERS
Trust Puts the Screws on JObben and
Prepares to Pinch Retailers
SELLING GOODS FOR COMBINE IS EASY
Game warden serves Notice on FIsh-
ermen That IL f. Time TO Put
Away the ROD and Line for
the season.
SELLING GOODS FOR COMBINE is EASY


From a Stan Correspondent)
LINCOLN, Oct. 31.-(Special)-Local to-
baeoo dealers are earnestly agitating an
organization for the purpose Of lighting the
exactions Of the trust. None Of them, how
ever, will talk openly for publication for
fear that the trust will execute reprisals
upon them. but II all Of the jobbers can be
Induced TO Join in the movement the trust
IL going 10 have hard times ahead in Lin
coin. Said one Of the men who Is leading
the movement:
Just now the retailer does not seem TO
be so much at the mercy Of the trust as the
3obber, who is as much the slave Of the
trust as IL he had mortgaged his existence.
So completely does the trust dominate the
market that IT is a privilege to be able TO
buy Of II. and the trust is making the ut
most possible out Of the fact. 1t does not
wait for its jobbing customers to buy Of It
Just what they may want, but It insists
upon selling them Just what it wants them
to buy whether they want Il or not. There
are eight or ten jobbing houses in Lincoln
that buy largely Of the trust. and for each
Of them the trust has fixed a figure rep
resepting the amount Of goods thai must
be bought during each four months OF the
year. For one firm the amount is fixed at
- haN AaNaAo AAaN a aNaAA9 Az
OF trust goods by that firm must reach
s $4,000. For another jobbing house the
amount is S12, 900 for each four months, for
another $4,000. for two houses the figure
Is 5000 each, for another IS 1000 and so on
down the list. This amount must actually
be sold II the jobber would enjoy the re-
bate which the trust allows, and which af-
fords practically the only profit on many
of its goods.
Has n Clnch on sales.
"The trust maintains eight travelling
statesmen in this state who make the lob
bling houses quite often. When they visit
q jobbing house they do not inquire what
goods the jobber wants. They ask rather
how much Of the quarterly allotment Of to-
bacco OF cigars the particular ;obbing house
has bought during the quarter, and IL It is
not already up TO the trust requirements.
the agent simply declares that he will send
IN an order for a big bunch Of stuff OF his
own choosing. The dealer is not at liberty
TO dissent, but must take things as they
come. In this way SOM Of them are kept
loaded up wei goods for which he is
charged on the company's books, and he
must meet the bills when they come or he
is decapitated. Failure to meet ones bills
hltaun NaaonAN n AAG VI u ~ h1N :
patrons. and IL one jobber is so fortunate as
TO sell the required amount and claims his
rebate he must not only walt months before
he receives it. but he is apt to find his al
lotment at once showed up SO that his sales
may not reach the allotment thereafter.
BY means of holding back these rebates for
months the trust is able to practically do
business on funds that really belong to its
customers.
For instance, ii is stated that the allot-
ment Of one wholesale house in Omaha is
$500, 900 for every four months, or $50, 900 a
month. The estimated rebate on this
amount is about IS 5000. WHICH is withheld
for some months. With money OF this sort
belonging TO every jobbing house in the
country in its hands,. the trust does not
have to have much capital Of its own upon
which to do business.
Retailer Comes Next.
But It is not alone the jobber that Ii
harassed. The retailer is getting his eyes
opened to the methods OF trust operation
not yet SO much in the west as in the
east. 1t is evidently the intention Of the
trust to put the iobber first out Of bust
ness and then the retailer. In New Yorl
the trust opened up over 400 cigar stores
selecting the very best locations, buying
out some Of the old dealers, and where
they refused to sell, forcing them by ruin
Gus competition or by renting their places
of business away from them. In Chicago
the trust has opened sixty stores. paying
rentals therefor a~ggregating $685. 900 1
year. II it found a dealer with a good 10
cation Il would go to the owner and Sc
cretly agree to take the place at the clos
OF the dealers lease at a rental double
that which he had been paying. II II foun'
a dealer who was obdurate it would opel
a store Ia his immediate neighborhood an
for a time conduct ruinous competition
selling standard brands of its cigars a
one-hfth the price at which he could sci
them. II is now seeking retail stores Il
many western cities. and local dealers deen
It but a matter OF a short time until 1
shall invade Lincoln.
There is but one way to fight It, an
that is TO quit buying trust-made good
and give the trade Of the country TO inde
pendent manufacturers. This movemen
has originated in Chicago and & brancl
was organized several days ago In Omaha
In order for It to be successful It mus