The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-10-14
editor Messenger:

a W As Al dAAN 80 ~ la Al
been appointed a committee Ct two By
the Chamber Of Commerce. of Winning.
ton. to visit the tobacco centers witt
he view in end of making our city q
wholesale and retail tobacco market, !
will try, as best 1 can. t give you q
bird's-eye view of wndS we have seer
on this trip and describe facts and lei
you see them as I have seen them.
We left Wilmington Thursday even
ing about o'clock and spent Friday in
GOldsbOro n KinstOn.
We first stopped in G1ldsDoro. We
give you q clipping below Tom The
GoldsbOro Daily Argus of the official
report Of the sales for August and Sep
TENDER of this year.
"On the first day Of August the doors
OF the tobacco sales houses we-o thrown
Open and sales in that month amounted
TO one million. one hundred and sixty
six thousand, five hund led and 6fty-
1--WE pounds, Cash paid for the same
was one hundred and fifteen thousand
five hundred and nine dollars and fftv-
I'VE cents. The average price paid was
~A OCiIJS per pound.
September Sales-One million six
hundred and fourteen thousand and
ffty-six pounds. Cash paid for same.
one hundred and seventy-seven thou
Sane eight hundred sixty dollars and
hfty-five cents. Average Of eleven and
one-tenth cents per pound"
We a the Goldsboro 1aarke held I'D
To us as an example Ct failure. We
think if one would visit the town and
talk to its merchants and the farmers
and hotel keepers they will consider it
a great success.
n gentlemen that are owners, man
ayers and clerks We're very clever to us.
We were welcomed and they aid by
all means do not do as We have done,
build your warehouses here and there,
as best you could, but get a large
piece Of land convenient - the railroad
and have plenty of room for your in
in growth. They recommended us
to build two medium size warehouses,
one prize house and a stemma~y, with
room to increase as the crop increases
more plentiful. They fully described
the danger shoals and the snag that
came near sinking their ship of pro-
gresS while in it's ~infan:Y.
Mr.. Geo. Pritchard, the very clever
manager and proprietor of the steam
stenRmery. drier and leaf cure house,
weREned US into his large establish
ment and took great pains in showing |
us the different processes for handling
tobacco after it had been taken off the
warehouse floors. He said his greatest
mistake was in building mis- Plant too
small. His building is one hundred and
twenty-five feet long by sixty two feet
wide, is four stories high, and has
standing room to employ one bundled
and ten hands. He said he could use
twice as many more if he had the room
for them. This work is dom by women
and children. He said he pays S1.00 per
hundred for stemming tobacco and that
a fair hand could easily mase s1.00 4
day.
l got an opportunity to Speak to q
dry goods and clothing merchant and
inquired about his trade and what eff |
feet the tobacco business had on the |
dry goods market. His answer was: |
business is good and very good" The |
increase from the tobacco sales on trade ]
was great but he could rot answer as
to the amount. |
1 was up and out on the warehouse |
floors about six o'clock in the morning. |
Seeing So m in their shirt |
sleeves HARD at work unloading their
agonS Dut me in mind of the times [
drove my wagon to town and hustled /
around to sell my load 10 best advant-l
age. The warehousa stables were all
filled with the farmers horses. The |
driveway was packed with their wagons |
almost to a stand still, getting ready |
for the sale of their tobacco at 10
O'Clock. The whole floor was covered ,
with piles of tobacco and tie iloor man. |
ager was busy directing them how to |
close them up and use all the space. |
The warehouse bell rang promptly on |
time at 10 o'clock. and the buyers and |
tn sellers were busy examining and bid |
ding on each pile as they Went by, and |
the auctioneer put in his worl, in great |
shape. The price averaged from 9 to
&c per pound, and the farmers all
seemed to be pleased and satisfied. The
gentlemen very kindly offered me some
samples of the different grades of to-
49, and / hope to hava them on exhi-
htion here at the tobac . booth during
the P%ythian's carnival which. takes
place November 3rd to sth
On the $3.50 p. IN. train we left for
kinston- which is II miles from Colds
boro. In this town we has three hours
to spare and this is what we saw and
heard.
AT the de~nt 1 first notice, & large I
story stemmery made OF brick. We
hough that meant the beginning of
the tobacco section. and went up that
street and soon reached the nelghbor-
hood of six large warehouses. We went
into the Atlantic warehouse, wore met
at the ONCE doc Dy us tiSHeE pio-
prietcr and mama. !, Mr.. ~ l. Creech.
who took pride ii. describing 80 us tn
growth of their Cty and the great ad-
vantage the tohl. CO crop had been 10
them.
There are nov IN KinSton six large
solos warehouses. six mammoth stem
meries and eiah- prize houses Sld ?
number of ora houses, one OF IN, i
covering a block We went Owe :
sales warehouse building from cellar
TO attic and he explained to what use
each floor and department was de-
voted. -
We then went over 10 Inc American
Tobacco Company's lars leaf house
Their manager, q am sorry to say, we
failed to take mis- name), treated US
very cIeverly and took us through their
buiIding. and explained their large lear
curing. drying and packing process
very infinitely by having us 20 investi-
cate the different thermometers and
taIlowing US to TAX hold Of the
as it was passing through the great
curing machine, by opening different
small doors that opened into he large