The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-06-17
The Tobacco Interest.

The Tobacco Interest.
Mr.. Baker In his magazine article lays
b great stress upon what he calls the de-
it'd cline OF the tobacco business and com
y plains TINT the American Tobacco COM
pany, otherwise known as the trust has
run out OF business large numbers OF
e tobacco dealers and has In fact done what
the farmers OF Virginia In general and
+ K OF the tobacco section In particular have
been trying to do ever since the war,
knock out the middle man. II IS true
that many men who were engaged In the
VA tobacco business, both leaf and inanu-
n featured, In the early days IRE not now
lin the business. and 1t Is true that the
American Tobacco Company buys more
N tobacco aud employs more men, and oc-
X cupies more buildings than any other
~ tobacco concern in Danvllle. It Is pos
sfble that they do us much business as
M al! the balance combined, but 1T Is not
~ true that they do all the business.
The fact Is that within tho past lew
Is ears the tobacco business has undergone'
4 nm evolution. 1t is not conducted on the
slow and easy-going Principe Of the
olden time. Tor instance: twenty to
twenty-five years ago, there was no such
thing known as steam drying of leaf to-
At bacco. It was dried and prepared for the
market by air processes That Is to say
8 Tobacco was hung on sticks in large brick
q factories and dryng-room and there 1t 4
hung for days, weeks and even months. |
that 1t might be dried and put in pror..
order BY the laws of nature. That has
L been done away with. and now modern |
Y invention has brought into vogue the .
steam drying process, and costly mnchin-
4 cry Is used In this process.
q The Evolution.
Tobacco is bought on the warehouse
Il floor to-day, run through The steam dry
ing process tomorrow and the next day
lacked Into llogsheads and those hogs
lsileads rolled into mammoutha storage
/ warehouses there to remnin until the to-
n hacco is marketed for use In inanufac-
s&ture. Many OF the men who were engaged
in the tobacco business In Dd!iville from
"a decade to twenty years ago were. to !,
put It mildly. rather hidebounn They
refused for one reason and another to
adopt the new methods. OF, IN other
words, declined to "evolnteS with the
evolution, and rs a natural consequence
they could 8not keep up with the band
wagon and were forced out Of business
B Others, who had made money In the
Tobacco business, desired to embark In
other lines. withdrew their capital from
tobacco and Invested 1t in other indus
trial directions. Among these were the
6choolfelds, who went into the cotton
] manufacture; the Boatwrights who Went
8tn4o furniture notwithstanding, and othsrs |.
J, who went in other lines. new to Danvile
But, there we're men engaged In the to-
SSbacco business in Dnnville who Joined
An the procession, kept up to date, evolved
with the evolution, and theyEarei to-day
successfully conducting the tobacco bus
mess along the new lines, and are making
money hand over fist. Among these may |
8be mentioned the Penns, the Dibrells.
Dixon, Aloseley, Parkinson, the M eades,
Ewain, Wyilie, the Wiliamsons. the
SGavelys, Averett. Anderson BoatWright
and numbers OF others
M There was sold on the leaf toba eco mar
ket last year 3S.049.o60 pounds OF leaf
toba eco for the sum of s3,251, 633.6s, or
$3.50 per hundred pounds. In addition,
the dealers and manufacturers handled
1924 }hogsheads Of tobacco, consigned TO
them direct from other markets. and
that did not pass through the warehouses;.
! This added TO the above figures, makes
Il the sales OF leaf tobacco In Danvtllc for
the last tobacco year very nearly &c, OOo,-
1000 pounds, and the money paid for the
! same somewhere In the neighborhood or |
v 1000 900. Because of the short crop
\ throughout the tobacco belt, the sales
this tobacco year which closes August
4 1st will be; two or three million pounds
less, but the prices paid so far are S1.O5
per hundred higher than last year.
Those Deserted Factories.
&s The empty and deserted factories upon
which Mr. Baker lays so much stress,
as can readily be seen. are due to the
evolution In the business and not to any
decrease in the tobacco business done in
SDanyille, The old-time. or drying, fac
tories are simply out OF date. They are
gradually being torn down. and modern,
Sup-to-date factories put in their places.
The two widow ladies who own the
ruins pictured in Mr. Bakers article. have
already contracted with builders to erect
b q magnificent brick storage warehouse on
the aforesaid ruins; the firm OF Dibreil
Brothers Is erecting on tho next block
another large storage warehouse, and
only i've, days .gg5. the american Tobacco
Company let a contract for the building
$a,p OF an entire block With two mann.
moth storage warehouses and three up-to-
date factories, all of which will be
equipped with modern machinery to do
the tobacco business In the modern, up
to-date way. This does not look as q
/ weeds were growing in the streets Of
8Danville. or as IT,, the tobacco sidc Of