The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1907-05-03
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

] listing property for taxation purposes IN
| this state and gather the agricultural
| statistics required by law. In years past
| these officials have not given the crop
statistics part of their duties the atten-
tion it deserves. To be of any value the
| figures which they gather must of neces-
sity be approximately correct, and they
| can make them reasonably so if they
carry out the intent of the law. Once
| more the writer desires to appeal to the
assessors of the tobacco growing dis
| tricts to use their best efforts to secure
accurate figures relating to the acreage
| and production of the tobacco crop this
season. From all sides there is an earn
| est appeal for reliable farm statistics.
| The agricultural department at Wash
ington has undertaken to assist in this
| matter by the cooperation of the inter
! nal revenue department which now re-
quires all licensed dealers in tobacco to
report the names and amounts of pounds
purchased from growers for statistical
purposes, in addition to the form SO now
kept by them. The department will be
in possession of correct information re-
garding the number of pounds produced
each year. Now if the assessors will cor
rectly report the acreage we will soon be
able to give accurate estimates OF the
yield per acre something that has been
good deal of guesswork heretofore.
*xx
The u. S. Tobacco Journal charges
the A. S. of E. with misnaming itself,
Society of Equity. / differ with the
Journal in it's attitude; for if equity is
Justice the A. S. of E. is certainly worthy
of the name of Equity. Its constitution
and bylaws are recognized by the ma
jority of honest, fair minded citizens.
The farmers see reform going on all
around them, and they have been sup
porting unnecessary .toll-gates long
enough. It is the farmers lawful rights
to put themselves in position SO as to
fix minimum profitable selling price on
their agricultural products, and not al
low the selling price of their products to
be fixed by the Board of Trade, un
scrupulous SPECTATORS, manlpulalors
and trusts. The farmers are not dissat
isfied with present prices; but they want
to get in position to maintain present
prices. The people cannot be prosper
Gus unless the farmers are prosperous,
| and there is no way to keep the farmer
prosperous but to give them minimum
profitable selling price for agricultural
products. And in prosperous times the
| farmers are instrumental in giving work
| to all the day and monthly laborers in
| villages, cities and country who will re-
| ceive higher compensation for their
| labor. Is it not better for the laborer to
| pay four dollars a week for his living
| and receive nine dollars or more week
| for his labor than to pay three dollars a
week for his living and receive only six
| dollars week for his labor? And have
| we not seen very little work for laborers
| at the lowest heard of wages, caused by
| the manipulation taking the farmer s
crop and live stock and sending the
| farmer home with only the price of the
hide? If the farmer is the cause of high
| prices paid by the consumers for their
| maintenance, the labor will receive good
wages accordingly. But if the manipu-
lator is the cause of high prices for con-
sumptive articles, the consumer wrong
| fully blames the farmer when they
should blame the manipulation. The
Journal has come to grief in conclusion
that the Wisconsin cigar leaf grower has
been receiving too much money for his
tobacco crop the last two years Well
journal, what about the money the to-
| bacco growers did not receive the twenty
years prior? Will you give the tobacco
growers some sympathy in this matter
| or will you hold it by the Car load for
the packers? The Journal asserts that
the tobacco buyer of last fall did actual
ly force the grower to sell in order tc
control as much of the crop as they pos
sibly could. The Journal does not know
a packers intention better than himself
and the probable outlook was that the
packer could govern both ends of the
market. The Journal is trying to act as
guardian for the tobacco packer, and
the packer considers he is not to be die
tated to by anybody and that the au-
| thority Of the Journal has long since
been insignificant. | have not written
| this article as a TRADE against the Jour
nal, nor have [ any unkind feeling to-
| ward it. | have the belief that the
Journal will some day see the justice the
| A. S. of e. will deal out to the American
! people.-C w. MCCARTHY, Organizer of
! the A. S. of E.
IA
The United States Department of Ar
riculture, which is to carry on expert
| mental work in the culture of tobacco at
| aldwinsville, N. Y, has completed it's
plans for the work during the coming
season. The department will furnish
/ the fertilizer ard the seed with the un
/ derstanding that the work is to be car
ried on by the grower under the direc-
ton of the government, the grower to
| have the tobacco grown. An accurate
measurement of all the plots used will
| be made and a strict account OF the cost
| of all fertilizers will be kept and the
methods of fertilizing will vary accord
ing to the soils. The tobacco from each
/ plot will be weighed when it is taken
from the curing sheds to determine the
| yield in weight per acre and followed in
| the packing houses to ascertain the per-
/ censage of wrappers, binders and filters
/ A close record Of the different phases of