Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1907-10-05

/ nave lOF twenty years Dtbll w
bacco raiser During the years 1902
and 1908 l had In cultivation about
ten acres of tobacco, which produced
about ten thousand pounds The to-
bacco / raised during those years was
the equal in character and quality to
tobacco which has sold this year for
ten or twelve dollars per hundred
During that time, namely; in the
spring of 1908, ! was approached by
a buyer for the Italian Reggie, and af-
ter some conversation with me. he
offered me $500 We traded | sold
the tobacco to him at $500 per hun
dred: after having bought it he OBJ
jected to giving me a contract that
day from the fact that he did not
know whether my tobacco was in his
territory or not; he said that after
going back home he would telephone
to GAINESVILLE to find out, and would
mail me a contract at Sadlersville,
and asked me if that was satisfactory.
| never heard anything from Mr.. So
~ afterwards until | called him up.
and he said that his employers would
not let him buy my tobacco for the
reason that 1T WAS NOT IN HIS
DISTRICT. And he told me that Mr.
Beaumont HAD THAT TERRITORY
and would wait upon me and buy that
tobacco, and he said he was the
| ONLY PERSON who had the right to
buy it. Now. Mr.. Beaumont was also
buyer for the the Italian Reggie.
! This was early in the year; Mr..
Beaumont did not come until late in
the spring, and l was preparing to
plant the next CROP. Mr.. Beaumont
said he had ORDERS FROM HIS
| EMPLOYERS not to buy any more,
and l at last sold this crop at five
cents all round.
| have known personally the buyer
who had my district in charge for
| twenty-five years and this buyer was
| the same B. H. Sorry who is mention
ed in an article appearing in the Sat
urday Evening Post of August 5, by
II. L. Beach, entitled "The Great To
bacco War"
/ have a letter from Mr.. j. E. JUS
tice, saying his farm was divided up
in the same way (Reading), and MIR.
Justice gives the name of the buyer.
STATEMENT OF j. z. JUSTICE
"The tobacco growers of this coun-
try are very much discouraged on ac-
count of the slowness of the market
this season and the low prices. In
this county each buyer has a certain
district to canvass and buy in, and
he is not allowed to go out of that
district and no other buyer is allowed
to go into his district, all the buyers
working for the trust people. THE
ENTIRE BLACK TOBACCO SEC
TON is LAID OFF INTO DIS
TRICTS AND EACH DISTRICT is
ASSIGNED TO ONE MAN. To
illustrate this: A few days ago
a buyer John A. Hunter) went
to the barn of certain farmer, the
barn being on one side of the Ash
land City and Thomasville road. The
buyer examined the tobacco in that
barn and bought it, whereupon the
farmer invited him to go in another
barn just across the road and see the
tobacco there, it being part of the
crop which he had just bought. The
buyer had to decline saying, THAT
ROAD WAS THE LINE FOR HIM
AND HE MUST NOT CROSS IT."
CHARLES H. FORT, PEslDENT
PLANTERS PROTECTIVE
ASSOCIATION.
| have the statement of Mr.. Charles
Fort, the president of this Associa-
ton. oh, it is pitiful appeal. He
says:
This thing has gone on down
in our country untiP'-and Charles
Voice trembled when he said tive
have only one or two buyers there,
and they actually have the territory
prescribed and limited and laid off
until there is one of my neighbors
who had a barn full Of tobacco on
one side of the road and another barn
full of tobacco on the other side, and
buyer came there and he offered
him this tobacco on one side of the
road and he bought that, and then he
offered him the tobacco in the barn
on the other side of the road and the
buyer said, 81 can not buy that tobac-
co over there; 1T is NOT IN MY
TERRITORY" And that man lost
$500 on all the tobacco In that barn
on the other side, because he could
not sell to this buyer his whole crop,
because it was not in his territory
A. 0. DoRlTY.
A. o. Dority states:
ut is my opinion that the indepen-
dent man who bought it could not
find a buyer for the reason that the
| trust people had bought, with their
agents, a sufficient amount to furnish
their immediate wants, and to con-
troll the market, AND AT THAT
TIME l WAS BUYING FOR THE
TRUST.
For the first two years prior to the
formation of the Association l bought
for the Italian Reggie and the average
was about $3.50, including my COM
missions, and | bought the best to-
bacco in our country The next two
years / bought for the American
Snuff company. The prices averaged
$367 for the last two years when
bought for the American Snuff com.
pany. Such tobacco is now bringing
about $11.O0. l WAS IN THE EN-
PLOY OF THE ITALIAN REGGIE; |
HAD A TERRITORY AND NO 9TH
Err ITALIAN MAN BOUGHT IN MY
DISTRICT, AND NOBODY ELSE
UNTIL GOT THROUGH AND THE
AMERICAN SNUFF COMPANY DID
NOT BUY IN MY TERRITORY
while was working for the ITALIAN