Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1909-02-19

al pug pant was pure Ill iH''"
and another erected.
by 1898 a namber of the leading
INDEPENDENT manufacturers uf l,.uG
tobacco had wcaritd Of the titrc"
competitive. StrlgSir and We're pre-
pared TO consider Il proposition Toy com
binine their interests With thos" Of
the American Tobacco Company. The
first negotiations. early in lS3S. were
). however. unsuccessful. party by
reason of tn" increase III i?N"S dur
ing the Spanish American War. W tlich
appeared to the financicrS who were
promoting the enterprise likely 10 in
r,rlrrc with its prOtitallcn"SS. Short
" thereafter the American Tobacco
Company bought Outrlshi TWO lmpor-
,ant plug ,munufact lring concerns -
tn" Brown Bro;lrls and Drummond
tobacco companies, OF 81. Leu ).
This greatly strengthened III" posi-,
ion OF tn" American, and II apl"r-
emily determined 10 rcnew tn" vlsor-
J Gus cuinpetiIlon OF the preceding
years against it, powerful rivals
For this pl-posr tn" pric" of "liors"-
shar.' III" leading brand OF the Drum
J mond concern. was sharply reduced.
.Errole this new compcti;iv" fight
had become very active. however,
further nrSo arions for combination
tcean The plug combination
known as the Continental T"oa 70"
Company. was organized on De
cemher 10, 1899. 1t took over
tee plug business of tn" Ameri-
can Tobacco Company. including
tn" Brown >nI Drulnmond concerns.
10, ,.f
tors. while a few months later III"
most important competitor OF all IN"
lig"ctt 4 Myers Tobacco Company
; was also brought into the Combina-
ton Several OF the concerns acqnir-
I cd had also large business III Smok-
ing tobacco. Although the American
Toll accO Company did not at that tim"
own Il majority of tn" stock OF IN"
Continental Tobacco Company. the
men connected with tn" American
were from the very first. dominant III
the Continentais dircc ora".
"The Continental Tobacco Com
pan: issued at the time CT is or2ani-
Zat.On $62 230.70 of stock This
amount was still further increased III
April. 1899 by reason of the acanisi-
ton of the I.ig@ctt Il Myers concern
The total issue then became si9.9il4-
Geo OF preferred stock AMI $tH.S4t. 700
, of common stock. Or 81. 90" 900 alto
gether, an amount which thereafter
remained unchanged. The company
was greatly oyercapitaliZed the com
mon stock being issued wholly as a
, bonus.
THE ACQUISITION of the Ligeett
Myers Tobacco Company bv the Con,
tinental. Just referred to. was part OF
series of transactions which had
a most important influence upon the
personnel of both the American and
Continental tobacco companies. Dur
ing 1898 a group of powerful financial
interests. including Thomas +. Ryan.
=. 4. B Widoner 4. " Bra y. W.
c Whitney. ami Thomas Doian. bought
up the Blackweli's Durham Tobacco
Company. an important manufacture:
of smoking tobacco. and the Natlonal
Cigarette and Tobacco COmpanE. com
bining them under the name OF the
UpiOn Tobacco Company. Inev also
, secured an option upon cOn'roi!i's
portiCn o: the stock OF tn" LiS2"it a
, Myers Tobacco Company. cOntroi o.
which of course was very Important
to the new plug comh'na ION. WI.
Duke and his associates in the Amerl-
can and Continental companies T'aii"-
cd the SeriO Isness of the possible com
petition OF the Union Tobacco Com
Dany interests. backed by these
wealthy tinanciers. They therefore
en- cred into negotiations with these
! frsnciers and bought Oh; tn" proper
; ties they con rolle,i AT a high price"
; Eariy in March. 1929. the assets OF
; the Union Tobacco Company proper
we're taken over b.; the American 10
l.acco Company in exchange Tor W.
,Jr 600 common stock. Shortly after
wards. through another syndicate.
con- posed in part Of the men above
mentioned LIT also inc lud!ne J. Is
Duke. O. II. Payne. and II. ID. Terrell
the Iiggett l. M;ers TchacCo Com
pany assets. together with SI,"o.""'
in cash. were transferred 10 he
Continental Tobacco Company in eX-
change for sI7.5"".C" of its common
! stock and 81 900" OF preferred
| stock.
These transactions were important
no, ONLY because thev still further in
H,ted the Capitalization of the two
companjes. hut because they resulted
III giving very fd' - ""n
| in both TO the finanCiers who had or
sanized the Union Tobacco Company.
Most of these men shortly thereafter
en- cred the directorate Of either the
American or Continental company. or
both. and from that time on nav
been important factors in tn" c"n'r"'
of the entire Tobacco Combination.
| Already before this time there
had been marked changes in The III
rectorai" OF the American Tobacco"
| Company. The campaign for control
Of a larger part 81 the iona'c" in
du>tr>. which has just h"cn r''co"nfrh
Rad not been favored bv most Of the
ii.sders in ;hc original cigarette com
i I.n.nn,,.nalN Einfrr Kin.