The Detroit times., 1909-02-26
TEN MEN CONTROL
OUTPUT Of SNUFF
AND TOBACCO
THOMAS r. RYAN is NAMED IN
IlST-TWENTY BOGUS INDIE
PENDENT" CONCERNS ARE CON-
rRoLLEo BY COMBINATION.

WASHINGTON. Feb. 25.-Heroert
Knox Smith. commissioner or corpora
tions. today submitted 10 the president
his sport on the present organization
o. the tobacco combination. its degree
OF control in that industry ana the
growth OF that control Subsequent
reports. he says. will deal with prices
and profits and with competitive
methods.
TO0ays report says
In the Tobacco Combination are
The American Tobacco company anu
its threat great subsidiary comDina-
tons. the American Snuff company, tue
American Cigar company. ana 'nc
British-American company beslues o.
other subsidiary concerns doing Dusf
ness In the United States, Porto hico'
and Cuba. The combination repre-
sents total net capitalization tex.
GLIDING intercorporate ho!dlnss) Oh
over 1916 900 900 A very small group
OF 10 stockholders control % per cent
OF the outstanding voting stock OF tue
American Tobacco company. through
which company the entire comolha-
ton Is controlled.
The ten stockholders controiiihs
the output OF tobacco. with the eA'
ception of cigars. are: J. Is. DUKE
(president OF the American ToOacco
company); A. y. Brady. c. IL. Payne
p. A. b. Widener. Thomas +. Ryan
B. n. Duke. G. b. Schley. OF the orok,
erage firm Of Moore 4 Schley. and
the estates OF VIM. {. Whitney anu
W. l.. Elkins.
The list OF subsidiary companies
includes over twenty
hitherto secretly controlled, so-called
bogus independent concerns. The
combination is practically the only I'M
portant exporter OF tobacco mahuiae-
lures from this country.
ITO overcome the effects or the an
thrust sentiment and the union laoei
sentiment. and even 10 take au, an
fage OF them, the tobacco comoina
ion. particularly during 1905 anu
1904. secretly acquired controiiihS
interest in numerous concerns which
1ad been catering 10 customers VINO
held those sentiments. Such concerns
continued To operate under thelr lot
ner management and kept up pre-
.ense OF independence and OF hoslii'
Nv TO the combination. Those which
employed union labor continued 10 DO
40 and advertised the union LABEL
These secretly controlled concerns
we're. until the facts were discloseu
Dy the government. powerful engine
~ warfare against the genuine inde-
oendents and were looked upon D!
he latter as their worst enemy.
From the time OF its origin In 1890.
a the end OF 1906, the growth or the
proporuonate controi ol
he plug. smoking. and snuff branches
n the Industry has as whole been
steady and great. In cigarette manu-
'acture il already controlled 50 Pc
,ent OF the business in 1891, and TINS
proportion has since been practically
tS23 per cent In 1900. In
,igars its output increased from
per cent OF the business In 1897 ID
AZ per cent In 1906. In manufactured
tobacco fchewing, smoking, nne cut.
and SNUFF the combinations outpu.
Increased from per cent OK the total
IN 1891 TO - per cent in 1906. It's pro-
luction in 1891 was 19,lS9,s24 pouncs
cut OF a total OF 270.529.326 pounds.
and in 1906. goo ,039 Gal pounds out of
a total of 94.276.429 pounds. Finally
in 1906. the combination controlled OF
these separate products. respectively,
plug s per cent. smoking IL per cent.
fine cut 81 per cent. and snuf1 go PEI
cent. The extent of the operations OF
he combination as whole Is shown
by the fact that in 1906 IL used in the
OF its various products
nearly 100000. 900 pounds OF leaf to
bacco
An idea OF the absorption OF COM
peting plants and OF the changes
through combination within the last
decade may be had from the fact that
In 1897 the combination had 10 plants.
each producing over 10000 pounds OF
manufactured tobacco or snuff per
year, while there were 243 independent
plants Of The same class. In 1906, oil
The other hand. the combination had
- plants OF this class and Independent
lao. Especially con
spicuous has been the absorption OF
he large plants. In 1897 the combina-
ion had eight plants. each producing
over 100000 pounds OF these pro
ducts per year. while its competitors
had 46 such plants. In 1906 the com
bination had "a plants OF this size. and
concerns only II. Tho
average annual output in 1906 of the
plants was nearly
I 900 900 pounds each, as compared to
$50, 900 pounds for independent
plants"