Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1909-06-02
CARoIINA's TEA PLANTATION.
Yielding Almost Twice as Much to
the Acre as China's.


for twelve-cent tea, some interesting
information relative to the efforts of
the government to encourage the in
dustry In the United States has been
brought out in the Senate. 1t is
not generally known that SO far the
best results in this country have
been obtained at the Summerville
tea farm of'Dr C. .yU.&Sheppard near
Charleston.
Reports have just been made to
Chairman Aldrich, of the Senate FL
nance Committee, showing what has
already been accomplished here and
what may be expected in the future
If the industry is encouraged.
George Fl. Macy, an ntexpert on this
subject, has just written Senator Aid
rich as follows: s
THE tea industry of South Caro-
lima is now raising 5000 pounds
annually, which is ten times the
amount Of tea which the island Of
Ceylon produced in 1875. To-day
Ceylon ranks among the largest tea
producing countries Of the world,
having exported last year 1S2,OOO,-
900 pounds. a,-.....
l understand that the expert
ments of the Department of Agricul-
ture show that South Carolina is
producing six hundred pounds of tea
per annum to the acre, whereas in
hn 81
reached is $50 pounds to the acre.
'The tea trade OF the United
States is fast being monop olized by
foreigners, and in this connection /
would call attention to the fact that
the Japanese government is now
paying a subsidy OF $95,OOO gold to
Japanese vessels, carrying Japanese
tea, for each round trip between ia
pan and the United States The
japanese have, under subsidies, es-
tablished distributing agents of tea
throughout the United States, and it
is we'll recognized fact in the trade
that within a few years they will
control not only the growing, ex-
United States, but also it's very dis
tribution in this country. 1t was
demonstrated, under the Spanish
war revenue tax, that duty on tea
involving a cash transaction upon
withdrawal from bond % such tea
severely curtailed the operations of
these foreign firms
Those who are asking for a duty
on tea claim that such a duty of ten
cents a pound can be relied upon
even in times of business depression
as revenue producer of about $1O,-
100000 per annum and can be COL
lected with but little expense. The
government is now under a heavy
charge in the administration of the
tea law of 1897, which protects the
consumer from adulterated tea; and
even if the consumer paid half the
tax, per capita tax of four to five
cents per annum would be a small
price to pay for this protection.
w. A. Courteney, Of New York
another man who is we'll versed in
tea industry, has written to Senator
Aldrich. He says that during the
years 1906, 1907, and 1908 he held
the position of Ceylon tea commits
sioner to the United States. During
those years he distributed in this
country $4,000 per annum in aid
of the encouragement of Ceylon tea.
He states that at the outset he was
met with the fact that America was
consuming tea of the poorest average
quality, but which retailed at prices
from 60 to 100 per cent higher than
those charged in London, where
revenue of five pence per pound is
first collected.
That there Is a tremendous profit
in selling foreign tea in the United
States is evident from the fact that
the total capitalization Of five of
these largest concerns is more than
$25, 1000, and that three of them
have a chain of almost 900 stores
scattered all over the country.
1t is highly improbable that any
change i'm the present tea rates will
be made in the tariff bill, but it is
interesting to note the progress that
is being made here and to estimate
the extent of the industry during the
next ten or fifteen years.