The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1909-05-21
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

partment of the Society of Equity
writes the official paper of the society
urging growers to curtail their acreage
OF the 1909 crop, alleging that there is
a two years supply on hand, and adj
vises the tobacco fields be planted to
corn until manufacturers have chance
to clean up their stocks. Just what
basis he has for the statement that
there is an overproduction of cigar leaf
is hard to say, for the statistics pre-
sented by the trade journals do not
warrant it. On the contrary, it is gen
orally conceded that manufacturers are
| carrying smaller stocks than for ten
years past and the same may be said
of the jobbers and local packers as
well. Aside from a considerable guam
tity of high priced 'O6 leaf in Wiscon-
sin packers hands held at figures the
trade has declined to pay, there is
scarcely half the usual stock of '07 and
| '08 leaf held in the state for the inde-
pendent trade to draw from, and the
same is in a great measure true of
other states. That the market for a
year or more has been dull does not
necessarily mean that there is a sur
plus of tobacco, but rather that manu-
facturers are carrying smaller stocks,
buying from hand to mouth and adjust
| ing their business to the financial con-
ditions of the country. That the to-
bacco growers of Wisconsin received
better prices than most of their neigh
bors in other states for the '08 crop
cannot be denied and it found a ready
market and the state is as well cleaned
up as the average season. If the man
! ufactured production should keep up
anywhere near the present rate for the
year to come there is no valid reason
to be cleaned from statistics why a
good tobacco crop in 1909 might not
bring remunerative prices to the farm
ers of this state. All the binder stock
held in Wisconsin today is nowhere
near the amount annually consumed
each year, so if cigars continue to be
raade there is no immediate danger of
a surplus, especially so long as the
acreage continues to show decline
rather than an increase, which does
seem probable this season.
*u*
The fact was brought out in report
of the insurance committee made at
| the annual meeting of the National Ci-
gar Leaf Association held at Baltimore
last week that an inquiry into losses on
cigar leaf tobacco and it's products,
| made by insurance experts, showed
| that during the past twenty years that
| these losses amounted to but one per
| cent of the premiums paid. And yet
| tobacco is considered an extra hazard
risk and the rates fixed accordingly.
/ Fl
| Concerning the setting out of plants,
| the following from lecture recently
| delivered by John B. Stewart, u. S.
tobacco expert, may be of value: The
condition the soil is in when the plants
are set has much to do with the health
and growth of the young plants. |
have seen plants set just before and
during rain that did not do we'll at all.
For my part, always prefer to set
plants on a warm, sunny day, even
though the soil is quite dry. | have
had higher percentage of the plants
live, and less mongrel plants when
set on sunny than when set on rainy
days. / am also believer in close set
| ting, especially for Havana seed.
would not put the rows more than 3
| feet apart, nor the plants more than 16
| inches apart in the row. In this way a
finer grade of tobacco is produced. The
leaves of the plants are so close to-
gether that they protect each other
from the wind and conserve the moist
ure of the soil. They also shade each
other to certain extent, which tends
to make the leaves of finer texture.
| Senator Bevridge wants tobacco and
its products to pay still greater rev.
| enue tax. His amendment offered to
| the internal revenue law put an addi-
! tional burden on all snuff and other
| forms of manufactured tobacco to pay
| IL cents per pound; all chewing and
smoking tobacco, cents per pound;
cigars weighing not more than three
pounds per ZOO, So pound; provided
| that if their wholesale price is between
$35 and $75 per thousand, the tax shall
be $3.50 per 1000; and of value be-
| tween $75 and $110, $6 per 1000; and,
on all cigars above $110 per 1000, SO
per 1000. Contending that the gov
ernment has lost $l84, 900, 600 in the
last eight years through the repeal of
the war time tax of 1898, Beveridge
| undertook nv his amendment to increase
the present rate of internal taxes on
tobacco, snuff, cigarettes and cigars
worth more than 10 cents Beveridge
declared that the tobacco trust, which,
he said was the American Tobacco COM
pany, had derived a great benefit from
enormous loss of revenue which, he
said was due to the law repeating the
increased rates Of 1898. The law pro-
viding for the high rates of 1898 per-
mitted the manufacturer to reduce the
size of the packages in which tobacco
is sold to the people, according to Bev-
eridge. In 1901 this increase in to-