The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-02-23
JAMES BUCHANAN DUKE ON
NICOTINE THRONE
CONTINUED From Page One.)

Of three. At their cigarette heels
came Goodwin and Co. w. S. Kim
ball and Co.. and the Kinney Tobacco
Company. Mr.. Duke, ever ready to
consider the feelings of a beaten
enemy. received the ~repentant Allen
and Ginter g~raciously. Also he was
glad to meet, he said. with those
others who came in their ~repentant
company
Mr.. Duke proposed the Tobacco
Trust~on lines long before thought
out. The others acceded. The keel
of the American Tobacco Company
was laid in those trust shipyards at
Trenton, and the corporation was
launched in due time. Aboard went
al those ~repentant companies. Mr..
Duke leading the way UP the gang
plank with Duk and Sons.
The aggregate assets of the quintet
We're not above $500, 600. Mr.. Duke
himself, in latter days. swore they
were $4,000. OO0. But Duke has
always been an optimist when putting
q value on his own property. His
imagination has ever been full of
water. | shall not therefore, too
much lean upon his word in that affair
IF assets. However. whether they
were 50 600, 900 or $500, 600, the new
TrentOn-launched American Tobacco
company at once based a stock issue
Of S25,000,OOO upon them, whereof
". Duke and Sons and Allen and
Ginter took each $7,497,O 900: the Kin
ney Tobacco Company $4.998,O 900, and
& Company and w. S. Kim
ball and Company. s2,499,OOO respec-
lively. This division left $4,000
worth OF stock unassigned and unac-
cOunte for. But, remembering the
company it was in. [ do not think il
fell under the table unnoticed, to be
subsequently, swept up by the house
maid. This consolidation, be il
knoWn. covered only the one item OF
In the five-y ear fight with Allen and
Glnter, Mr.. Duke discovered that he
loved war and loved money. T,
warmed his soul 20 set his foot on the
necks Of those New York t~obacconists
Also it pleased him to learn that, with
. few scratches Of the pen, what haC
been worth perhaps $500, 900, in the
hands OF w. Duke and Sons could be
translated into nearly $4,000, 900. i
was like a story Of Aladdin's lamp
By that judicious stock watering. Mr.
Duke had put millions in his purse ir
q m whereas honest years O
Toll had put no more than Just {
handful of beggarly thousands. L
was more profitable to manufacture
companies than tobacco. IT paif
better to sell Watered stock than snuf
and cigarettes. Wherefore our here
entered cheerfu1ly, not to say hun,
35rIly, upon this new field. Also there
IS every reason to think he loved hi:
work
Mr.. Duke had conquered in cigar
cites; he now resolved to add to hi:
possessions those kindred industries O
pipe and plug tobacco. With thi.
hough he challenged Liggett ant
Myers, and Lorillard and Company
champions Of pipe and plug.
For this war. and to be a weapon il
ms hand, Mr.. Duke invented a brant
Of plug tobacco, and named it sugges
tlVely n Battle Axe" With Thu
ne oVeTran his rivals with their "Ret
Cross and Honest" 1t was a cam
paign Of advertisement. Acres O
PANT were spread on fence and dead
wall, lakes OF ink were spilled il
newspaper and magazine. Mr.. Duke
Battle Axe cost him $4,000. 900: bu
since 1t struck down $12, 600. 900 70
him he did not repine.
The Liggett-Myers people and tn