Graham guardian., 1911-07-21
TOBACCO TRUST
No Question About Its "Un-
reasonable Restraint
Of Trad"

The retail grOcerS throughout the
West and Southwest are wondering
whether the decision of the United
States Supreme Court in the tobacco
trust case will mean ANYTHING. They
know from bitter experience that
the tobacco trust is in unreasonable
restraint of trade" Their lack Of
profits and the trusts $36,000,000
annual profit proves this without q
question of doubt.
The treatment accorded the re.
taller by the trust is quite forcibly
brought out in an article written by
C. E. Beinert, chairman of the griev-
ance committee of the Nebraska
Federation of Retailers. writing for
the Modern Grocer, He says:
The American Tobacco Company
has adopted the usual trust meth
DDS towards the retailers, which is
to put on all the consumer will
stand and pocket all the profits it.
self. :.
A representative of the Amer
lean Tobacco Company called on
me day or two ago, and made
the statement that the Amer.
lean Tobacco Co. did not make to
exceed one cent profit per pound on
Union Leader smoking tobacco, yet
their charge through the jobbers Of
Nebraska is 40 cents per dozen of
one and one-third ounce packages,
or "A cents per pound. He stated
further that the leaf tobacco out of
which it is made is very high now.
IL to IA cents per pound. They had
to strip this tobacco; the stems were
a loss; then the containers and the
packages, the labor and the govern
ment tax, he stated, consumed all
the difference between the ID cents
and the al cents.
The American Tobacco Co. is now
selling all its smoking tobaccos by
the dozen instead of by the pound.
This was done for two reasons:
First, if it suits IA r convenience
they can cut down the size of the
packages, and the second rea-
son is that it does not look quite 50
to the consumer. Horse
shoe, Star, Climax and Spearhead
were usually 16-ounce plugs and
were sold to the retailers at 43
cents per pound. They are spaced
five and six times, but to place the
in position where he can
not retail the plug for more than
SO cents, they put the tags on the
five-space side. These tags are
worth one-half cent each to the con-
sumer, and the practice prevents
the retailer from cutting on the six
piece side.
But even this profit seems to be
more than the American Tobacco Co.
wants the retailer to have. So they
go to the mai.-order houses who dis
tribute about seven per cent of the
merchandise, and make them a
quantity price so they can quote in
their catalogues, Horse Shoe, Star,
Spearhead, Climax and other brands
at as cents per plug. and in six
pound lots, AZ cents per plug. I'm
ion Leader, Dukes Mixture, Mail
Pouch, ETC., are offered two FIVE
cent packages for nine cents. in one.
pound packages at 81 to A cents.
These catalogues are in the homes
of nearly all of the customers of the
retailers, and it is source of con-
tinual friction between the consum-
ers and the retailers and forces
trade to the mail-order houses.
The tobacco department in coun-
try stores has been rendered worse
than profitless by the tactics of the
Tobacco Co., which have
stifed all competition. Its methods
create contempt for law and breed
revolution and anarchy. The Amer
lean Tobacco Co. itself has been
called an unlawful combination in
restraint Of trade. The remedy, as
see it, is in organization and edu.
cation, and | feel the jobbers should
join hands with the retailers to
bring about better conditions. -
D,,ll,e..,