The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-04-11

| Company upon the business VI -
| ducing the leaf in which large ses'
~ orr state are mainly engaged. AT
least one city in the heart OF the
! Southern tobacco belt and within three
or four miles of our Northern bonna-
airy has kept complete records OF the
sales OF tobacco for ~thirty-eight years
Let US look at the prices of oDacco on
that market, full half of which IS
North Carolina product, for the hrst
nineteen of these years. from 1873 to
1891 inclusive. and 1t with
the nineteen years immediately loi-
lowing down to and I9lo.
During the first period above men
toned we had a free market. 1IleIe
| we're perhaps a thousand tobacco rae
tories in the golden tobacco belt
| There were in the city of Danvllle up
wards OF seventy-five factories. Reds
Vile had, large and small, III d
score. Winston-Salem claimed Sixty
and in the entire county OF ForSyth
| there were perhaps more than sew
enty-fve. Surry q more than a
score there having been some dozen
or fifteen in Mount Airy alone. There
were many at Westfeld, Pilot Noun
tain. Pinnacle, Sloan, and q number
scattered through the country dis-
| tricts. High Point, Greensboro, Bur-
lington, Graham. Milton. Roxboro,
Mebane, Yanceyville, Oxford DurIam,
Henderson, Salisbury, Franknnton
Ruffn. Pelham. L1eaksyille. Madison,
| Walnut Cove. G~ernlanton, Dalton and
doztns Of other cities, towns and vii
lagos were busily engaged in manu-
featuring and marketing the
in their various n
towns We're busy and growing; the
| business men were making money and
getting rich. Competition put up the
| price of tobacco, and the sharp de-
mopI for SnDGfiOr trades OF leaf
caused constant Improvement in pro
duction. The higher prices for certain
| grades buoyed up the farmer during
the long summer days and filled his
heart with hope. Young men leaving
school in the spring could often make
| enough money during vacation on the
farm to pay their way for the next
| year, and the better classes of farmers
were educating their daughters as
we'll. Such cities as ReidsVille, Wins
ton, Danville, Durham and Oxford be-
came known far beyond the borders
Of the State. one before the American
Tobacco Company was organized. Be-
fore it's advent. the Duke smoking to-
| bacco and Blackwel's Durham Bull
were shipped to foreign countries and
, men had heard of Durham, blackwell
and Duke who had never heard OF
North Carolina.
IN" cboNt piiotS - T"
ing to this same record, there was sold
in Danville, Va, from 1873 to 1891,
inclusivt, on the free market, $685.
209,460 pounds of leaf tobacco at an
average of $11.e5, returning to the
farmer SCI, 1S6.9O2.09. The prices
during this period, when competition
was the order Of the day, and the law
OF supply and demand controlled the
marktt, ranged from az average Of
$3.50 for the veal 1887, the lowest
point reached, up to IN average Of
$2O.45 in 1876, the highest point for
any n year. During this long period
Of nineteen years the average Of the
leaf sold on that market did not fall
below ten cents. excepting five years,
and maintained a general average Of
$11.65. This was during a period
when for the most part la Dor was ex-
ceedingly low II could be had
throughout the golden belt district for
from eight to ten dollars per month,
including board. dulles and horses,
as we'll as grain, were at a reasonable
figure. The american Tobacco Com
pany was formed in 1890. The farm
ers were told that the policy of the
company would be TO give to the
farmers every cent that might be
saved by the Withdrawal of extra buv-
ers from the various markets. In
other words, hat the combination
about to be effected would be in the
interest Of the farmer as Well as the
manufacturer: hat the combination
was in accord with an economic prin-
clple in business which would enhance
the leaf and at the same time reduce
the cost of the consumer. All these
things were not said in any one pre-
mitigation Of plan and vouch-
safed to the public. but most of them,
If not all, were said from time to time
by those who claimed to speak for
the new idea in business. Let us
see what happened The price Of leaf
Immediately fell below ten cents and
as low as 1922 and was not again
ABOVE ten cents per pound but one
time until 1907, seventeen years later.
and IN the subsequent nineteen wears
from 1872 to 1910, inclusive. has been
apo|e Ten cents but four times. Dur
ing this latter neriod of nino&nn. g.