Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1912-11-19
NO TOBACCO TRUST EXISTS
Head of American Tobacco Company
Says That Trade isNow
Competitive

dent of the American Tobacco Com
pany, has furnished the Alexandria
Gazette, he declares that the tobacco
business of the country has been thor
.oughly reorganized in obediance to
the United States courts injunction
and that there is no longer any tobac-
co trust.
Under the court decree, the Amer
lean Tobacco Company, Mr.. Hill poin:-
ed out, Invested itself of about $780,
100000 worth of properties. TO own
and control these properties, factories,
brands, ETC., there were created the
P. Lorillard Company and Li@gett q
Myers, Inc. The properties went to
these concerns at prices which the
court fixed; and the money received
from these disposalz, by the American
was used to reduce its own outstand-
ing securities.
Mr.. Hill declares that so far as
concerned pyramids, types OF leaf to-
bacco used, territorial distribution OF
business, and all other things, the
conditions brought about were
in fact, competition. Drastic
and detailed conditions were imposed
upon the business by the injunction
upon all the companies whose stock
was distributed by the American, IN
Guiding Liggett & Myers, P. Lorillard
Company, United Cigar Stores, Brit
;sh American Tobacco Company, I'M
perial Tobacco Company, Limited
and the licorice, foil and snuff con-
Germs. ,.,
As to these injunctions, Mr.. Hill
says:
"These injunctions provide that one
of these companies shall directly OF
indirectly cooperate in the controI
or management of corporation, or II
fixing the price to be paid Tor lea'
+obacro or other raw materials or thu
prices to be charged for manufacture
product, or for the apportlonmenC o.
,.ade either with respect to customer:
or locality; that none Of them shouic
convey business to another anc none
If them should have the same clerca'
organization, or the same Office o. "a
fires that none Of them should hoII
stock in a corporation in which an
other stock holds stock. :.
"For five years none Of dhem shou''
have an officer or director VINO at Uhe
-,na time was an officer or director III
another. and none Of them should EN-.
,lov the same agent in the Unltec
States for the purchase of tobacco o!
for the sale Of tobacco, and none o:
Them should acquire stock IN any Dc
the others or make loans or osherwiSs
extend financial aid to any Oh 1n'
others. :,
"Thes,e injunctions, if obeyed' m
sure the reality of competition and J.
disobeyed, Their detection is CERTAIN
and prsonal punishment is iminent.
"If there has been a claim maze .!
single individual that the mlunc'
tions contained in the decree OF NO
vember 16, 1911, have not been ooeSc'
IN letter and in spirit the America
Tobacco Company has not hearu .
Il On the leaf markets IN heh'uc"H
VIRGINIA Tennessee, North Cafo!ln'
and South Carolina, the compet''lo'
has been, and is, open, notorious an
aytreme. In the marketing OF gooD
II has been equally So
"James &. Duke, who had pee =,
nres;dent of the old The American =
bacco Company, resigned all con'.e =,
t;ons in fact as well as in name VIII
anv Of the American companies any
become the principal executive ONCE
of Pritish-American Tobacco Com
n,nv, Limited, with headquarters Il
IanS,r to which place he had gone
before February 2S, 1912, ana Mhe!'
he has certainly spent most OIL H.
time since that date
MI Mr. Hill points out that highe
nrices have prevailed, in the lea1 10
!,acco market, to Inc advantage 0
tobacco growers, under the new '. or
1er This he attributed not eh'ire''
70 the disintegration, but III eo''''us'
oh,e part to curtailment OF the cr0l
IN some sections by bad weather
That the public, in the last afa's
sis has the tobacco manuiac'"Ie. Z,
bis ' mercy, is emphasized. Ever:
package of tobacco bears ITS Ora'o
irhe householder has little chance L
lnow who mines the coal ne burns
Who made the s.eel in his knife OF IN u;
cloth in his clothes; but ne can "a T.
~ know who made the tobacco !, n
b,vs, If the tobacco doesn't suit n
Knows whose products TO quit pS'1'
:.;nr and he does 1t.