The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1913-08-15
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES


Acting under resolution of congress
calling for certain treasury statistics,
the internal revenue department di-
vulges secrets that have heretofore
been kept from public view and breaks
rule of long standing. Some of the
ardent trust busters wanted the names
of ten of the largest producers OF man.
ufactured tobacco and tax paid on the
same, and pushed through congress a
resolution calling upon the department
to furnish them, despite the rule to
keep secret the output of manufactur-
ers of which the government has
knowledge through it's revenue offices,
on the ground of protecting the manu-
facturer against invidious comparisons
with rivals or competitors and safe
guarding the business against injurious
publicity. Having let the bars down,
the u. S. Tobacco Journal believes the
disclosed names will undoubtedly be
read and scanned by the trade with the
intensest avidity. They show that OF a
total production of manufactured to-
bacco and snuff during the calendar
year 1912, amounting to 435, 45O, ,2lO
pounds, the ten corporations named
produced 339, ,252, OCT pounds or 78 per
cent. Of three ollar-tax-paid cigars
the ten largest cigar concerns named
produced 1909, O18, 284 cigars out of a
total of 7, ,379, ,972, APO or % per cent. Of
little cigars the ten largest firms man
ufactured /, ,O42, 785, ITO cigars out of a
total of 1861, 27O, 693 or SO per cent.
And of cigarettes less than three
pounds per thousand the ten largest
producers are credited with the output
of 1856, 693,184 cigarettes out of a
total Of 1926, 853, 152 or 95 per cent.
Heading the list of large cigar manu-
facturers comes the Federal Cigar Co.
with an output of 367 million in 1912.
Next follow the United Cigar Manu-
facturers Co. with 280 million, Ameri-
can Cigar Co. 219 million, Otto Eisen-
lohr & Bro. 176 million, Seidenberg &
Co. 125 million, DIESEL Wenner Co. 102
million, Havana American Co. 95 mil
lion, Bondy & Lederer 50 million, |.
ESfsewis & Co. 81 million and Theobold &
Oppenheimer Co. 76 million in round
numbers.
Farmers in the tobacco sections of
Wisconsin are alarmed over the ap-
pearance of the ''root rot" which is
prevalent to such an extent that all
prospects of profit in many instances
have completely vanished. Damage is
particularly noticeable in the tobacco
fields Of Dane county, but the damage
is by no means localized in its extent.
Root rot, according to the experts in
the College of Agriculture of the Uni
versity of Wisconsin, is a fungus at
tacking the plant as result of exces-
sive use of the fields in the cultivation
of this particular crop. Plants which
should now be in full vigor of leaf de-
velopment appear yellowish and stunt
ed, and blossom prematurely. Their
general appearance is such that plants
have when grown on worn out lands;
but the trouble is frequently found on
we'll fertilized fields. 1t will be impos-
sible to check the progress of the dis
ease the present season, but the au-
thorities at the university advise rota-
tion of crops as the means of control.
Fields in which the fungus appears this
year should have an entirely different
crop grown upon them the next year.
It is generally believed today that the
only satisfactory way to control the
trouble is to deve' op disease-resisting
strain of plants. The experiment sta
tion at the college of agriculture is
working on this problem, and tobacco
growers suspecting root rot In their
fields should send specimens for exam
nation.
In a report to the state department,
Consul General George E. Anderson of
Hongkong speaks of the American to-
bacco for South China. He says: The
production of Chinese tobacco seems to
be of growing Importance to the to-
bacco world though such production
varies from year to year. Efforts to
| improve the quality of the native-grown
tobacco. such as the Importation of
American seeds and cultivating imple-
ments and instruction by American
trained experts, have not proved sue
cessful. Tobacco growing in China
other than for local or personal use OF
the grower is in the control of COM
paratively few people, as the ordinary
Chinese farmer has not the capital nee
essary to purchase the special fertil-
izers used In it's cultivation. This fer
uilizer is generally waste from the pea
nut oil mills, the peanut cake after the
oil has been expressed. The Chinese,
too, as a whole prefer their leaf of the
better grades if they can afford it,
though the leaf as a rule lacks flavor
and requires blending for the best re-
suits. Tobacco production in China on
the whole is on the increase. In 1911
an unusually large crop was planted,
but the low prices prevailing all over
the world kept prices for the native
leaf so low that growers lost money.
In 1912 there was in consequence much
less acreage and high prices were to be
had both in China and for Chinese to-