The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1913-08-22
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES


A hot week accompanied by an abun-
dance of moisture is putting different
phase on the growing crop, one that
lends more encouragement to growers
than for several weeks past. There
has been most amazing growth OF
the later tobacco, while the fields just
topped are getting spread of leaf so
much desired for satisfactory binder.
But the week has brought some severe
storms accompanied by hail in few
sections. The most important damage
has been done in northern Dane county
in the vicinity of Windsor where at
least thousand acres suffered more
or less.
One of the worst of the many bad
laws enacted by the last legislature is
that which in effect prohibits the sale
of tobacco while in the field or hanging
in the shed. Unless some way is found
to evade the obnoxious law, the farmer
cannot sell his tobacco until it is in the
bundle ready for delivery. This will
give the farmer at the most only few
weeks within which to sell his crop,
and every day the crop lies in bundle in
the shed it loses in weight, especially
as spring weather approaches. The
farmer also confronts the condition of
being obliged to sell at once or arrange
to have it sorted. The result is that
the farmer will be driven to sell at the
first opportunity. The buyer knows
this and being human like all other
business men, will no doubt take ad-
vantage of the situation to get the
goods at lower prices. Why such law
should be enacted is hard to compre-
hend. There was no occasion for it.
Between regular tobacco buyers and
honest farmers there has never been
any serious trouble about docking. The
only body of men advocating the law
were officials of the Farmers Equity
society. They tried to capture the
tobacco market for their own profit
and failed. They then sought this law
which in effect is as bad as the Night
Riding business of Kentucky. Deer
field News.
We give space to the above criticism
of the Paul law chiefly because we be-
lieve it reflects the opinion of very
large class of growers who strenuously
object to being hampered by law on
purely business matters which they
think themselves capable Of conducting
without aid or interference. Had this
criticism, however, been made by the
writer of this column The Reporter
would have Immediately been charged
with an ulterior purpose which would
have been difficult to explain or Grad
icate from the minds Of our readers
however pertinent the points made.
*.*
The crop reporting board of the Ag-
ricultural Department Bureau OF Sta
tistics estimates, from the reports of
the correspondents and agents of the
Bureau, on the tobacco crop August !,
as follows:
Condition August 1, 1913, 1873 per
cent; condition same date last year,
1928 per cent; ten-year average con-
dition figure on August l, 81.9 per cent.
Acreage 1913 tobacco crop 1,144, 500
acres, or 93.4 per cent. Of the 1912 acre
age.
This yield indicated by the condition
of the tobacco crop on August /, 1913,
and final yields in preceding years, for
comparison, are given by the crop-re-
porting Board as follows:
Tobacco yield per acre this year will
be 783 pounds, compared with the final
yield shown last year of 1855 pounds
per acre, and the average yield per
acre for the years 1908-1912 of 1928
pounds.
The total production of tobacco this
year, as interpreted from condition re-
ports by the Department experts, will
be 1896, 900, 900 pounds, compared with
the final yield of 963.000, 900 pounds
last year, 905, 600, 900 pounds in 1911,
and the census figure for 1909 of 1,056,-
900, 900 pounds.
If expansion in the volume of busi-
ness is a sign of prosperity, then the
fiscal year 1912-1913, ended June Both
last, will hold the record as one of the
most prosperous years in the annals OF
the tobacco trade. For according to
the internal revenue stamp returns for
the fiscal year, our tobacco industries
into the federal treasury nearly so, 2OO,-
900 more in internal revenue taxes than
they did during the same period Of the
previous year. And the government
receipts for tobacco fell short only
by $500, 900 of the highest internal rev.
enue receipts from any other source.
The total receipts from tobacco amount
ed to over seventy-six and three-quart-
er million dollars. Such vast sum
ought to act as reminder to the gov
ernment not to trifie and tamper with
its producers through obstructive and
restrictive legislation. With the duties
added which the government levies on
tobacco, it exacts nearly one-tenth of
its entire billion dollar expenditure
from the tobacco trade alone. And yet,
Congress is treating the tobacco trade
as kind of negligible cinderella. But
surely if it values the vast income it
derives from the tobacco trade it could
not afford to kill the goose that lays
the golden egg by supporting any such