New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-08-31
ENGLISH TOBACCO MEN
EAGER FOR A FIGHT
Combination Against 'ImperlaP
Company ArOuSes EnthuSl-
asm Among Independents.
PRESENT PROFITS SMALL
Average Only 334 Per Cent on
Goods Sold-Trust Has
Combined Capital of
Some S25O,OO0,O00.
lBy Cable to The Tribune.

BY Cable to The Tribune.
London, Aug 30-The injection Of
John Surbrug, Of New York, into the
tobacco trade of England with the pur-
pose of forming a combination TO com
pete with the Imperial Tobacco Com
pany has aroused a great deal of in
terest and enthusiasm among indie
pendent tobacco men here. According
TO independents. the opportunity to
capture the English tobacco trade by a
powerful corporation from abroad
never was more favorable than to-day
owing to discomfort in the trade over
the autocratic methods of the Imperial
company.
The Imperial company, with its sub
salaries, has a combined capital Of
about S250,OO0,000 and controls 70 per
cent Of the English tobacco trade.
Henry Jerold Nathan, one of the
leaders Of the independents in the to-
bacco war of 1902, said to-day: Il sat
on the executive committee, with all
sections of the trade. from the manu-
facturer downward. and the feelings
expressed at these meetings in private.
which no one dared proclaim openly
for fear of offending the powerful I'M
perial company. would surprise many.
IF the Tobacco Products Corporation
will come here and lay before the indie
lendent manufacturers a satisfactory
plan for q campaign Of absorption OF
many Of the best of these manufactur-
ers it will be a very easy task The
only danger l see in such scheme is
that ultimately the two combines might
amalgamate or enter into working
agreement, and this is where legisla-
ton should come in to prevent such an
amalgamation, because where monop-
oily enters the public and trades alike
suffer, whereas wholesome competition
is beneficial to all concerned"
Nathan says he knows from expert
ence that il Is not difficult to familiar
ize the English smoking public with
new brands of tobacco and, by giving
good value for the money. displacing to
a great extent many we'll known brands
in use, while the trader welcomes OPP
position by a powerful combination. as
he is dissatisfied with The miserable re-
turn he receives from his sales of the
Imperial companys goods.
on the treatment Of dealers by the
Imperial company Nathan says: THE
wholesalers and retailers on their
wholesale output obtain on the average
"a per cent gross profit on the Imperial
company's proprietary goods. This in
cludes a bonus Of IL per cent, which
they are liable TO lose if they offend
the company. and for some alleged Of
fence they are blacklisted and their
names are circularized around the
trade with the threat that anybody
supplying the offending trader is likely
TO have his supplies stopped, and thus
he is boycotted.
Unless the trader can succeed Sc
cretly in obtaining supplies he must
fall to the ground through being com
peled TO refuse customers their favor
lite brands. The trader will also have
his bonus stopped if he gives greater
prominence in his show windows TO in
dependent manufacturers goods, and
as the Imperial company holds nine
months bonus in hand the loss TO the
trader Of one-third Of his profit is,
factor which at times has a serious eff
feet on him financially.
The Imperial company has inspect
crs whose sole duty is TO watch the
windows, and the trader is punished on
the statement OF one OF these in
spectors, as the Imperial company
forms its own bench Of judges, before
whom the trader is denied the privilege
II appearing 10 refute any statement
that may be made by Overzealous off,
Gals.
This grossly unfair and arbitrary
method Of dealing with respectable,
hardworking tradesmen would be auto
matically removed if the present to-
bacco monopoly lost its great power,
which could be done only by an equally
powerful combination entering into the
scheme"