The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1915-01-28
AN OPTIMlST ON TOBACCO.
Mr.. Duke Considers the Outlook
for His Company Very Bright.

AVA AAS COMPANY SSky OAASHs'
james B Duke, creator of the
American Tobacco combination, ano
chairman of the Board of Directors
of the British-American Tobacco
Company, has broken his long estab.
lishei rule of not talking for publ.
cation and has given a representa-.
tive of Dow, Jones & Co, publishers
of the Wall Street Journal, of New
York, some of his ideas on conditions
in the tobacco industry here and
abroad. Mr. Duke is an optimist on
the general outlook for the British
American Company, and believes
that this, of all the tobacco com.
panies, has the largest possibilities
for business expansion.
BRITISH-AMERICAN IN CHINA.
I'VE have made big progress in
China" said Mr. Duke. The posi-.
bilities for the British-American To.
bacco Company there can hardly be
overestimated. sold the first Gig.
arctic ever sold in China. That was
many years before the formation of
the American Tobacco Company.
We 90 into new country and teach
the people to smoke-just so did the
Standard Oil Company enter strange
lands and teach the use of oil.
1T has taken many years to build
up our business in China. 1t is only
now being put paying basis. We
were willing to take a'loss there for
ten years because we saw great pos
sibilities in the country. We sell
cigarettes there as cheap as Is for a
cent. and can show a reasonable
profit at that price. The Chinese
are always suspicious that the re-
tailers are trying to sell them some.
thing else than their own particular
ly favorite brand. They will 60 to
all sorts of extremes to make GER
tain that nothing just as good is
being passed off on them.
In India | consider the prospects
for the British. American Company
to be even more favorable than in
China. We have built three large
factories in India. and our sales there
have more than doubled during the
last two years. The selling con-
ditions in India are also more favor
able than in China. In the latter
country marketing of our goods
amounts almost to question of
barter. In China and India COM
bined there are 100000, 900 people
seven times the population of the
United States, We built up a pow
erful tobacco industry here. Con-
slider the possibilities for the British
American Company when two of its
territories alone have seven times
the number of people that the old
American Tobacco Company sold to-.
I'VE have recently gone into South
America, and the field appears to
me to pe a favorable one. There is
competition there, of course, but we
thrive on competition. In the long
run the fact that there is competi-
ton is rather pleasing to me. 1t
makes us work harder.
BUSINESS IN GERMANY.
In Germany | am very much in
the dark as to the future of the
British-American Company. The
Jasmatzi concern, of which we own
ed majority of both common and
preferred stocks, is still running,
according to the latest reports we
hav. received. But it should be re-
membered that the German subsId-
iary has never proven a big money
maker for the British-American
Company. 1t has only been during
the last two years that we have re-
allied anything to speak Of on oar
investment in Germany.
War times and other periods Of
general depression have never re-
suited unfavorably for the tobacco
Al