The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-11-15
CIGARS ARE GOING UP
Soaring Cost of Production Makes
Advance imperative.

Advance Imperative.
Increased activity in other indus
| tries has made labor in the tobacco
| growing districts scarce, and the price
! Of labor unprecedentedly high The
| wooden cases in which domestic to-
bacco is packed, the cheese-cloth un-
| der which shadegrown tobacco is
grown, fertilizers necessary to soil,
| implements used in cultivation, etc,
| all have advanced. And in Cuba the
great boom in sugar has diverted ag-
riculturalists to that industry and
created shortage of good Havana
| leaf.
The result is that all kinds OF leaf
| tobacco used for cigar purposes in
this country have gone skyward
Cigar manufacturers. therefore are
paying more for leaf tobacco than ever
before in the history of the industry,
| and, in addition TO this, the price of
cigar boxes, labels. workmanship and
all other details OF operating have in
creased tremendously.
The upshot of it is that, while even
| before the war began a large proper
ton of manufacturers were. at the
| best, just about breaking even on
their investment, now they find them
| selves actually and almost without eX-
ception playing losing game.
The ultimate consequence is that
| without any concerted or organized
| movement, cigar manufacturers every
| where are either advancing prices on
their cigars outright or are reducing
the size Of the various brands and
shapes that they make
OF course, there was another alter
native, namely: to change the com
| position of the cigar and by using
| cheaper and inferior tobacco to re-
duce the cost of production. The
better class OF manufacturers. how
ever, has refused absolutely to con
slider such recourse. Having
spent years in establishing their
brands and maintaining them at a
uniform quality, even in the face of
many difficulties they propose to up
hold and continue the quality OF their
product
For the first time in the history OF
/ this country. with the possible excep-
| tion OF the Civil War period retail
prices of cigars are going up.
That cigar smokers have enjoyed
half century of respite from price
| fiuctuation is not because the cost OF
production has remained stationary
during all these years. Operating ex-
penses and the prices OF raw mater
| ials have gone up and down, mostly
up in the cigar business, the same
as in any other business But there
are two things which have tended to
keep the retail prices Of cigars uni
form first, because of the fixed habit
OF paying nickel, six-for-a-quarter
| three-for-a-quarter ten cents straight.
and so on up. for cigars, without any
intermediate prices; and, second. be-
cause tobacco is generally classified as
luxury and not necessity.
These two circumstances have
made both manufacturers and cigar
store keepers loath to disturb the
equanimity OF the smoker during all
these years, even though there have
been many OCCASIONS when the cigar
manufacturing trade generally has
found its yearly balance to be on the
wrong side of the ledger
AS far back as ten years ago the
| profit in cigar manufacturing had
been reduced to such an extent that
| only the most sagacious operators
| found the business profitable. These
conditions continued progressively
| and when the European war began
two and one-half years ago, the situ-
alton became even more acute.
1t is true that the great war has not
| materially increased the expectation
| OF either Cuban or American leaf to-
bacco to Europe, but it has advanced
| the cost of virtually every element en-
tering into cigar manufacturing
II is recognized by manufacturers
that the retailer cannot be expected
to stand the increase. Owing to
| severe competition and high rentals
the thousands OF retailers throughout
the country for a long time have been
finding it very difficult to make ends
meet. Operating. as they are, on a
| precariously narrow margin Of profit,
they could scarcely survive If the ad-
vance in cost were to be taken out of
| their small earnings.
The increase. therefore, whether in
the form of an outright raise in price
or by making smaller cigars, must be
paid for by the smoker.
It is believed that the consumer will
accept the upward tendency as grac
iously as he has accepted increases
on almost every other article of gen
eral consumption
Whether or no, he will have to be
gin paying more for his favorite brand
OF cigars now or If not now. in the
near future Tobacco Leaf.