The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1917-07-27
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES


The Indians are off the reservation
again and a hundred or so tobacco buy
ers are riding fast and furious over the
growing sections, importuning the
farmers to sell their prospects for a
crop at the highest prices ever offered
Wisconsin growers. While the farm
ers generally question the foolhardiness
of the proposition from sane business
standpoint, the figures named are so
tempting they cannot be blamed for
accepting them. So buying campaign
has gathered considerable headway dur
ing the week and the contracts written
have made quite dent in the total
production of the state. The bulk of
the sales so far have been made in the
northern growing counties and in the
outskirts where small acreages gener-
ally prevail. The price of II cents at
which the first sales were made quickly
jumped to Is, 18 and 20 cents in those
localities. In the southern sections Of
fers of IL cents with buyers to take all
chances on hail, frost or shed damage
rose rapidly to higher figures. And this
is the situation to date.
X
The extremely high prices at which
some of the new tobacco crop has been
contracted for has prompted manu-
Ffacturer to address the following eau
tion to the New York Leaf:
An orgy of high prices seems to
have set in, so far as leaf tobacco is
concerned There is no orgy of high
prices for cigars and there is not the
slightest possibility that there will be.
The cigar manufacturers find it almost
an impossible task to increase their
prices enough to offset the increased
cost of labor, boxes, etc. If in 1913
they are compelled to use tobacco
bought on price scale similar to that
indicated in The Tobacco Leaf last
week, they will not only not make any
money, but great many Of them will
have the greatest difficulty in averting
bankruptcy. So far as the high cost of
tobacco is concerned, it is true that it
is costing the farmers more to raise to-
bacco this year than ever before. Lab
or, fertilizer, sheds, etc., are higher
than ever before, and it is but just and
right that the farmer should be recon-
pensed for his increased outlay. But
when, within two weeks after planting
his crop, he sells at a price equal to
what the manufactures paid for cured
and packed tobacco two years ago,
there is something wrong somewhere.
The farmer is not to be blamed, of
course, for accepting the high prices
offered him. He would be fool if he
did not. The man to blame is the man
who bought the tobacco. tis all very
we'll to say that supply and demand
control price, that tobacco is scarce and
that consequently the high prices were
justified. The manufacturer cannot in
crease the price of his cigars except in
a small way, and there is limit to the
price that he can afford to pay for to-
bacco. When the price goes so high
that he cannot turn the tobacco into
cigars that can be sold at a profit, that
limit has been reached. Tobacco at the
prices outlined above is not suitable
material to make cigars out of. The
price makes it prohibitive. Just what
it is useful for at those prices [ am
unable to say. Presumably the men
who are fixing the price scale by con-
tracing for the tobacco had notion
that it would be useful for something,
but the prices they are paying make it
clear that it must have been something
else than the manufacture of cigars.
Another phase of the matter that the
leaf packers ought to consider is this:
The bulk of the tobacco now on hand is
in the hands of the manufacturers, and
the manufacturers are better supplied
with raw materials than in many day.
This does not mean that every manu-
facturer has enough tobacco to keep
him going for and indefinite period, but
the cigar manufacturing industry, as
whole, is in better position to skip
crop than it ever gets to be in normal
times. One manufacturer may need
little filler and have enough wrapper
and binder to keep him going for
year; another may have all the filler he
needs and will require little wrapper
or binder, and so on, and there are a
few of the short-sighted ones who will
have to buy heavily in the coming year,
but it may be taken for granted that
when prices are enormously high the
manufacturers will buy just as little as
they can get along with. 1t is un-
doubtedly true that the packers ware
houses are practically empty, but the
manufacturers inventories are full.
The packers would better take this
fact into consideration before they lay
in highly expensive stock of raw ma
terial. All this talk would be waste
Of time if it were certain that the 1917
crop is to be taken up at these enor-
nous and ridiculous prices. But it is
not SO. Very little of our domestic
crop has been contracted for as yet.
The situation is not so desperate that
such prices should be paid for the re-
mainder. The recently issued crop re-
port shows larger acreage in tobacco
than last year, and there is no reason
to believe we will not get large and
abundant crop Of cigar leaf. If the
leaf tobacco packers exercise little
patience and wisdom they will get their
tobacco at relatively reasonable price
and will be able to supply it to the
manufacturers at prices that will not
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