The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1917-05-04
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

of large block of the 1916 packings
of Wisconsin dealers and with very
| few exceptions cleans the state of
holdings of cigar leaf likely to reach
the manufacturers the coming year
from country packers. To begin with
the proportion of the 1916 crop bought
by local packers was smaller than for
many years past and when such at
traetive offers were dangled before the
eyes of the dealers as have lately been
made it became an easy matter for
them to let go of their holdings, many
of them even before the warehouse
handling was completed and the exact
number of cases involved in the deal
known. Only once before in the his
tory of the tobacco business in this
state, 1895, has there been such rush
to purchase packings so early in the
season or to pay such going prices for
Wisconsin leaf until its quality had
been fully determined by the first
sweat The impending shortage of
cigar leaf, frequently spoken of in this
column, must surely have arrived and
the effort to control the visible supply
in country hands for the benefit largely
of the large consumers is the best evi.
dence of an acute condition of the leaf
markets. This condition is not alone
peculiar to Wisconsin for all cigar leaf
states share in the boom and is making
the present year one of the most prof
liable ones of the industry ever known.
-
Had not an early frost caught half
the tobacco crops of Wisconsin. Ohio
and New York last season the situation
in the cigar leaf markets might not
have been so bad But when so large
a portion of the crop had to be sold to
stemmers when the trade needed a
full crop and with no reserve surplus
to draw from, the binder and filler sup
ply was bound to be below the do,nes-
tic needs of the manufacturers. An
other full crop in all states will hardly
bring matters back to the normal stage
soa Supply again, even If the business
does not increase. So there need be
no fear of raising too much tobacco in
1917, as double the acreage of year
ago would be readily absorbed. All
that is needed is a good growing year
this season to put the tobacco grower
at the head of the producing class.
There are some things which the coun-
try needs in war times besides food.
~
Forty to fifty millions of dollars of
increased revenue is what the trade is
prepared to offer the to tne government
as it's contribution toward the carrying
on Of the war! This vast sum is in
addition to the one hundred and eleven
millions already annually contributed
in the form of customs duties and in
ternal revenue taxes, and according to
the program outlined will make the
total contribution of the trade to the
national exchequer for the year 1918
an amount in the neighborhood of one
hundred and fifty million dollars
haps even more if the trade is not Grip
pied by the imposition of the higher
rates of taxation.
Nobody can predict just how long the
war will last and the seven billion dol
lars voted as an initial expenditure may
grow into twenty or thirty billions be-
fore we are blessed again with peace.
These vast sums will condition an enOr-
nous yearly interest fund, the pay
ment of which will remain strain on
our industries far beyond the present
and succeeding generation. Conse-
quently, it would be wise and pru-
dent policy, says the U. S. Tobacco
Journal, to adjust the new taxes in
such manner as to make the cigar,
cigarette and tobacco industries bear
the burden without threatening their
very existence in the future. 1t cannot
be pointed out too strongly to and I'M
pressed upon Congress that both pro-
ducing and selling conditions in the to-
bacco business are far different, more
costly, less remunerative and more har-
assed than those prevailing in any other
industry and that to vouchsafe safe re-
turns to the federal treasury all legis-
lation should be of such character as
to assist rather than retard the devel-
opment of these factories and curtall
their actual production.
***
The inability of American tobacco
firms to obtain Turkish tobacco has
compelled them to interest themselves
in Russian tobacco grown in parts OF
Russia where soil and other conditions
may be somewhat analogous to those
in the region from which the favorlte
Turkish tobacco was imported. The
entire coast of the Black Sea is to-
bacco-growing region. The tobacco
grown in some parts of the Sukhum
district is said to be of especially good
quality. Shipment of tobacco from
Novorossisk to Archangel, the only
available port at present during the
navigation period), is possible only by
rail. Because of the shortage OF roll
ing stock and other circumstances ship
~. Lt<>rrf rn0