The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-12-08
OF COMMERCE NOTES.
Tobacco WarehOusemen and TObac-
co Buyers Urging Another Tobacco
Warehouse for Sumter-PrOspects
for Tobacco Stemmcries, Drying
Plants, and a Big Tobacco Market
If Second Warehouse Is Built.

Several tobacco warehousemen and
tobacco buyers of North Carolina and
Virginia are urging the Sumter
Chamber of Commerce to start q
movement for another tobacco ware
house in Sumter and are Offering TO
lease the second warehouse on one
TO three year leases.
These tobacco buyers 10 whom ref
erence is made, and who have spent
months on this marked for several
years, believe that Sumter is logical
place for one of the largest tobacco
markets in the State, and WITH oppor-
tunities uneXcelled for tobacco sten.-
meries and drying plans, and they
cannot understand why sumter, with
the splendid railway transportation
facilities, it's geographical position in
the midst of a splen0id tobacco pro-
duclng territory and centrally located,
not only for big tobacco producing
section, but adjoining an already es-
tablished tobacco rrodicting terrific
ry naturally tributary 10 the Sumter
tobacco market, sho Iid he content
with one warehouse, which is q draw
Dack to this tobacco market for the
simple reason that thousands of to-
bacco growers are prejudiced against
a one warehouse market and in ia
vor of a two or more warehouse mar.
ket, because they believe competition
between warehouses causes higher
prices. This prejudice is without
business foundation, but it exists,
and, existing, cripples a one ware
house market. Dozens Of these to-
bacco buyers are anxious to come
to Sumter every summer and ask to
be sent back here every season be.
cause they say they like Sumter. they
like our boarding house and hotel
accommodations, and our farmers,
and they say that they and their COM
panies will back up another tobacco
warehouse here, will do everything
in their power to make Sumter a big
| tobacco market and to put in stem
meries and drying plants here if
Sumter will only wake up to the val
city and county. The expenditure of
about $4,000 for another but smaller
warehouse will mean the expenditure
of about 100000 more, to begin,
with, annually in this city among
our business establishments, and that
much more for deposit in Sumter's
banks.
Just because the only tobacco
warehouse we have has never paid q
dividend on the capital stock because
this company started off several thou
sand dollars in debt, owing to failure
Of number of capital stock subscrib
ers during 1914 to pay for stock sub
scribed, and which Indebtedness has
been reduced by applying dividends
ana rents to pay debts, with unincum-
pered real estate and buildings valued
at about $4,000, and the best of
prospects for dividend on stock next
year, is no reason why the business
men of Sumter not a one Of whom
invested more than $500 in our only
| 1t hn etc
jority not more than 800 each in
stock, should sit quietly by and worry
over six or eight per cent dividends
on their small investments not being
received in three years since the
warehouse was erected, while at the
same time this city is losing hundreds
of thousands Of dollars annually in
tobacco trade, and other and smaller
towns around Sumter are selling hun
dreds Of thousands of dollars of goods
from tobacco receipts that Sumter
could get if we only had another to-
bacco warehouse in Sumter.
The Sumter Chamber of Commerce
has tried to get another warehouse
for Sumter, but the organization has
met with the cry that 1--WE have never
received any dividends on our stock
in the present tobacco warehouse"
Many Sumter business men have
invested thousands of dollars of their
money in other Sumter enterprises
from which they not only never re-
ceived any dividends, but in which
they lost their entire investments, and
the enterprises have failed and gone
out of existence, but they are not
whining about those losses, while the
stockholders of the tobacco ware