The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1919-09-12
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

w. B. Shaw, vice president and gen.
errl manager of the cigar leaf depart
ment of the international Planters, Cor
poratiOn, returned this week from Wis
consin, where he was formerly for
twelve years buyer for the American
Cigar Co. While there he completed
negotiations with one of the largest
stripping concerns in that state, the
character of which places the corpora
tion in rather unique as well as I'M
portant position as factors IN the do
mestic cigar leaf market. The concern
through which the International Plant
ers' Corporation will receive it's sup
plies is reputed to be the second larg-
est buyer Of tobacco in Wisconsin. The
company buys tobacco exclusively for
| the manufacture of scrap chewing and
| is in no way interested in cigar leaf.
In the purchase of it's tobacco, how
ever, this company follows the crop
system of buying. Consequently, in
view of the immense quantities of to-
bacco which the company buys every
year, the total naturally includes a
large quantity of leaf well suited to
| the manufacture of cigars. The con-
tract which Mr.. Shaw has secured
gives to the international Planters
Corporation the privilege of selecting
| from an average annual total OF S.OOO,-
600 pounds of Wisconsin tobacco such
portions of tie crops as are suited to
lcigar leaf purposes. This will secure
| to the Planters Corporation, according
to Mr.. Shaw's calculations, an annual
total of approximately 200, 900 pounds
of choice cigar leaf. I'VE will select, =
saws Mr.. Shaw, ttonly the largest sizes
of sound tobacco 1t is, believe, an
entirely new and perfectly practical
idea, which will allow us to market our
tobacco at an extremely reasonable fig
ure. Inasmuch as we will accept only
the very largest sizes of leaf, the to-
bacco will not be sized, but packed
loose and straight in the cases This
method of handling our enormous hold
ings is, in fact. forced upon US by the
present stringent labor shortage which
now exists in Wisconsin. We believe
that this arrangement will place the
international Planters Corporation alb
solutely on the ground floor as dealers
| in Wisconsin cigar leaf tobacco and we
are certain that the saving, which the.
cigar manufacturer will make in the
purchase of onr tobacco, is sure to
make our plan success. Nor are we
attempting anything sensational. We
are merely adopting a cOmmon-sense
/ plan which will result in material
saving in the manufacturers leaf costs
and at the same time net US reason
able profit. IN. Y. Tobacco Leaf.
When England adopted the free trade
system, few articles regarded then
1 c%r sa%1 hi <oG 20
an import tax. Tobacco was one of
| them, and in order that the receipts
from the tobacco tax should be as large
as possible, the cultivation of tobacco
| in England was forbidden, although,
| for the purpose of providing Ireland
with am additional industry, the culti-
vation of tobacco there has been per-
| naitted for a number of years. Re-
Gently, however, the matter of grow
| ing tobacco in England has been taken
| up again, and limited production, as
an experiment, has been allowed. The
| idea is to test whether tobacco can be
grown upon commercially profitable
scale there, and as above stated, Eng
| lish grown tobacco pays duty equal to
| that paid by Canadian or South African
| tObaccos, but which is 80 cents pound
| less than that paid by American, Su-
matra, Havana and other types. A
| test is now being made to ascertain it
| this 80 cents per pound protection is
| sufficient to place the industry upon
| paying basis. Less than 100 acres were
under cultivation this year. The Eng
| lish tobacco trade papers for the cur
rent month are full of enthusiasm over
| the project. They state, however, that
| the experiment should be continued for
at least ten years, SO that the farmers
may feel justified in erecting the nec-
essary buildings and going to the nec-
essary expense to make the scheme a
success.
In the meantime, however, it is very
evident that they are deeply anxious as
| to the supplies of foreign countries, es-
| pecially American. Supplies on hand
appear to be rather small in compari-
son with the magnitude of the British
| tobacco industry, and that portion of
| these papers that touches upon Ameri-
can interests at all is devoted to dis
cussion of the size and price of the
| American production. One of them
| urges smaller hogsheads, for conven-
| ience IN shipping, and another stops to
wonder What would happen if the anti
tobacconists of this country do for to-
bacco what the prohibitionists have done
| for liquor. The British trades interest
| in the American leaf tobacco industry
may be gathered from the fact that
they give much space to verbatim re-
production of the annual address of
President I. MI. Darlington, of the
Leaf Tobacco Association of the United
States, delivered last June at Old Point
Comfort, Va, and they appear to be
very happy over his prediction of big
| production and less so over his predic-
| tion of high prices.
-
A perusal of the trade papers sug-
gests that the British tobacco mer-
chants and manufacturers are meeting
almost the same difficulties that their
American brethren are, except that no
mention is made of strikes. sThe main
difficulty in thp ratail fohacc0 trade ia