The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-07-18
TOBACCO PRICE
next TO GO UP;
LEAF IS HIGHER
Strikes, and a General ADJ
vance in Crop Prices,
Causes Of Impending Rise.
BY WILLIAM r. sANsoRN

Growers Of cigar leaf will be inter-
ested in learning that a material ad-
vance in the cost of their favorite
smokes, seems imminent. All impor-
tant cigar plants in the metropolitan
district Of New York, embracing the
entire city and outlying points Of
manufacture. are closed because of
strikes. This ia the most important
reason for higher costs. Leaf grow
ers will be particularly Interested in
the second reason for higher priced
ctgars-good leaf of all kinds is bring
ing more money. Not q great deal
more 1t Is true; but the trend of the
cigar leaf market is still slowly up
ward.
AS to manufactured tobacco, there
is but little chance for any immediate
further advance in smoking. but the
plug makers surely know their bust
ness. Except for the expensive smooth,
hurley wrapper. nearly any old leaf
will suffice for plug. The taste"
comes not so much from the leaf as
from the molasses and licorice which
makes 1t a gummy mass. and the syn
thetic flavorings which different1ate
one brand Of plug from another. Ev-
cry plug manufacturer has his own
secret formula, which is closely guard
ed.
Those who happen to indulge in plug
will presently find that the former 10.
cent section is now divided into four
scent cuts, and these will replace pre-
sent plugs and prices as soon as your
retailer puts in fresh supply. We
have laws galore, but, 80 far as we
know, there is as yet no law COMPEL
ing any one to chew plug; we can skip
this added cost, II we wish. -
Hundreds of Strikes.
The cigar makers in large plants
seem to be persistent strikers. They
demoralized the clear Havana cigar
industry in Cuba for weeks, the gov.
eminent taking a hand in affairs fin.
ally. to force a settlement. At Tampa
and Key West, Florida. strikers tied
up the whole works tor a. long time
there were strikers in cigar factories
all over the country. Tampa and Key
West are two centers Of clear Havana
manufacture, and the cigar makers
are nearly all Cubans and Spaniards
from the tropical islands or South
American countries. But their broth
ers and sisters "up North" who speak
English, and forty other languages
and dialects, are pretty fair strikers
themselves 1t is safe to say, indeed
that there has not been a month In
the past two years in which there were
DO walk-outs in the cigar industry, in
some important factory, or some cigar
making center.
Many women and girls are employed
in cigar plants. During a recent TRIP
east the writer visited number OF
large factories. We were not so
greatly surprised that women should
be expert cigar makers, as to note the
number of middle aged women at the
benches. with a rather large sprink
ling of grayhaired matrons, some o.
whom might have been grandmothers
That these women are paid the same
price per thousand as the men fo
manufacture is but simple Justice.
The demands of the strikers in thu
metropolitan district of New York
are almost confiscatory. Note wha
these demands are, according to TIL,
Tobacco Leaf, than which there is NJ
better authority. That the manufac
turers have combined to resist, ant
ito fight to a finish" is not surpris
ing. To concede all that is aske,
would be to more than double the pres
ent labor cost of manufacture, il
which event one may guess wha
would also happen to the consumer
What the Men Demand.
According to the editor of the TIC
bacco Leaf: What the cigar maker
are really seeking is demand tina
Is perhaps unprecedented in labor Gil
cles, namely-that all factories in
crease the scale to the highest seal
now paid by any factory, and that az
increase of fifty per cent shall the
be made over that scale"