The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1919-02-14
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

The ridicue and abuse which the to-
bacco dealers have been subjected to
at many of the farmers meetings so
far held is mostly uucalled for. The
local tobacco dealers of this state would
be entirely helpless in attempting to
lift the 1O0, 900 cases Of unsold Wiscon-
sin leaf if they were disposed to do so.
It would involve an enormous amount
of ready cash thst the banks would
never loan them on a pledged product,
especially on falling market. When
this tobacco is sold the money must
come from the large operators, manu-
facturers who buy direct from the
growers, or the large packing concerns
in the eastern cities, as it always has
dones If the big concerns do not choose
to Invest in Wisconsin tobacco under
the present conditions, it is their priv
ilege to do so for it is a business prop
osition with them. All this storming
about and charges that ''they refuse to
buy our tobacco" viii not avail any
thing. Their local representatives sim
ply await orders from headquarters.
There is nothing for the growers to do
but patiently content themselves and
await the pleasure of our usual Gus
toners. Here you have the condition
in its tersest form.
%.x
The condition is here now. How can
it best be met? The farmer cannot do
otherwise but prepare to carry his to-
bacco until such time as the market
needs will require it. If he cannot sort
and care it on the farm himself, he
should at once arrange to have some of
the cooperative warehouses that are
opening up about the state put it up
for him. Above all things, he must
not allow his crop to deteriorate by
permitting it to lie in bundles in poorly
protected sheds during the summer
season, subject to drying winds, rains
and other elements that detract from
the value of his crop. Then to relieve
the situation, prepare to cut the acre.
age for the coming year. A crop of
over 200, 900 cases Of binders is prob
ably more than the market needs Of
Wisconsin leaf under the present rate
of consumption.
If in the readjustment of values that
is bound to come at the close Of great
war and tobacco declines in price same
as other commodities, the depreciation.
falls upon the holders Of old leaf as
well as the growers. Most Of the large
packers still have their 1877 paekingsI
on hand, on which probably a good
sized loss must be charged up, for it
was purchased in war times at q big
advance over ordinary prices. Fortun-
ately Wisconsin packers own smaller
stocks than are ordinarily carried by
them. From all accounts there is less
than 5000 cases of all grades of all
years up to the 1918 crop that is owned
by purely local packers in Wisconsin.
Most packings put up by them last
year were small and but few have been
sold, although plenty of effort has been
made to unload them. Had there been
better percentage of binders secured
from the 1917 crop, local packers would
never got out from under so easily. So
they stand exactly on the same footing
as the grower today, except the old to-
bacco is year nearer market than
the tobacco on the farms that has got
to go through the curing process.
The condition of dissatisfaction and
intellectual ferment that has been OBJ
served recently in the tobacco growing
sections of the country still continues,
unabated. The farmers simply cannot
make up their minds that the general
condition that obtains in the trade is
vastly different from the condition that
| obtained when they sold their 1917
| crops and when they planted their 1918
crops. They have had four years OF
| continuously increasing prices, and they
apparently believe that this process is
to be continuing operation, ad infiini-
| tum. And now having discovered that
cog has slipped somewhere, they ap-
pear to be bit peeved. The law OF
| supply and demand is one that does not
| yield to personal caprice or to the de-
sires of any man or set of men. When
| their tobacco sold at the high prices OF
last year and the year before, it was
because there was demand for it. The
yield of those years had not been suf-
fcient to supply the demand, and the
| prices rose in accordance with this sit
| uation. This year there is plentiful
| supply; the manufacturing industry
| does not seq its Way ahead for more