The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1919-09-26
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

$4s@.s..4@..s<.s@4s.
Compared with the buying activities
of the tobacco market during recent
years, the movement in the trade OF
the 1919 crop is late in getting under
way If any of the 1919 tobacco croE
is contracted for at all up to the pres
ent date. it is kept very quiet. The
reasons for the delay this fall are sew
eral. The initiatory prices paid q year
ago were, as everyone now admits,
abnormal, and the shock of the sudden
break in the market was such that it
took time for the buying activities to
revive; the market did not recover,
and the 1918 crop has as consequence
moved rather slowly in spite OF the
fact that it is showing up well in point
of quality. A portion of it, between
1000 and 5000 cases, is still in storage
in the Farmers Cooperative ware
houses, not a few crops are still in the
hands of individual growers, and still
more is unsold in the warehouses OF
packers. While there is no Indication
of an oversupply of binder stock in the
world market quite the contrary being
the case the unloading has not been
active as yet. This may to consider
erable degree be accounted for by the
strikes in the cigar manufacturing CEN
ters. These strikes have hindered the
manufacturer in getting his supply on
hand worked up for the trade. The
strike conditions are mending grad
ually, but it will take some time before
the material on hand is out of the way.
Meanwhile things are dragging and
having tendency to make the market
slow for the 1919 crop also. AS things
ease up at the manufacturing end Of it,
and the hands get busy turning the Leaf
into the finished product, the active
demand will assert itself, and buying
will start as the normal course OF
things. Just now the situation may be
characterized as one of watchful wait
ing '
-
There need be hardly any fear among
tobacco growers that the demand for
Wisconsin leaf should cease to continue
in the future any more than it was
present in the past The manufactur-
.ers of cigars who have invested enorm-
ousesums of money in the industry are
as anxious to get the stock needed for
their products as the grower is to fur
nish it. 1t is in the manufacturers in
terest that sufficient quantity of the
different grades going into the MANN
facture Of cigars is being raised, and
of this quantity the Wisconsin binder
leaf plays no unimportant role. 1t is
evident also that the quality of the leaf
should be a matter of the utmost i'm
portance. A sufficient amount of to-
bacco grown of high quality of ex-
cellence is certain, other things being
equal, to bring the grower and manu-
facturer fair returns on their invest
ment. While the prices of tobacco
may vary from year to year, as prices
vary also in the market for grain and
other produce, and as they vary in cat
tie, swine and sheep, this variation in
the value and price of tobacco, in nor
NAL times, will not be appreciably
greater in tobacco than in any other
farm crop. The causes of fluctuations
in price may lie in the size of the sup
ply, or it may lie in the quality of it,,
or both. Truly there may be other in
fiuences that cause disturbance upon
prices, in fact, the recent epoch in the
business world is entirely familiar with
such conditions. But these influences
are abnormal, and because they are ar
tifcial, can not last for any consider
able period. Of the same nature are
manipulations of the market of pure
ly speculative character. They cause
fiurries of a more or less serious charac-
ter, but they are transitory in their inf1u-
ence; they may be harmful for the
time beng, either because they force
prices up to point which the real con-
ditions of supply and demand do not
warrant, or because they have de-
pressing influence on prices, causing
stagnation and loss; but they are squalls,
not the trade winds of the world. The
history of such manipulations, whether
they effect>prices one way or the other,
shows that they are undesirable and
deplorable, but not permanently dis
astrous. If the growers stand out for
price which the conditions Of the
manufacturing end of the industry can
not meet and do profitable business,
buying ceases. If, on the other hand,
artificial pressure is exerted TO force
the price of tobacco down to a figure
where the grower can not raise it at a
fair profit, he will either refuse to sell
or quit raising tobacco 1t is, there
fore, as much to the best interest Of
the manufactures who needs the leaf
to carry on his business, to see to it
that the grower receives price for his
tobacco which will induce rim to com
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