The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1920-05-21
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

can labor is recorded in practically
every line of business since the high
prices came. The American worker in
every field, in the industries, on the
farms, in the office, behind the counter,
in the halls of learning, everywhere,
has been recognized as the most alert.
the speediest in point of production of
any worker on the face of the earth.
The speeding-up process had almost be-
come maina in certain lines of work,
especially in the factories where spec
ialization had developed expertness.
The tempo of American labor was the
wonder of the foreigner, and it was
even greater wonder to him that he
himself under the tutelage of Ameri-
can bosses and influenced by the atmos-
phere of American labor acquired the
same tempo in a remarkably short
time. A change has set IN. Since the
close of the war with mounting wages
and. skyrocketing of prices the labor
tempo has experienced marked re-
tartando. Perhaps it is natural re-
suit of the strain of the period of the
war-a reaction following the intense
speeding up of every mind and of every
movement while the war lasted. If it
is, the slow-up has nothing to do with
the viii to work Some students of
this phenomena believe that it is the
natural relaxation coming after exces-
sive effort. The old habit will assert
itself again as soon as the nation re-
covers from it's exhaustion, they say.
When the slow-up is associated with
the high prices paid for labor, it is not
relation of cause and effect, but one
of simultanety, both the results of alb
normal conditions created by the war.
Anyway, is it a matter of regret if the
intensity of our American way of liv-
ing and working were toned down few
degrees? May be it would do US no
harm to make haste more slowly.
@
up of the fields where tobacco is to be
planted is practiced by all successful
growers of the leaf. Many are work
| ing the fields now, giving them pow
Idery sfineness which is difficult to OBJ
| tain with the same amount of work If
the ground is plowed Immediately be-
fore the planting season. The fields
that are being worked now, if turned
| again just before planting, seem to
hold moisture better and allow the
roots wider and easier, contact areas
| for feeding, and facilitates stronger
growth of the plant. The preparation
of the soil plays so great part in the
success of raising good crop of tobac-
CO that almost any amount Of work put
on brings paying returns.
***
Weather conditions in Kentucky are
] seriously interfering with the early to-
bacco work. Prospects of early plant
ing are slim as heavy rains have him
dered the preparation of the fields. If
the setting out of the plants is delayed
beyond the first of June, the bright red
color so popular in the Burley leaf is
not developed. 1t takes hot sun for
the mature plant to develop this quail
ity, and if the plant is not maturing
until cooler weather comes in the fall,
the tobacco becomes inferior in quality.
Kentucky produces more than one-half
of the domestic tobacco crop, judged
| by weight.
The U. S. Tobacco Journal states ed
itOrialiy that it finds upon investigation
that the tobacco area to be planted in
the u. S. during the coming season
will come up to last years acreage.
The prospects of an active market fol-
the manufactured tobacco act as an in
centive to the growers who see in the
1920 crop good pay.
***
Of the twenty states recognized in
this country as tobacco growing states,
ten may be regarded as producing
strictly cigar-leaf types, and ten pro-
duce export tobaccos and what are
known as manufacturing types, that is,
i tobaccos which go into our cigarettes,
pipe mixtures and chewing tobaccos.
Counting by states, this would appear
to be about an even break between the
cigar leaf tobaccos and the other types;
but in actual quantities the latter tow
ers imposingly in Importance above the
former. The total leaf tobacco produc-
tion in pounds of the country is some
thing, over billion and quarter. Only
% percent of this is cigar leaf tobacco,
the remaining " per cent being of the
manufacturing and export types. Ken
lucky alone, in which manufacturing
and export types are grown exclusive.
| ly, produces more leaf tobacco than al
the cigar leaf producing states put to.
! Cether. The total Weld of MaSsachu.