The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1920-02-18
OUR TOBACCO MARKET
a Discussion of Several Important
Phases of Subject.

rler: In yo,. iitorial of the 18th
you quote Wilmington Morning
Star of Tuesday, the 10th. note that
you claim that the Wilmington paper
confirms statement made in The
News and Courier of last Monday with
reference to the very great advantage
the old North State tobacco markets
have over the South Carolina markets,
did not read this article; am sorry
missed it, and have also misplaced
my Mondays paper. l note what the
Board of Trade at Rocky Mount has to
say IN reference to the sales of tobacco
made on that market this past season.
l haven't the remotest idea but the
figures given by Rocky Mount are cor
rect. These figures / notice come from
the Board Of Trade at Rocky Mount.
Sales at that place up to February /,
1870, amounted to 2O,727, 900 pounds,
which sold at an average of $51 Sc
per hundred.
Now getting back to what we had
IN mind when we started to write,
note after you quoted the Wilmington
paper you made some comparisons of
the South Carolina and North Carolina
markets. You state that I'm July, Au-
gust and September, 1919, the South
Carolina markets sold 81 1923, ,916 with
money valuation of $8,439. 1885, "a
lou also state further that the total
figures will exceed that you gave in
your editorial by two or three million
pounds: | think in this that you are
f'Eht; expect probably six or eight
million would be nearer it.
Now about the average price that
you claim we obtained for the South
Carolina crop. You say we averaged
10 cents per hundred pounds or, to
be exact, little over ten dollars per
hundred or about one-iifth of what
Rocky Mount averaged. You further
state that Rocky Mount alone brought
approximately as much as the whole
cf South Carolina market or probably
more.
l DO not know where you obtained
your information about the price paid
for the South Carolina weed, but YOU
certainly are mistaken. If you will
get in behind it you will find that we
averaged, think, little more than
tw"nty-thrce dollars per hundred; ;
more than double what you have given
us credit for
You refer to the fact that Rocky
Mount stays open for months after the
gathering and curing has been COM
rictcd and that they only closed this
week. North Carolina, Virginia. Ken
lucky and all the loosc-lcaf tobacco
markets that I know about require
the farmer t" grade tobacco before il
can be marketed. and this requires
lots of time. The people in the States
referred to have been growing tobac
co for generations. just like we have
cotton in South Carolina. The grad
ing of tobacco comes perfectly natural
to them. The farmers get their first
load graded out and 1t goes to the
market to sell; before he can sell
again he has got to go back home
and gather his little family about his
knees and sit and grade and tie to-
oacco for week or ten days before
he can market again.
In Virginia and Kentucky, whcrr |
usually go in the winter to do a to-
oacco warehouse business. the farm
ers have to have grading houses in
nc ground. The places are called
pits. The trouble he has in the CRED
lng ana handling, etc. would make
the average man down here want to
quit with tobacco. In Virginia, where
! was this winter and last fall. the
farmers found it very hard, indeed, to
get tobacco graded on account Of the
scarcity Of labor. Many farmers
neglected the sowing Of wheat and
the gathering Of his corn and huy
simply because he had to GRADE his
tobacco. OF course. he did not have
to DO this, but he preferred to grade
tobacco rather than wait and take a
chance on the prices going down OF
him.
Now about the difference in the
value Of the tobacco grown in the
9ld bcsts: This tobacco. as rule, is
better for domestic use than the South
Carol ina tobacco. South Carolina is
largely export think about IS per
cent. We have many growers in this
and adjoining counties that grow a
real good quality Of tobacco. MANY
of them the past season realized 5000
ner acre. | cannot see where the Old
North State can put much over on pco
pie Of that kind. and specially when
Won take into consideration that the
farmer can market his tobacco early
and without grading. think if the
trading question was put to vote
in South Carolina the farmers would
vote overwhelmingly against the
adoption Of it. T know a good many
nf the larger markets in South Caro-
lima want it. But it would put good
many of the little markets out Of
business, as the companies could not
afford to keep buyers on the small
markets for the length Of time that
it would REQUIRE to grade the tobacco
crop. think taking into considcra-
tion that we are more of cotton
growing State than tobacco vet. we
would find that if we were to adopt
the grading Of tobacco it would in