The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1920-02-27
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

make survey of the tobacco business,
with view of adjusting their opera
tions to what the year may have in
store. While considerable uncertainty
still prevails, due to the hardness OF
what is styled normal conditions"
the note of optimism is the one which
rises above the din of opinions more
clearly than any other. The manufac-
turers of tobacco products are kept
busy filling the orders coming in from
the trade. Disturbances occur here
and there among the cigarmakers who
| call for higher wages; but the machine
is kept busy grinding out the products,
and the market is absorbing it as fast
as it can be made. This is especially
true of the domestic trade. The ex-
port business is hindered by the Euro
pean credit situation both as far as the
raw material and the finished product
are concerned, and there is no immedi-
ate relief in sight. That the consump-
| tion of tobacco is on the increase is the
verdict of statistics. Whether this is
due to the liquor prohibition, as some
claim, or to the general abundance OF
cash, or to both, is difficult to deter
| mine. Cigars, cigarettes and tobaccos
have advanced in price because the raw
/ material, the cost of manufacture, and
the cost of selling have materially IN
creased. If these are due for another
| advance, cigars and tobacco may have
4 l. L <1A
/ manufacturers think that this Is un-
| ayoldable, others believe that the ze-
| NTH is reached. All are agreed that to
] have to raise the 8 cent cigar to 10
| cents and the 13 cent to Is cents will
| be done with great reluctance, and only
! because cost OF material and of produc-
| tiun forces such move.
*#*
One reason why the tobacco industry
| hesitates TO boost prices is the persist
| ent agitation in certain quarters to
| limit and even to forbid by law the use
| of tobacco. A nineteenth amendment
| to the constitutions wiiIspered. The
| tobacco interests are unwilling to place
| tobacco where the agltators are fur
| nished ammunition which might be
used to turn the public at large against
1 it. A pronibitlve price upon the article
/ would give the interests who are OPP
posing it on sanitary and moral grounds
an additional weapon against 1t.
-
! AS to the general price situation, the
| popular feeling THAT these prices can
not last" is supported by the sober
| judgement of careful students of the
| financial and economic situation as it is
today, both at home and abroad. A
price adjustment is anticipated. The
| question iS, how is it to come and how
soon it may be expected. Ii our nation
| is going to continue to furnish the
means for European reconstruction, ex-
1 tending unlimited credit TO the now
! nearly bankrupt nations, until they are
| in shape to throw off their crushing
| obligations, lowering of the price
level can not be looked for for some
time. If. on the other hand, as now
seems to be the policy best supported,
| the present extensions of credit be
| largely Withdrawn from European mar
kets, the rate of production in the do
mestic field would soon glut the home
market, and if the law of supply and
demand is allowed to operate unhin-
dered, the price would quickly settle to
| lower level.
-
If this could be brought about with
out at the same time forcing the price
of wages down too abruptly, or stop
the producing agencies of the country,
business may be stimulated consider
ably in volume. The purchasing power
of labor is one of the great economic
factors which will serve to make the
transition from our present inflated
price levels to new lower and normal
level take place with the least possible
shock to business. This is the way the
everyday thinking man sizes up the
| situation, and hopes to have the price
problem solved.
Power and labor saving machinery on
the farm was the subject of demon
stration at the agricultural engineering
department of the u. w. recently. The
cost of farm manual labor is forcing
many farmers to introduce labor saving
machinery IN the house, in the barns
and in the field. Many farms are
hitching onto the ELECTRICAL power lines
for light and power, some install inde-
pendent electrical power plants, and
some use gasoline engine power. The
milking machine, the cream separator,
the washing machine, the feed mill. the
| water pump, the grindstone. besides
the tractor, the truck, grain separator
and the tanning mill are power-run. 1t
is an easy matter to demonstrate to the
farmer that labor saving power ard
machinery are economy measures, saw
ing time and energy, and adding to the
independence, comfort and pleasure of
the occupation. But if these boons are
to be realized. the farmer needs to
train more fully in the field of machine
technique. There are those who in
stinctively seem to know how to man.
age power and handle machines, others
have not the inborn gift. The latter
class is handicapped in dealing with
machines, and this experience may be
costly to them. The need of technical
training of the young farmer is grow