The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1920-04-23
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

A keen observer OF matters IN gen.
eral, and especially of agricultural labor
conditions in southern Wisconsin, called
at The Reporter office the other day.
He said: '"There is no doubt of labor
shortage; too many people who prop
erly belong in rural community are
seeking employment in the cities,
tempted by the lure of the high wages,
short hours, and urban excitement.
These people, or most of them, are
bound to be disappointed. They are
worse off than are those who stick to
the farm. observed last summer dur
| ing the busy season of haying, harvest
and threshing that the farmers got
through with their work in good season
| in spite of labor shortage. Everybody
turned out, put in long hours, and
worked hard. By exchanging work
with neighbors, the neighborhood work
was finished in good season. And that
is what they will do during the coming
season.. The farmers may complain at
times, and say that they see no way
how to get their farm worked and their
crops harvested; but when it comes to
the doing of it they always find way.
The spirit of neighborliness exerts it
self when the pinch comes, and the
work is taken care of. Machinery
power is also helping along, and the
automobile and the truck are great
time savers to the farmer
***
Since the recent Porto Rico boom,
the boom element has manifested itself
also in the domestic market. In GER
tain quarters this boom condition is
result of the over-anxiety of the large
manufacturers of cigars in laying in an
unnecessarily large stock. It is re-
ported that some have bought two
and three years supply. The manu-
facturers who are now stocking up with
a big surplus will not be in the market
to do their annual buying next year
and the year after. Then the reaction
will come, causing depression in the
price of tobacco. Boom prices are
never wholesome in their influence up
on an industry as whole. In order to
come Out to the good, the smanufactur-
ers are pretty sure to advance the
price of cigars again. How this will
work out in the face of the present
loud call for cheaper cigars remains to
to be found out. At any rate it is
worth remembering this incident of the
Porto Rico raid and results of it upon
domestic leaf prices. The creation of
an unreal shortage of material just at
this time with soaring prices was an
unnecessary move, because the real de-
mand is sufficient to hold the market
up where everybody is receiving good
returns for their labor and investment.
j. B. Hutson has been working in
the Hopkinsville territory, Kentucky,
to make survey of the tobacco cul-
ture with view of establishing the
actual present day cost of growing to-
bacco in that section. Mr. Hutson is
representative of the federal govern
ment, and the survey is made at gov
ernment expense. The results for the
portion of the survey carried out dur
ing 1919 are now available, and the fig
ures are interesting. The cost Of rails
ing tobacco in that section of Kentucky
is ranging from 11.6 to 29.1 cents per
pound. The acreage cost is from $99. 03
to S308. SO per acre. The average cost
per acre for the number Of farms in,
cluded in the survey is S167.00. 1t
would be Of great interest to the Wis
consin tobacco industry to know accur-
ately the present cost of raising tobac-
co in the different areas Of the state.
Is anybody keeping tab of it?
**#
The great reconstruction work is that
done by the man and woman who pro-
duces the food of the nation Before
everything else, the problem of feeding
the nation must be taken care Of
Shortage of the food supply influences
the price of wages, transportation, raw
material and the so-called value OF
money, which in the last analysis is
nothing but the yardstick that meas
ures the value of the work of the man
who produces the necessaries of life.
And there is a real and alarming short
age of life's necessities now, and this
summer and fall can not right it.
Those who say that there is large
supply on hand are fooling US. They
are talking that way in order to de-
press prices, just as the agents of Eng
land did right after the war England
needed cotton, fats, leather, dairy pro-
ducts; she caused the story to be cir
culated that there was a glut in the
market; we believed it, prices went