The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1921-04-29
NOTE BOOK SKETCHES

associations to put over marketing
organization which in their mind would
tend to correct adverse conditions under
which many growers now seem to think
that marketing of tobacco is done,
arises partly from the fact that they
do not trust to their own judgment in
fixing the market value of the tobacco
they nave grown. While they may be
good judges of soil, fertilizers and even
of green tobacco, they cease to feel
certain of their own judgment when it
comes to valuing the leaf after it is off
the field. The organization of mar
keting corporation, as one farmer put
it, is to inject sufficient salesmanship
into the movement of the tobacco after
it leaves the farm. When asked what
the growers expected to gain in the
matter of price, he said that was a
matter that experience would have to
prove. The price might not be stimu7
ulated so as to bring a larger total
amount of money for given years
output, but the farmers hoped that it
would serve to establish market in
which the tobacco would sell on it's
merits. Poor tobacco and small tobac-
co can not, he said, bring big price,
no matter who sells it, and the growers
would have to be prepared to suffer in
the price received where the quality
and the size had suffered, either through
natural causes like drought, hail, wind,
disease, frost, or through bad handling;
but through efficient salesmanship he
thought that every man under sales
organization would be more likely to
obtain a just value for his goods,
whether the leaf was of one type or
another, than when the individual
grower had to measure his own judg-
ment of what his tobacco is worth
against that of the individual buyer.
***
When asked what he thought of the
prospects of obtaining standardized
grading of tobacco leaf, he said that
the growers realized the difficulty con-
fronting them on this point; but ne
pointed to the efforts made in all tobac-
co growing areas of the United States
to come to an understanding as to how
this matter should be approached in or
der to obtain common ground for the
judging of the value of the different
types and grades of tobacco, and that
the federal government is actively
studying this matter for the purpose of
solving the problem. The principal
phase of the grading problem as far as
the growers are concered, he said,
would be to arrive at an approximately
correct estimate of what value in the
sales market, at given time, each
mans tobacco would have, in order to
establish the loan value of each mans
crop, it he had to go to the bank with
his warehouse receipt TO ask for loan
upon it. Both the market price pre-
vailing at certain time and the rela-
have to be considered by the bank in
estimating how much money could with
safety be advanced on the crop.
***
The tobacco merchants have refrain
ed throughout this period of the grow
ers' movement to influence it one way
| or the other. They have said nothing
for publication to intimate how they
view the movement. They have neith-
er pushed nor retarded the efforts of
| the growers in tins matter. The 1919
tobacco crop moved so smoothly and
! with such general satisfaction TO all
concerned that nobody felt called upon
to suggest improvements. The tobac-
| co then was fairly uniform, and the
packers lifted it without much hesita-
ton. The 1920 crop was hit in two
ways, first by the drought, and second
| ly by the general slump in business.
The 1921 may move as did the 1919, if
| the growing conditions are right and
the general business activities recover
somewhat. The industry is hungry for
binders, and good binder crop is like
ly to be good property in the hands of
whoever holds it. Good marketable
goods and steady demand are pretty
effective forces in favor of satisfactory
! trade conditions, and this is realized by
| merchants as well as by the rank and
file of the growers.
Edward NJ East, professor at Har-
ward, has developed leaf called round
tip, a wrapper which it is claimed has
qualities found in several other desir
able varieties, but combined in the new
leaf. Considerable of this new leaf will
be grown in Connecticut this year.
The tobacco crop in the U. S. for the
past five years exceeded one billion
pounds annually. Under normal condi-
tions 400 million pounds is exported,
los To- e En4