The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1921-03-25

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The marketing problem is just now
engaging the attention of large por-
ton of the tobacco producing end of
the industry. It is affecting tobacco in
the same way that it is affecting all
other products of the soil. The aim is
to eliminate cost in the handling of the
article from the grower to the con-
sumner. A marked change in the meth
Cd is already noticeable. Last fall it
was the manufacturer who to large
extent came into the field and bought.
The local packer did very little of COM
petitive buying on his own account.
Most of the local packers acted only as
buying and packing agents of the man.
ufacturers The movement of the leaf
is already about as direct as it can be.
Whether a further elimination of the
local packer as competitor with the
big manufacturing concerns in the mar
ket for raw leaf is going to have ten
deacy to hold prices of manufactured
tobacco up in the price level, or wheth-
er the entire elimination of this COM
petition, giving the manufacturers a
free hand ana free field, is going to
lower the price level, is matter that
deserves careful consideration. The in
dividual buyer with limited capital is
practically out of the field as a. factor
in the price status already. 1t is be-
tween the manufacturer and grower
that the tug-of-war is henceforth to be
staged, if recent developments are a
criterion.
***
The Connecticut Havana No. 38, de-
veloped by the experiment station, is
still increasing in popularity, but this
type of seed is recommended particu-
larly for newer tobacco soil or where 2
rotation system is practiced. Seed of
this type can be purchased from vari-
Gus tobacco seed growers.
#**
A member of the w. C. T. u. organ
ization in Edgerton has asked The Re-
porter to publish an editorial in The
Union Signal which among other things
declares: :. mo movement to prohibit
| the esmanufactuoe, sale or personal use
| (ofgtobacco) by adults has been started
| by iE (W. C. L. w. in either state or
national legislatures. The Reporter
| taKss this to mean that the W. C. T. u.
wishes to be understood as not planning
any legislative attack upon the legiti-
mate manufacture and use of tobacco,
but is pursuing an educational cam
paign among the children against their
use of tobacco. The article follows.
MAN OF STRAW.
| The most greatly to be feared antag-
onist is not the man who deals in out
and-out falsehoods. but he who circu-
lates misleading half-truths or misrep
reservations that have an element of
| fact sufficient to deceive the careless,
| superficial reader or hearer., Although
| the w. C.. T. U. for years has been
carrying on an educational campaign
| against the use of tobacco by the
young, seeking, also, legislation against
| the sale to minors of cigarets or tobac-
co, and has in no way changed this
method of treatment of the subject,
the general press suddenly appears to
have discovered that we are subtly and
with clever strategy working for legis-
lation against the personal use of to-
bacco, with the intention of instituting
campaign for an amendment to the
Federal constitution providing for the
prohibition Of the manufacture, sale
and use of tobacco. Editors of news
papers, we are informed, are receiving
from the Press Service Company of
| New York QUESTIONABLE on the pro-
hibition of tobacco, propounding three
questions:
/. Do you favor the enactment of
laws prohibiting the personal use of to-
bacco by adults?
2. In your judgment does the gen
eral sentiment of your community fav-
or such legislation?
3. Is the use of tobacco personally
Objectionable to you?
The manager of the Press Service
Company, in submitting this question
i naire, explains that while the question
has not yet reached an acute controver-
sial stage, the activities of certain or
ganizations campaigning against to-
bacco have received much publicity,
and it wants to find out through the
questionnaire whether public opinion
would support or oppose an anti-tobacco
crusade.
If one of the certain organizations
referred to in the letter accompanying
the QUESTIONABLE is the Woman's Chris
tian Temperance Union, the gentlemen
are laboring under mistaken idea, or
are willfully misrepresenting the situa-
| ton. Our work continues to be, as it
has been for many years, educational
in character, promoted through the
schools, Sunday schools and our own
children's and young peoples organiza-
tions, and no movement to prohibit the
manufacture. sale or personal use by
| adults has been started by it in either
state or national legislatures.
The interests who are responsible for
| this publicity have erected man OF
straw and are collecting opinions about
this mythical individual which they
hope to use to prejudice public opinion