The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1922-12-29
GRADING POOL TOBACCO.
SELMER NEPRUD,
DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY.

There seems TO De considerable con-
Germ among some tobacco buyers as To
the method to be used in grading the
Pool TOBACCO. When the KENTUCKY
Pool was started the same story was
circulated = 1T CAN'T BE DONE.
When the fruit growers of California
started to figure out a system of grad
ing fruits the fruit buyers said 1T
CAN'T BE DONE. When the cotton
growers of the South through the man.
agement of its cooperative association
started to devise system of grading
cotton the buyers said-IT CAN'T BE
DONE. The same thing is true in
Wisconsin-the Pool is working out a
grading system for bundle tobacco, but
SOME buyers say = 1T CAN'T BE
DONE.
In Kentucky the system adopted by
the Burley Pool has worked out to the
satisfaction of the buyers, and to prove
that statement $1,000, 900 pounds sold
within period of two hours on basis
of grades established by that organiza-
ton.
The grades of cotton established by
Georgia Cotton Pool are recognized in
all the important cotton markets of the
world, and besides that the cotton
growers are paid on quality basis.
The fruit that is sold by the Cooper
alive Fruit Growers Association of
California is known all over the United
States for it's uniformity. The fruit
growers of California are in the fruit
growing business. If they raise fruits
of exceptional quality they are paid for
it according to their grading system.
There probably may be some mis-
takes made by the Pool in inaugurating
this system, but the writer is quite
sure that a thing that happened in Ken
lucky will not occur in Wisconsin. On
a warehouse floor in Kentucky mot
owned or controlled by pooD but oper-
ated by warehouse man and where CO.
bacco was sold to expert buyers, ONE
BASKET WAS SOLD ELEVEN
TIMES AT ELEVEN DIFFERENT
PRICES. Such thing cannot occur
under grading system.
There are several reasons why the
Pool wants to grade the tobacco when
in the bundle, and when tobacco IS still
on the farm. There undoubtedly will
be a lot of tobacco sold in bundle. If a
BUYER comes in and wants 1000, 900
pounds of tobacco of certain grade in
the bundle, how would the Pool man
agement be able to know which farm
ers to call in unless they had taken
samples of their tobacco and know IN
which grades their tobacco was listed?
Under the system to be established the
Pool can fill any order for tobacco
through samples which have been TAX
en-. The tobacco can be hauled, If sold
In bundle, direct to car and thereby
save the enormous expense OF rehandl
ing. In case tobacco is packed, the
warehouse managers will be able to
get a more uniform packing.
The Pool will also know the approx
mate number of pounds of tobacco
which it has TO sell. In the past, ev-
eryone knows that no farmer knew the
number of pounds of tobacco raised in
the state, or the amount of tobacco on
hand. Only last spring when the Pool
was being organized, some buyers said
that all the warehouses in the country
were packed to the brim with tobacco
what kind of tobacco? Were those
warehouses packed to the brlm with
No. l Wisconsin binder?
No farmer knows, but the Pool will
be in a position to know these things
before very long.
In the past, what grading system
was used by buyers to determine the
price he should pay for crop of to-
bacco? At times, anybody who could
drive team of horses qualified as to-
bacco buyer, and, no doubt, used his
judgment. Undoubtedly there were as
many grading systems as there were
buyers in the field. Will it ACT be bet
ter to have ONE SYSTEM that the
farmer, also, will know? @There is no
doubt but that the farmer will raise
tobacco Of better quality when he is
paid on a quality basis.
Another advantage of grading sys-
TEN as proposed by the Pool IS the fact
that the grader will not know the
grower Of the crop which he is called
upon to grade.
The Pool WILL SHOW NO FAv-
ORS AND WILL PAY FOR TOBAC-
co ON QUALITY BASIS, all the time
being governed by the law of Supply
and Demand Has this been your ex-
Derience in the past?