Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1931-08-11
Mew York
Letter

NEW YORK, Aug. 11-"Tobacco
trailr IS an inconspicious and rel
atiyely short section Of Water
Street, a portion OF old Manhattan
that lies east by south in the dis
! trict where New York's history be-
gan.
1t is there that tobacco comes IN
bullying bundles from Sumatra,
Java, Connecticut, Ohio, Pennsyl-
yania and way points.
And there 1t was that ] encoun-
tered John Duys, whose ancestors
knew a tobacco leaf when they saw
one: and so il has been ever since.
And in case you have put a gilt
cigar in your mouth, let me ex-
plain that tobacco arrives in fra
grant clusters and that these sam
pies are the result OF years OF
proving over tobacco farmlands
near and far.
The first Sumatra tobacco ar
rived in New York about 1858, and
1t was only Is years later that the
Duys came also.
Being somewhat OF a smoker my
self. I was interested 70 discover
that viii Havana may furnish
most of tie filters for cigars, Con-
necticut furnishes a considerable
percentage OF the wrappers used
in the east. Tobacco. far from be-
ing a faraway industry, has been
proving an important commodity
right here in the dear old u ;. a.
Connecticut Yankees have been
tobacco conscious for many a gen
Grafton. and the "shade-grown"
product OF that state Is so called
because 1t IS developed under tents
or similar shelters. If the soil fails
10 conform to the last word IN
tests from Java and Sumatra
there's no one to blame but ma
ture: and man has learned how
to use scientific methods 70 over
come handicaps OF climate ana
earth.
Ohio. Wisconsin and Pennsyl-
vania, 1t seems have remained a
few laps behind Connecticut, and
the crop Of those states, ! was told
goes into the five-cent cigar which,
one has been constantly reminded
is what the nation needs.
Out in Amsterdam, where most
Of the Manhattan wholesalers, IN
GLIDING Meinherr Duys, go to look
over the colonial stock, 1t seems
there is a perfect job. It's that OF
the test smoker" This gent
there are many, as a matter OF
fact-has merely to sit back in his
chair, light a cigar and make his
money. Good, bad or indifferent ne
has to smoke II, even as at an
American banquet, which Is why
he may earn his dough. And the
buyers stand around waiting. His
is not the job Of critic, or he
would be more highly paid. What
the buyers are waiting for Is a
peep at the ash. III this comes out
a certain combination Of whites
and grayS, the deal is on. IL there
is no black rim around the light
ed sector, again the deal is on.
once the demonstration has been
made, the sampler can toss the
cigar away and take up another.
In the course Of a working day, he
demonstrates $50 cigars, more or
less. Every two hours he is given a
bottle of milk to sOothe his palate.
And whereas the Sumatra and
Java farms have Chinese who are
TO the tobacco born, and a ex-
pert the crop almost from the roof,
America is rearing a generation OF
young women whose decisions are
hard to override.
Hundreds Of girls are used in the
Connecticut tobacco farms and are
as quick at noting the quality OF
the leaf as any Chinese coolie in
the Dutch colonies.
The hardboiled leaf selectors
have a way Of taking the lighted
cigar and pressing it against a
leaf If it burns evenly in a circle
they are impressed as to its poten-
tialities as a future wrapper. If IL
shoulders, they can hardly e
commend 1t for 10-cent brands, let
alone "two-fers" or higher.