THE TOBACCO TRADE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 177, 29 July 1907, Page 3

THE TOBACCO TRADE.

The_ American tobacco trust, to which president Roosevelt has turned his attention, has, according to a writer in the Times, been challenged by the growers, who have formed associations tor the avowed purpose of controlling the output. The associatisns threaten to dominate the market, but the writer thinks they may over-reach themselves and cause the trust to become its own grower. "Incendiarism and dynamiting are among the weapons they are alleged, with apparently good reason, to have employed to terrorise the> agents of the trusts and to compel in= dependent farmers to form the Associations. So-called /night-riders' have not scrupled to 'hold up' a town whiler ™ey earned out their nefarious worS: ot burning and dynamiting the factories of those who did not see eye to> eye with them." The effect of the present situation on British manufacturers is to make them think of sources of supply elsewhere than in- a country where insurance companies are afraid to take the risk on tobacco. By far the greater part of the tobacco used by British manufacturers comes from the United States.- The cost of the* raw material has advanced steadily len years ago the world's production wa^2 sper cent, greater than it is now, while in that time the consumption has increased by a similar amount. Ordinary Kentucky strips, chiefly used tor the manufacture of. cheap tobaccos were sold at 2d and 3d s, pound not long ago, and are now up to 6d. The remedy of encouraging the growth off tobacco in the British Empire is atr^l- a good deal of attention. .Lord- Wmterstroke stated at the annual meeting of the Imperial TobaccoCompany that he had seen samples trom various countries, and they all showed some promise in quality, but lamentable ignorance in preparation. An expert is experimenting in British East Africa in the growing pf tobacco, already the output in Nyassaland is assuming considerable proportions, and it is hoped that consignments from theIransvaal will'soon arrive regularly at Liverpool. "Africa, Ceylon, the--. West Indies, and parts of Australia all nave climatic conditions suitable tor growing tobacco, and samples havebeen reecived which experts pronounced to be equal in quality to the American article. The subject is an important one, and it is not unlikely that as much will be heard in the future of thenecessity for British-grown tobacco as for British-grown cotton."