| Show TOBACCO MEN TALK GRIEVANCES PRESENTED TO THE COMMITTEE Just What They Would Like Congress Con-gress to Enact in Order That the Sun of Prosperity May Greet Their Vision Washington Jan 4Tobacco and manufactures thereof was the subject I of the hearing before the committee on ways and mean this morning Mr Michael Tobin of Baldwinsville N Y said that up to within a few years the tobacco growers had been reasonably prosperous Up to within a few years the tobacco section of New York grew some 45000 cases of tobacco to-bacco annually while now the production produc-tion had fallen to about 12000 cases I was not fair he said that their dangerous rival the Holland syndicate employing labor at 10 or 12 cents a dayshould be allowed to annihilate and ruin a domestic industry Of such magnitude t J S Vanduser agreed that 2 a pound on wrappers while an apparently appar-ently exorbitant tax ad valorem was really not exorbitant when the difference differ-ence in the cost of labor was taken into consideration How is it Mr McMillan Dem Tenn asked after the witness made a rather long political argument that Sumatra tobacco which costs 120 a pound drives out domestic tobacco which costs from 10 to 15 cents a pound i 4 I is because thei witness x answered an-swered of the foolishness of the American people in thinking that because be-cause tobacco is imported it is of necessity neces-sity better Mr McMillan Do you think that is all there is in it The witness That is all there is in i I is a fad Illr you suggest McMillan What rate of duty do In an incidental manner the witness suggested 6 a pound as the rate of duty which he would like to have imposed im-posed Mr Frederick A Schroeder ex mayor of Brooklyn recommended the change of duty on leaf tobacco from a differential of 150 per pound on wrappers wrap-pers and 35 cents a pound on fillers to a uniform specific rate on all un stemmed leaf tobacco with a reasonable reason-able addition also specific not exceeding exceed-ing 40 per cent on stemmed leaf He added that there was no market anywhere any-where for American wrappers You might as well he said tell a woman I that calico is just as good as silk that it will wear as well and is much cheaper While silk is on the market the woman will have the silk After recess Moses Krohn of Cincinnati Cin-cinnati president of the National Association As-sociation of Cigar Manufacturers presented pre-sented their case The total amount I of tobacco withdrawn for consumption I for the seven years ended June 30 last I was 143182728 pounds on which was I paid duties amounting to 74718013 i which showed an average duty on all I kinds of tobacco of 518 cents per pound and an average duty upon un I stemmed tobacco of 523n cents ner I pound The output of cigars n In the I United States for the past fiscal year I was 4039137835 which was a decrease of over 64500000 from the preceding I year whereas the output of cigarettes had increased by nearly 882000000 The I business of manufacturing cigars was not an increasing nor profitable one as compared with other industries The difference in duty on wrapper and filler tobacco had also begotten an unfair I competition in the trade because in many ports of entry fully 95 per cent of all unstemmed tobacco imported from Cuba and perhaps even a larger proportion had been entered under the 35 cents per pound filler duty Not only had the government lost a large amount of revenue but an unhealthy unfair and most inequitable competition I tion had been rendered possible He suggested a uniform duty of not ex ceedings 55 cents per pound on all tobacco to-bacco unstemmed E R Gumby of Tampa Fla spoke for the makers of clear Havana cigars Referring to the request for a uniform specific duty on all tobacco he said that it would probably yield a revenue reve-nue equal to the present but i what the tobacco growers said today were true there would not be much left of the poor New York and New England tobacco farmer J 1 Ellison editor of the United States Tobacco Journal desired to correct cor-rect a statement made heretofore that Sumatra tobacco was raised by pauper pau-per labor He asserted that the cost I of raising this tobacco was 241 cents I I per pound The committee adjourned until tomorrow I to-morrow when the agricultural schedule sched-ule will be taken up including livestock I live-stock dairy product fish meats and salt a I |
