Salt Lake Tribune | 1916-11-12 | Page 6 | Miscellany

Miscellany Cigars Are Going Up. For the first time in the hfstorv of this country, with the possible exceotion of the civil war period, retail pricee of cigars are goin up. That cigar smokers have enjoved a half century of respite from price fluctuation is not because the cost of production has remained stationary during all these years. Operating: expenses and the prices of raw materials have gone up and down, mostly I up, In the cigar business, the same as in i any other business. But there are two' things which have tended to keep the re- 1 tail prices of cigars uniform; first be- i cause of the fixed habit of paying a nickel, j six-for-a-quarter, three-for-a-quarter, ten i cents straight, and so on up, for cigars, i without any Intermediate prices; and, sec- ; ond, because tobacco Is generally classified i as a luxury and not a necessity. These two circumstances have made both manufacturers and cigar store keepers keep-ers loath to disturb the equanimity of the smoker during all these years, even though there have been many occasions when the cigar manufacturing trade generally gen-erally has found its yearly balance to be on the wrong side of the ledger. As far back as ten years ago the profit In cigar manufacturing had been reduced to such an extent that only the most sagacious operators found the business busi-ness profitable. These conditions continued con-tinued progressively, and when the European Euro-pean war began, two and one-half years ago, the situation became even more acute. It is true that the great war has not materially increased the exportation of either Cuban or American leaf tobacco to Europe, but it has advanced the cost of virtually every element entering Into cigar manufacturing. - Increased activity In other industries has made labor in the tobacco growing districts scarce, and the price of labor unprecedentedly high. The wooden cases in which domestic tobacco is packed, the cheesecloth under which shadegrown tobacco to-bacco is grown, fertilizers necessary to the Roll, implements used in cultivation, etc., all have advanced. And in Cuba the great boom in sugar: lias diverted agriculturists to that industry and created a shortage of s;ood Havana leaf. The result 1 that all kinds of leaf tobacco to-bacco used for cigar purposes in this country coun-try have gone skyward. Cigar manufacturers, therefore, are paying pay-ing more for leaf tobacco than ever before be-fore in the history of the industry, and, in addition to this, the price of cigar boxes, labels, workmanship and all other details of operating have increased tremendously. tre-mendously. The upshot of It is that, while even before be-fore the war began a large proportion pf manufacturers were, at the best, just about breaking even on their investment, now they find themselves actually and almost without exception playing a losing game. The ultimate consequence is that without with-out any concerted or organized movement, cigar manufacturers everywhere are either advancing prices on their cigars outright or are reducing the size of the various . brands and shapes that they make. Of course, there was another alter- native, namely: To change the composf-.tion composf-.tion of the cigar and by using cheaper and inferior tobacco to reduce the cost of production. The better class of manufacturers, manu-facturers, however, has refused absolutely to consider such a recourse. Having spent years in establishing their brands and maintaining them at a uniform quality, even In the face of many difficulties, they propose to uphold and continue the quality of their product. It is recognized by manufacturers that the reiailer cannot be expected to stand the increase. Owing to severe competition competi-tion and high rentals the thousands of retailers re-tailers throughout the country for a long time have been finding it very difficult to make ends meet. Operating, us they are. on a precariously narrow margin of profit, thev could scarcely survive if the advance in cost were to be taken out of their small earnings. The Increase, therefore, whether in the form of an outright raise in price or by making smaller cigars, must be paid for bv the smoker. "it is believed that the consumer will accept the upward tendency as graciously as he has accepted increases on almost every other article of general consumption Whether or no, he will have to begin paying more for his favorite brand of cigars now, or if not nnv, in the near future. The Tobacco Leaf.