TURKISH TOBACCO.

[Paragraph 213.]

STATEMENT OF A. B. CARRINGTON, OF DANVILLE, VA., RELATIVE TO IMPORTATIONS OF TURKISH TOBACCO.

WEDNESDAY, December 16, 1908.

(The witness was duly sworn by the chairman.)

Mr. CARRINGTON. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, at a recent meeting of the Tobacco Association of Danville the following preamble and resolutions were unanimously adopted:

Whereas the importation of Turkish tobacco into this country has increased enormously in the last ten years and is being manufactured and sold in cigarettes in direct competition with the tobacco raised in Virginia and North and South Carolina; and

Whereas the importation tax on Turkish tobaccos is so low that it does not appreciably affect the price at which they are sold in direct competition with Virginia and North and South Carolina tobacco; and

Whereas the Turkish Government does not allow American tobacco to be imported into the Empire of Turkey, absolutely excluding same from her markets: Be it therefore

Resolved, That a committee be appointed by the association to present these facts before the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives, now in session at Washington, requesting them to increase the tax on Turkish tobacco imported into this country to the same duty now charged by this Government on the importation of Sumatra wrapper leaf.

Now, if you will allow me, I will state why we want this.
The CHAIRMAN. That is just what we want to hear.

Mr. CARRINGTON. Bright tobacco is produced in the States of Virginia and North and South Carolina. The crops in these three States amount to from 225,000,000 to 280,000,000 pounds annually. The average price for the three States is about 10 cents to 11 cents, making the value of the crops from $24,000,000 to $30,000,000 annually.

The larger part of this tobacco is suitable for the manufacture of cigarettes and pipe-smoking tobacco.

Of late years the consumption of this tobacco in cigarettes has fallen off steadily, owing to the introduction and use of Turkish tobacco for the manufacture of cigarettes and smoking-tobacco mixtures. This has naturally curtailed the consumption of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina bright tobacco.

Some years ago a very large per cent of this bright tobacco was used by manufacturers of cigarettes and cut tobacco in the United States, but as this trade has fallen off, dealers in tobacco have been forced to look for markets for bright tobacco in other countries, and now England uses a large proportion of the tobacco suitable for cigarettes in these three States, and at prices not very favorable to the growers of the tobacco.

The total consumption in England of American tobacco is about 100,000,000 pounds, and this is in the face of an import tax of 76 cents per pound.

The importation of Turkish tobacco in this country has steadily increased in the last ten years, and every pound of it used takes the place of 2 pounds of Virginia, North and South Carolina tobacco. The import tax of 35 cents per pound makes very little difference

in the cost of the cigarettes manufactured from Turkish tobacco as compared with cigarettes manufactured from Virginia tobacco, as the Turkish cigarette is, as a rule, made of slightly smaller size than the Virginia cigarette, taking less tobacco to make.

The sale of the manufactured article from Turkish tobacco is pushed in every market to the detriment of the American-grown tobaccos. This is a subject of great importance to the people who raise tobacco, and as the importation of Turkish tobacco is increased their sales of tobacco suitable for Turkish cigarettes have fallen off. The CHAIRMAN. Under what name is this tobacco imported? Mr. CARRINGTON. As Turkish tobacco.

Mr. HILL. There is no "Turkish tobacco " imported.

Mr. CARRINGTON. It comes to this country unstemmed. It is imported as raw leaf tobacco. It has come to this: That were it not for the amount of bright tobacco taken by the English and other foreign markets, the farmers raising these styles of tobacco would be bankrupt.

The CHAIRMAN. What duty does it pay?

Mr. CARRINGTON. Thirty-five cents a pound. Turkey does not allow our tobaccos to be imported there, and all tobacco going there would be declared contraband.

The prices of Turkish tobacco range from 1 to 6 cents in some districts to 12 to 16 cents a pound in other districts.

I see by reference to the books published by the Government on the subject that in 1904 about 1,430,000 pounds of Turkish tobacco were imported into this country. In 1907 there were 8,224,000 pounds of that tobacco imported. That is from European and Asiatic Turkey alone, to say nothing of what comes from Egypt.

The CHAIRMAN. According to the report of the Government, which I have here, tobacco, unstemmed, there was imported altogether in 1903, 20,000,000 pounds; in 1904, 10,000,000 pounds, and in 1907, 9,000,000 pounds. The entire importation of unstemmed filler tobacco I suppose this is classed as unstemmed?

Mr. CARRINGTON. This is classed as unstemmed; yes, sir.
The CHAIRMAN. Where did you get your figures?

Mr. CARRINGTON. From Forms 1 and 2, imports of merchandise into the United States. According to that, the imports for 1907 were about 7,000,000 pounds-between 7,000,000 and 8,000,000 pounds. For 1898, for the same period, the imports were less than 400,000 pounds. You can see how the importation of that tobacco has increased since 1898.

The CHAIRMAN. How much does this tobacco sell for?

Mr. CARRINGTON. Which tobacco?

The CHAIRMAN. Your tobacco.

Mr. CARRINGTON. It will average from 10 to 11 cents a pound for the three States-North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The CHAIRMAN. That much a pound?

Mr. CARRINGTON. Yes; the raw tobacco, as the farmer sells it. The CHAIRMAN. And how much does this Turkish tobacco sell for? Mr. CARRINGTON. It is imported here from 14 to 6 cents in some sections and 12 to 16 cents a pound in other sections.

The CHAIRMAN. It costs that much to deliver it here?

Mr. CARRINGTON. No, that is in Turkey, on board the steamer.

The CHAIRMAN. How much do they sell it for here?

Mr. CARRINGTON. I do not know what the market for it is here. It depends on the quality of the stock imported.

The CHAIRMAN. Is this tobacco you raise down in Virginia and North and South Carolina as good as the Turkish tobacco for the purposes for which it was intended?

Mr. CARRINGTON. It is, sir. It is the finest bright tobacco grown in the world, but it has not the peculiar flavor that some of this Turkish tobacco has. Smoking is largely a fad-a matter of taste-as the tobacco people have found out.

Mr. LONGWORTH. Do you claim that this imported Turkish tobacco is in direct competition with your tobacco?

Mr. CARRINGTON. Yes, it is.

Mr. LONGWORTH. There is a difference; they are different kinds of tobacco?

Mr. CARRINGTON. No; they are both bright. You have seen hundreds of brands of Turkish cigarettes-the Dieties, and the Murads, and Helmas. All those particular brands are raised in Turkey. Mr. LONGWORTH. But the flavor is different? Mr. CARRINGTON. Yes; the flavor is different.

Mr. LONGWORTH. Absolutely different?

Mr. CARRINGTON. No, not absolutely; you can hardly tell the difference between the American and the Turkish.

Mr. LONGWORTH. You mean in appearance?

Mr. CARRINGTON. Yes; in appearance.

Mr. LONGWORTH. But you can tell the difference intaste

Mr. CARRINGTON. There is a difference in the taste.

Mr. CRUMPACKER. The Turkish tobaccos sell at retail for two or three times as much as the domestic tobaccos, do they not?

Mr. CARRINGTON. Some of the brands sell high, but there are numerous brands of Turkish cigarettes which do not sell any higher than the American; numerous brands that sell ten cigarettes for 5 cents, and others ten cigarettes for 10 cents. That is what we are complaining about.

Mr. CRUMPACKER. I had it in mind that the price of Turkish tobaccos took them out of competition with the domestic tobaccos. Mr. CARRINGTON. Oh, no; that is not the fact.

Mr. CRUMPACKER. I am glad to be informed about that. I did not know personally.

Mr. CARRINGTON. There are millions of cigarettes sold five for 10 cents and ten for 10 cents which are made of pure Turkish tobacco. Mr. LONGWORTH. You say they are made of pure Turkish tobacco! Mr. CARRINGTON. Yes; even the cheaper grades are, and they come in direct competition with us.

Mr. LONGWORTH. Is that pure imported tobacco?

Mr. CARRINGTON. Yes, sir.

Mr. LONGWORTH. Not mixed?

Mr. CARRINGTON. No; not mixed.

The CHAIRMAN. What is this domestic tobacco, with which the Turkish tobacco comes in competition, worth a pound?

Mr. CARRINGTON. The average crop for the last three and a half years have brought about 10 to 11 cents a pound-the whole crop. The CHAIRMAN. What is the price of the Turkish tobacco laid down in New York?

Mr. CARRINGTON. That depends on the grade. I quoted the price here, from 1 to 6 cents a pound in some districts and 12 to 16 cents in other districts.

The CHAIRMAN. Then, what you need protection from is the taste of the American for the Turkish cigarette.

Mr. CARRINGTON. That is what we need protection from.

The CHAIRMAN. If I knew how we could make the largest collection in the way of revenue on cigarettes I think I would vote for it.

Mr. CARRINGTON. I think I can show you. The present duty is 35 cents a pound. We ask for an equal duty to the duty put upon Sumatra leaf, which is $1.85 a pound. That protects the grower of the Sumatra leaf, the man in Florida is protected, and the growers of tobacco in those States that produce the cigar tobacco are protected, but we, in North Carolina and South Carolina and Virginia have no protection

The CHAIRMAN. You say you have no protection. You have 35 cents a pound?

Mr. CARRINGTON. Thirty-five cents a pound does not protect us. The CHAIRMAN. You say your product is worth about 10 cents a pound. Then you have 350 per cent protection?

Mr. CARRINGTON. But the Turkish cigarettes are coming in and getting our markets.

The CHAIRMAN. You want over a thousand per cent protection? Mr. CARRINGTON. No; we don't.

The CHAIRMAN. I do not think I would be inclined to vote for anything in the way of a protective duty on cigarettes, but I would be willing to increase the duty if it would give us more revenue.

If there

is anything on the face of the earth that is a good article to produce revenue, I should say it would be cigarettes.

Mr. CARRINGTON. You can get more revenue at $1.85.

The CHAIRMAN. I do not see how it would do you any good, then. Mr. CARRINGTON. It would stop the sale of the Turkish cigarettes here.

The CHAIRMAN. If it stops the sale how would we get more revenue? Mr. CARRINGTON. The finer grades would come in, and people who want them would buy them and smoke them; but then the lower grades could not be imported, these cigarettes that sell 10 for 5 cents, or 10 for 10 cents.

Mr. CRUMPACKER. Do not our retailers sell about five times as much of Turkish tobacco as is imported every year?

Mr. CARRINGTON. I think they do sell more, because they use the Turkish tobacco simply as a mixture. They mix it with the domestic tobacco.

Mr. LONGWORTH. That was the question I asked, and the witness said that the cigarettes referred to were pure Turkish cigarettes.

Mr. CARRINGTON. The brands I spoke of are not mixed, but there are some mixed brands.

Mr. LONGWORTH. I alluded to those brands that are sold as Turkish cigarettes, cheap cigarettes. Do you say they are pure Turkish cigarettes?

Mr. CARRINGTON. Yes; they are straight Turkish cigarettes.

Mr. LONGWORTH. And some tobaccos are made into cigarettes and sold as Turkish cigarettes, and they haven't any Turkish tobacco in them at all?

Mr. CARRINGTON. I don't think so.

Mr. LONGWORTH. You think they are mixed?

Mr. CARRINGTON. There is a mixture, and then there is the straight Turkish cigarette.

Mr. CLARK. How much do you have to pay for the Turkish tobacco, raised in Turkey?

Mr. CARRINGTON. I don't know. I never bought any Turkish tobacco or traded in it. There is a 35-cent tax on that.

Mr. CLARK. Is this tobacco you raise in Virginia and the Carolinas— this bright tobacco, as you call it good for anything else except cigarettes and wrappers for cigars? Is there any other use it can be put to advantageously?

Mr. CARRINGTON. Yes; it is good for chewing tobacco; for pipe smoking.

Mr. CLARK. Is it extra good for wrappers and plug tobacco?

Mr. CARRINGTON. Yes; but the wrapper for plug tobacco is not used for cigarette tobacco.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you ask us to raise the duty on all tobaccos that are not for wrappers?

Mr. CARRINGTON. No; I ask you to raise the duty on all tobaccos coming from the Empire of Turkey.

The CHAIRMAN. We can not do that; we have to give a fair deal to all.

Mr. CLARK. A gentleman from Florida has hinted that they can raise just as good Sumatra wrappers down there as they can in Sumatra, but the American manufacturer of cigars will not use the Florida article, if he knew it was a Florida article; that is, he will not undertake to sell it guaranteeing it to be a Sumatra wrapper, and he explained the modus operandi by which he induced the American cigar manufacturer to use a Florida wrapper by sending it to New York and having the New York man sell it back to those men in the country as genuine Sumatra leaf. You do not use your tobacco that way?

Mr. CARRINGTON. No, sir; our tobacco has a different growth of leaf. It could not be used that way.

STATEMENT OF E. G. MOSELEY, OF DANVILLE, VA., WHO WISHES HIGHER DUTY PLACED ON TURKISH TOBACCO.

WEDNESDAY, December 16, 1908.

Mr. MOSELEY. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, we come here to-day representing the farming industry of our section of the State of Virginia. We feel that this Turkish tobacco that is being imported into our country is in a large measure supplanting the bright tobaccos that are raised in Virginia, North Carolina, or in the Carolinas. We feel that the Turkish Government will not allow us to send our product into their domain at any price whatsoever, confiscating it if it should go there, and that if we should get a square deal we should at least get some kind of an opening to their country with almost a prohibitive tax from their coming back.

The CHAIRMAN. How does Turkey keep your tobacco out, by duty? Mr. MOSELEY. No, sir; it is a monoply.