USA > Connecticut > Tercentenary pamphlet series, v. 3 The Beginnings of Roman Catholicism in Connecticut > Part 28
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In 1854 the cost of growing a representative acre of broadleaf was $67.50. This yielded two thousand pounds of tobacco, giving a cost of slightly more than three and one-third cents per pound. To this must be added the cost of sweating in a warehouse. The chief elements of cost in the production of the representative ton of leaf were $15 for land rental and $15 for fertilizer and labor in application. Hoeing, stripping of the stalk, and pack- ing accounted for $10. Topping and suckering cost $4, the cutting of the stalks in the field and the subsequent hanging them to dry cost $4, and the rental of the shed amounted to $4. The balance, $15.50, was spent in plowing, harrowing, purchase of plants, setting the plants, killing worms, and transportation charges to Warehouse Point. This particular tobacco was sold for $160, leaving $92.50 to the grower as profit.
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After 1810 cigar smoking steadily gained popularity until in 1880 more than two and a half billion cigars were manufactured. By 1890 this figure had reached four billions. The rise in the demand for cigars was largely responsible for the increase in price of Connecticut leaf during the same period. In 1845 the price of wrappers fluctuated between six cents and twelve cents per pound and in 1850 between fourteen cents and twenty cents. For the next five years prices were low, but in 1856 growers obtained twenty-five and thirty cents per pound and in 1857 from thirty to thirty-five cents per pound. Prices fell sharply the next year but then steadily rose to forty cents per pound in 1870.
IV
THERE were two very decided and distinct trends in leaf production in Connecticut during the period from 1830 to 1890. The first was the very rapid rise in production in the first thirty years and then a gradual increase until 1880. In 1859 the New England production amounted to nine million pounds, contrasted with 540,000 pounds in 1830. Connecticut output remained stationary from 1862 until 1870 when it amounted to seven and a half million pounds per year. The subsequent increase to fifteen and a half million pounds by 1880 was gradual.
Rapid increase in output between 1839 and 1859 was easily traceable to the development of the cigar industry. Responsibility for the period of comparative stability in output after 1860 may be attributed mainly to the de- velopment of sections of Pennsylvania and Florida as cigar-leaf producing areas. These regions also produced a dark leaf which was then coming into fashion and which will be discussed shortly. The increase in Connecticut
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output by 1880 was the result of a concerted effort on the part of local growers to raise a dark leaf.
The second distinct feature of this period was the gradual decline in Connecticut production from fifteen and a half million pounds in 1880 to twelve millions in 1885 and ten millions in 1890. Importations of Sumatra tobacco after 1880 and an attending change in fashion from a dark to a light wrapper caused a decrease in Connecticut output. These features will also be discussed in a later section.
The success of the tobacco growers in the Connecticut valley stimulated cigar-leaf production elsewhere. By 1850 cigar-leaf was produced in New York state and before 1870 it was raised on a large scale in several counties in Pennsylvania. The tobacco from Pennsyl- vania was much darker than that of Connecticut and rapidly came into favor as wrapper. Connecticut leaf was still without peer as to texture, aroma, burn, and size, its only defect being color.
Competition from other areas and overproduction in the valley brought about a period of depression which lasted until 1900, although there was some slight recovery during the early 1890's. Between 1855 and 1875 tobacco acreage in Connecticut and Massachusetts was reduced about forty per cent. This phenomenon created new margins and an ever-increasing number of submarginal producers was forced out of business. Only the best lands in the immediate vicinity of the Connecticut river con- tinued to be used.
Valley farmers, however, showed their ability to adapt themselves to new conditions by immediately attempting to produce a darker leaf. This was accomplished by slight changes in culture and curing. It was known that thick leaves cured darker than thin. Therefore, gypsum was
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spread upon the leaves while growing. It was also known that the greater the length of time consumed in curing, the darker a leaf cured. To accomplish this end, the doors of the shed were left open at night and closed during the day so that the leaf would be longer in curing. While these attempts on the part of the growers were partly success- ful, prosperity did not return to the Connecticut grower rapidly. Nor were attempts of cigar-makers to darken the leaves any more successful. It was a common prac- tice at that time for cigar-makers to treat the wrapper with a licorice preparation in an effort to darken it.
The introduction of Havana leaf, effected by 1875, did more than any other one agency to restore prosperity. The United States department of agriculture had, from time to time, distributed seed to farmers for experimental purposes. This new leaf yielded a higher percentage of wrappers than the broadleaf and it also retained some of its original qualities, especially aroma. Its third-grade leaves, therefore, could be used for fillers to a greater extent than those of broadleaf. In a short time Havana seed took its place with broadleaf to dominate the to- bacco field in the valley. Methods of culture of Havana seed are slightly different but are of small interest to any but the technical reader.
As stated above, the original source of competition with Connecticut leaf was from that produced within the United States. In 1880 a new source appeared when, for the first time, wrapper leaf from the island of Sumatra was introduced into the United States. That leaf was radically different from anything produced in this country. It was light in color, very thin and smooth in texture, with small veins, of even burn, and practically tasteless. Light-colored cigars again came into fashion and the imported Sumatra wrapper immediately took the
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popular fancy. The result of this competition was an immediate depression in Connecticut and Massachusetts. With the introduction of an entirely new wrapper from Sumatra the cigar-leaf problem in Connecticut became of national rather than of local importance.
To offset this new danger, members of the Connecticut congressional delegation, acting with those of other dis- tricts also affected, secured the enactment in 1883 of a tariff of seventy-five cents per pound on imported wrap- pers. This, however, did not stem the tide of imports because (I) popular fancy had been tickled by the new- comer; (2) the cheapness of the Sumatra wrapper which was in turn caused by (a) low labor, land, and fertilizer costs and (b) the fact that a pound of Sumatra leaf would wrap approximately five hundred cigars while a pound of Connecticut leaf would wrap but from one hundred to two hundred cigars.
Profits made by the Dutch syndicate operating in Sumatra induced a rapid increase in the production of cigar-leaf in South and Central America, the Philippines, and Mexico. Competition became so keen in the United States market that the tariff on unstemmed wrapper was raised in 1890 to two dollars per pound, but even that rate failed to stop imports.
V
THE growth and development of the cigar-leaf industry in Connecticut during the period from 1830 to 1890, and more particularly from 1870 to 1890, was but a hint, a forerunner, of what was to come. The forty years suc- ceeding 1890 were dominated by two chief characteristics whereas the former era had reflected but one. Expansion was the chief feature of the earlier period while a more intensive agriculture, a more determined specialization,
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prevailed in the cigar-leaf field after 1890. Furthermore, policies of the growers in Connecticut were influenced by the world market, for competition was no longer merely interstate but international.
It is simpler, however, to discuss the situation by reference to the following chief features and develop- ments of the period, namely: Sumatra imports, the use of covering over tobacco growing in Connecticut, the ad- vent of large corporations in the United States, the use of machines in cigar-making, aid rendered by governmental agencies, and marketing. Each will be considered in turn.
Although the adaptability of the soil and climate of Sumatra to the production of a high-grade wrapper leaf was recognized in the early 1860's, imports of tobacco from that region into the United States did not begin until 1880. While but thirty-eight pounds were imported in 1880, nearly four million pounds were entered in 1883 with a total value of $2,942,000. From that time until 1900 the general trend was upward. Through this period the average annual importation approximated four mil- lion to five million pounds. After 1900 there was a pro- nounced upward movement in imports. The average after that time was between five million and seven million pounds per year. Because of disturbed trade conditions during the World War, leaf was forwarded direct from the East Indies, instead of being first shipped to Amsterdam, as was ordinarily done. During the war years, Sumatra imports fell slightly to an average of five million pounds per year. Upon the cessation of hostilities, however, imports immediately rose and until 1929 averaged six million pounds per year.
It may be interesting to note that even in 1883 at the time of the enactment of the first tariff of any magnitude, imports reacted directly to the measure congress was
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supposed to be about to adopt. Especially was this phenomenon noticeable in 1890 when practically ten million pounds were imported, mostly before the tariff of that year ($2 per pound) went into effect. The reverse was also true whenever it was believed that congress might possibly lower the rate. A good example of this retardation in the flow of imports occurred in 1894 when only 3,870,000 pounds were brought into the country as opposed to five millions in 1893 and the same amount in 1895. The duty was reduced in 1894 to $1.50 per pound. Following the increase of the duty to $1.85 per pound in 1897 imports were restricted for two years, but in 1900 they rose to over five millions and averaged as noted above until congress, in 1921, enacted emergency legis- lation which fixed the rate at $2.35 per pound. In antici- pation of this action over eight million pounds of leaf were imported from Sumatra prior to the effective date of the duty. A permanent duty of $2.10 per pound was fixed in 1922 and importers again held off until the new rate went into effect. In 1930, the last of the rate changes was made, raising the tariff to $2.275 per pound. Again, in anticipation of the change nearly seven million pounds were imported in 1930 prior to the effective date of the legislation as opposed to imports of but 360,000 pounds for the remainder of the year. The custom of keeping at least a year's supply of wrapper "in bond" facilitated such evasion.
Sumatran imports of cigar-leaf can hardly be consid- ered the cause of failure of the Connecticut output since 1890. On the contrary, the increase in imports from the East Indies has been shown above to have been slight in this period. Opposed to this the output of Connecticut cigar-leaf rose from ten million pounds in 1890 to eighteen millions in 1900, thence to twenty-eight millions in 1910, and to forty-one million pounds in 1920. The banner year
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for Connecticut production was 1921 when forty-four million pounds were harvested. After 1921 the general trend was downward, although it was an exceptionally irregular movement. In 1933 but sixteen million pounds were grown.
While the above discussion has considered the sum total of all Connecticut cigar-leaf, the yield of specialized Connecticut wrapper has shown the same characteristics since 1900. Production of Connecticut valley shade- grown leaf (which after 1910 supplanted broadleaf and Havana seed as wrapper) increased from 700,000 pounds in 1902 to 1,800,000 in 1910 and 8,600,000 pounds in 1923. The increase was fairly steady until 1929 when over ten million pounds were harvested. Since 1929 the trend has been steadily downward.
Likewise the farm price of Connecticut leaf has been little affected by imports. From 1890 to 1915 it varied between thirteen cents per pound in 1896 and twenty- four and one-tenth cents per pound in 1912. The World War boomed the price to forty-eight and one-tenth cents per pound in 1919. Thereafter, the price remained be- tween twenty-six cents and thirty-six cents per pound until 1929 when it rose to forty-eight and one-tenth cents again. After the latter year it fell considerably until 1933 when some slight recovery was made.
Prices of Connecticut shade-grown leaf have been similar in trend, being governed more by market condi- tions than affected by imports. From 1919 to 1930 the price varied from ninety cents per pound on the farm to $1.05. In but one year, 1924, did the price fall to eighty- five cents and this probably was the result of an excep- tionally large crop in 1923. The price fell to fifty-nine cents per pound in 1932 but recovered to eighty cents in 1933.
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VI
THE second most important development of the period came in 1896. This was the idea of raising tobacco under shade to produce a leaf which could compete in color, texture, and weight with the imported Sumatra wrapper. The idea of raising tobacco under shade seems to have been fortuitous. On this point the tariff commission has said: "Plants grown under the partial shade of trees were observed to produce thinner leaves better suited for cigar wrappers than plants grown in the open. These ob- servations led, in 1896, to the construction of artificial shade over a quarter of an acre, marking the beginning of the development in this country of specialized types grown primarily for use as cigar wrapper." These early experiments in Florida and Georgia, important as they were, brought out the fact that after a few years tobacco grown from this seed gradually assumed the properties of Cuban tobacco. But a cross between Sumatra and Cuban, known as Big Cuba, was developed and because of its light color and high yield of wrapper per acre it sup- planted the imported Sumatra seed by 1906.
In the early 1900's the late John B. Stewart of Wind- sor, Connecticut, was requested by the United States department of agriculture to conduct experiments in shade-leaf production in Connecticut. In 1908 Stewart published the results of his experiments in growing three acres of tobacco under shade and preparing it for market. His estimates (for the crop year 1907) were that his crop of 4,204 pounds of tobacco cost $1,509.97 to grow and fifteen cents per pound to pack. The total cost thus came to $2,140.57 for the three acres. But in the process of warehousing, the tobacco had shrunk 5.37 per cent so that there were but 3,978 pounds to be sold. This was a
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H
cost of nearly fifty-four cents per pound of the raw crop, or fifty-five cents per pound on the market. It sold for an average of eighty-two and a half cents per pound packed, and yielded, despite the shrinkage, a total profit of $380.77 per acre, of which the grower's share was $267.4I or nineteen cents a pound, and the dealer's share was $113.36 or eight and a half cents a pound. From that time forward, shade-grown tobacco became the special- ized wrapper of Connecticut.
While but seventy acres were planted to shade in 1907 in all New England, sixty-two hundred acres were culti- vated in 1918. In Connecticut in 1919 about thirty-nine hundred acres, with a total yield of 4,600,000 pounds of leaf, were harvested. The crop value was $4,830,000. The increase in production until 1929 was irregular but per- sistent. In the latter year there were harvested 7,200 acres under shade yielding 8,400,000 pounds, with a farm value of $8,000,000. Production fell off to 1932, but recovered slightly in 1933.
The discovery of the use of shade brought about many important changes in Connecticut leaf production. It developed a more highly specialized as well as a new in- dustry. As the new leaf was claimed to be comparable to imported Sumatra, the tariff problem was brought more sharply into relief. Higher costs, for cloth, labor, and fertilizer, were obviously necessary.
New methods of handling were also introduced. Whereas the outdoor tobacco had been cut at the stalk and the whole plant hung to dry, the new shade leaves are carefully plucked from the stalk in bunches of four, five, or six. These leaves are placed in baskets and re- moved to the sheds, there to be hung on laths by means of a needle threaded with string of which one end is attached to one end of a lath. When a certain number of
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leaves have been placed upon the string, the loose end is fastened to the other end of the lath and the latter is hung upon beams in the shed. The curing and ware- housing are essentially the same, except that the final grades are more numerous.
Changes in the method of handling shade tobacco have unquestionably raised certain labor problems. For in- stance, to produce a thin light leaf, even temperature throughout the day and night is essential. The use of shade aids in accomplishing this, but at the same time the humidity under the tents is increased by fifteen or twenty degrees. Also, the fact that the leaves are plucked from the stalk makes it necessary to use boys in the harvesting operation for, unlike men, they do not need to work in a stooped posture. The use of young boys in performing this tedious task in an artificially produced humidity is a problem in itself. Again, most of the string- ing of the leaves upon the laths in the sheds is done by women. Clouds of dust, caused by a constant stream of teams passing through the sheds delivering the freshly picked leaf, are disagreeable. Also, the sticky, gummy substance which oozes from the leaves when handled quickly collects dirt and is extremely uncomfortable to the worker.
All these problems and more arise in the shade fields in Connecticut, but a mere mention of them here is suffi- cient, except to say that most of the producers do their best to relieve disagreeable working conditions. To this end improved methods of sanitation, good water supplies, and the system of wetting down dust have been installed. There is one other problem which appears small, but which is probably of as much importance as any other in preventing accidents. That is the practice, at present, of nailing all beams in the shed in such a way that they do
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not fall. At one time, not so many years ago, sheds were constructed with movable beams to utilize all space available, with the result that many injuries were caused by falling beams. Now, producers are willing to sacrifice space to insure safety for those on the ground below.
Coincident with the increase in use of shade wrapper came the decline in the use of the outdoor types for wrapper. In 1913, twenty-one per cent of the broadleaf crop of Connecticut was used for wrapper, in 1920 but seven per cent, and in 1929 only one per cent. Likewise, twelve per cent of the 1914 Havana seed crop was em- ployed as wrapper, six per cent of the 1920 crop, and two per cent of the 1929 output. During the years of depres- sion following 1929 it is possible that the use of these outdoor types as wrapper has increased somewhat be- cause many small growers have made cigars on their own farms rather than sell their tobacco for ridiculously low prices. This, however, is but a passing phenomenon.
It is clear that if the stalk industry is to survive in Connecticut, its product must be used as binder and filler or its producers must find ways and means to cut production costs so that it may again come into its own in the wrapper field. It is entirely possible that, if costs were cut, manufacturers would endeavor to popularize the dark cigar and again change consumer taste.
VII
THE third important development of the period under discussion has been the formation of large corporations to engage in the production of shade leaf. In 1910 the American Sumatra Corporation was formed under the laws of Georgia. This corporation now owns, either directly or through subsidiaries, nine thousand acres of farm land and twenty-two thousand acres of timberland
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in Florida and Georgia. It also owns about six thousand acres of farm land in the Connecticut valley. Another large company in the valley is the Hartman Tobacco Com- pany, with an outstanding capitalization of $3,500,000, formed in 1928, as a result of the consolidation of several small companies.
There are several other corporations growing shade leaf in the valley at the present time. Chief among them is Cullman Brothers, Incorporated, of which Mr. Fred B. Griffin of Hartford, a recognized leader in the cigar-leaf field, is vice-president. The Consolidated Cigar Corpora- tion is another of the large producers. During the 1932 season this corporation grew approximately one thousand acres of tobacco in the Connecticut valley on farms located between Portland, Connecticut, and Deerfield, Massachusetts. Other growers, whose outputs vary in size, are the Otee Tobacco Company; Shepard and Son; C. K. and H. T. Hale, Incorporated; Gershel-Kaffen- burgh and Company; and L. B. Haas and Company.
Much of the land under shade is owned outright by these companies or rented by them under various leasing arrangements. A small portion of the leaf is grown also by small independent farmers for the larger companies on a contract basis. Thus the interest of small farmers in the Connecticut valley is confined to leasing their farms to the large concerns and to working for them. As a con- sequence, all the shade-grown tobacco in Connecticut and Massachusetts is produced under the direction of two large and seven small companies.
Most of the corporations in the valley engaged in the production of wrapper leaf are integrated to a greater or less degree. Some make their own fertilizer and grow and pack their own tobacco, while others grow the leaf, pack it, and manufacture cigars. For example, the Consolidated
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Cigar Corporation owns much of its land, possesses its own fertilizer plants and warehouses for packing the tobacco, and manufactures the finished product-the cigar. Cullman Brothers, on the other hand, are not only growers of shade leaf in Connecticut, but are also large importers of Sumatra leaf. The Otee Tobacco Company, while not owning its own fertilizer plants, is nevertheless directly connected, through stock ownership and control, with Olds and Whipple, Incorporated, of Hartford, manufacturers of fertilizers.
While the above may indicate that the shade growers of Connecticut are the most important in an economic sense, it is well to consider the relative importance of shade and outdoor production. In 1929 there were har- vested in Connecticut, 13,600 acres of outdoor tobacco, which yielded twenty million pounds of leaf, with a farm value of $5,700,000. On the other hand, there were but 7,200 acres of shade harvested which yielded 8,400,000 pounds of leaf with an estimated farm value of $8,000,000. The outdoor tobacco was grown by approximately 1,700 small farmers in Connecticut. Their permanent invest- ment in land and equipment approaches $55,000,000, while that of the shade growers is about $20,000,000. To a large number of the outdoor growers the tobacco raised on a few acres represents their only money crop.
VIII
OF great importance to cigar-leaf growers in recent years has been the rapid growth of the use of machines in making cigars. This development has been significant because the sole market for Connecticut tobacco lies in the cigar field and machine production has a tendency to reduce costs so that more customers may be tempted to smoke cigars. Although the cigar-making machine is of
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comparatively recent origin, practically all the nickel cigars are now produced by this method. In 1917, the United States department of labor estimated that one and a half million cigars were made by machine, and by 1931, the yearly output by machine had increased to 2,912,250,000.
In 1922, this machine was capable of turning out four hundred finished cigars an hour with only four operators, usually girls, in attendance. At the most, over a period of time, the typical hand worker can complete three hun- dred cigars in an eight-hour day. The labor cost in the machine process approximates three dollars per thou- sand, while in the hand method it is about fifteen dollars per thousand. Thus the reduction in cost of labor alone caused by the introduction of the machine amounts to approximately twelve dollars per thousand cigars.
While reduction in costs brought about through the introduction of the cigar-making machine allowed dealers to reduce the price of cigars, and thereby increase the demand for Connecticut leaf, there was another factor which arose to offset this new advantage. Cigarettes were becoming more popular each year, thereby cutting into the cigar market and, therefore, into the market for Connecticut leaf. In 1910, eight and five-tenths billion cigarettes were manufactured and consumed in the United States, fifty-two billions in 1921, and a grand total of one hundred and twenty-four billions were manu- factured in 1931.
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