18 



emments must Iiave our tobacco, and will decrease their duties to the amount of 

 our tax rather than their trade in this article should be impared. 



Eegardii;g this opinion as founded in an erroneous view of the export trade 

 of our tobacco, and believing that such an excise tax would virtually destroy 

 the tobacco product of this country, my duty to the interests of agriculture 

 demands that my own opinions should be placed before the public. More 

 especially so, when letters are being constantly received in this department ex- 

 pressing apprehensions, and asking my views of the operation of the proposed 

 taxation. What is the character of these apprehensions may be inferred from 

 the following : 



Mr. T. R. Ajlen, of Allenton, Missonii, in a letter of January S, says : "The 

 present high price of tobacco it is thought is as much as buyers for exportation 

 can pay — fourteen cents at St. Louis, the largest tobacco market in the United 

 States. Add to this twenty cents per pound, and what mu.^t the price be to 

 remunerate the producer ? Can we afford to grow the article ? This is the 

 query now in our minds. For myself, two years ago I commenced, or rather 

 recommenced after a suspension of twenty years, on a small scale to grow 

 tobacco. A small scale was necessary at rirst, because I was not prepared for 

 it. The second year I increased my crop from three to ten acres, relying on the 

 proceeds of these two crops to enable me to prepare to go into it now extensively. 

 And this I have expended for that purpose, building barns, &c. And this is 

 exactly the case with many others. And now the question is, can we safely 

 proceed? If anything near this ammmt is put on kqf tobacco, I apprehend 

 not. * * * I would take it as an important favor if you would, as soon as 

 convenient, write your views on this subject. What would be the probable 

 effect on the prices of the crop of 1863 ? — this is not yet marketable. What on 

 the crop of 1S64? The time is short now when we must decide as to this 

 year's crop." 



Other correspondents say that many will decline the cultivation of the crop 

 entirely; others that they will cultivate it but partially ; others think that if the 

 farmer has to pay the tax before sale he will bo ruined. To quiet apprehen- 

 sions so injurious to the crop of 1864, as well as to bring the public mind to a 

 correct judgment of the proposed tax, I now give my views in regard to it. 



The above extract will serve to show how much capital has been invested 

 recently in tobacco cultivation in the loyal States, to make up the deficit of 

 southern production. To so legislate as to jeopard it would be rashness, 

 especially when the government has had no experience of the oj)eration of 

 direct taxes on the exportation of our agricultural products. 



To determine the probable operation of the pro])Osed excise, we must look at 

 the tobacco crop in its production and consumption ; what portion is conavmed 

 at home, and hoiv viuch abroad; and what riralnj Aincricun tobacco encounters 

 in foreign markets. These particulars 1 will consider in the order stated. 



I. THE AMOUNT OK THK TOBACCO CROP. 



The census returns of 1840, 1850, and 1860, exhibit the amount of this crop 

 at these periods to be as follows : 



1840. 18-50. 1860. 



Loyal States. . . 96,523,119 pounds. 108,774,907 pounds. 230,343,321 pounds. 

 Disloyal States. 123,084, 620 " 90,961,429 " 199,021,430 



Total 219,007,739 " 199,736,336 " 429,364,751 



Between 1840 and 1850 it will be seen that the crop of tobacco decreased 

 19,871,403 pounds. This is a remarkable fact, in a country such as ours, 

 where the leading crops have uniformly increased so rapidly. The cause of it 



