20 



influences as extraordinary. The increae-e in the home conenmptiou during the 

 last ceneuB decade ia, doubth;ss, attributable in a, great degree to the progress of 

 the nation ia wealth daring it, whilst the preceding decade was the most disas- 

 troni? ever experienced during peace. 



But the fact of the extremely slow pvogretAs of the export trade is conspicuous, 

 and indicates a weakness that can ill endure any burden at a 1, much less tlic 

 heavy one now proposed. The cause of this weakness will be seen in consider- 

 ing the third portion of our subject, viz : 



III. THE OPPOSITION AMERICAN TOBACCO ENCOUNTERS 1.^ TUB FOREIGN 



MARKET. 



This opposition is twofold : first, the production of tobacco in European and 

 other countries ; and second,, the heavy duties and oppressive mouopolied to which 

 our tobacco is subjected. 



1. The production of tobacco in foreign countries. — European nations do not 

 take a census of the amounts of tlieir agricultural products, as Ave do. Hence 

 there are no data upon which to estimate their amounts from time to time, as 

 this department does of our own crops. All opinion is mere conjecture, and of 

 all uncertainties relative to their crops, that of the amount of the tobacco crop is 

 the greatest. It has been variously estimated at from 200,000,000 pounds to 

 400,000,000. Mr. Homans, in his Encyclopedia of Commerce, gives a table of 

 the capita consumption by most of the Eur®pean nations, and an estimate on 

 this basis would make the consumjition of tobacco not less than 1,500,000,000 

 pounds annually. 



After giving to the returns of our consular agents a careful examination, we 

 see no i-eason to suppose the tobacco pi'oduct of Europe to be greater than 

 300,000,000 pounds. Our own superior and cheaper tobacco meets a consump- 

 tion there of 200,000,000 pounds, as has been already shown. It would, in all 

 probability, wholly supersede the production of European tobacco, was the latter 

 not protected by the duties and monopolies referred to. 



The intelligent consul general at Fratikfort-on-the-Main thus speaks, in 1862, 

 of the produciion of tobacco in the Zollverein, where the duty on tobacco is very 

 moderate : 



"As regards the cultivation of tobacco in the States of the Zollverein, the fol- 

 lowing particulars may be of interest. It is evident from the official reports of 

 those States of middle and southern Germany, which have hitherto been re- 

 marked for extensive cultivation of tobacco, that this branch of industry has 

 much decreased lately. In the year 1S60, 23,960 Prussian acres of tobacco 

 were cultivated in the Grand Duchy of Baden, while in 1861 there were only 

 18,722. In Bavaria the number of days' work in those two years fell from 

 15,466 to 12,138; in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, from 2,667 to 1,824; in 

 Electoral Hesse, from 1,040 to 653; in the Thuringian States, from 1,088 t.o 

 604; Wurtemberg, from 456 to 188; kingdom of Saxony, from 106 to 48 

 Prussian acres. The cultivation of tobacco in Hanover fell from 1,932 to 1,227 

 Prassian acres. The result in Prussia is not known yet, but in the year 1860 

 there were 25,284 acres sown with tobacco. As may be seen, a ra])id decline 

 took place in the Bavarian and the Baden palatinate, the two principal places in 

 the south of Geimany for the cultivation of tobacco. In each of these two pro- 

 vinces, more than 21 per cent. In the year 1860, there were 93 parishes 

 engaged to a greater or less extent in the cultivation of this plant. In 1861 

 there were only 29." 



But in Austria tobacco is a government monopoly, which means, that it buys 

 and sells the entire crop; it fixes the prices to be paid, and limits its cultivation 

 to the States of Hungary, Servia, and the Banat. And here its cultivation has 

 increased rapidly, under the protection of prohibitory duties. 



