21 



Tobacco product of Austria . 

 Years. Acres. Product?, lbs. Years. Acres. Products, lbs. 



1852 34,707 22,477,700 



1853 37,900 27,489,700 



1854 40,978 45,687,300 



1855 46,900. 54,651,900 



1856 49,265 53,256,500 



1857 57,492 45,502,500 



1858..'... 81,695 72,440,400 



1859 127,550 144,174,300 



In llie last of these years, we see that the crop was doubled. In the same 

 year the United JStates produced its great crop of 429,364,751 pounds. It was 

 these heavy crops, probably, that depressed the tobacco cultivation in the Zoll- 

 verein in 1861. 



Russia is represented as a large tobacco-growing country, but the commercial 

 reports for 1862 may mislead on this point, for not one of our consuls at its chief 

 ports speaks of tobacco as a crop of the country, nor of it as an article of export. 

 It is true that it is a crop demanding greater skill and better implements of hus- 

 bandry than possessed by Russian agriculture; but in the report of 1860, one of 

 our Austrian consuls says that Russia product,'? a large quantity of tobacco, 

 which it exports on very moderate terms to Sweden, Denmark, Bremen, and 

 Hamburgh ; and that Turkey and the Principalities produce more than they re- 

 quire for their own consumption. 



But Avhilst it is admitted that the cultivation of European tobacco, under 

 ordinary circumstances, cannot rival our own product, yet where protected by 

 duties against us, it fills the measure of home consumption. Austria is cou- 

 stantly seeking to extend its export trade in tobacco; and even in the Zollverein, 

 under our diminished. production in consequence of the war, it has regained the 

 ground lost in 1861. The consul at Frankfort-on-the-Main, already quoted, 

 says: 



" This decrease in the cultivation of tobacco may, however, cease should the 

 war in America be protracted longer than is expected, so as to prevent the ex- 

 portation of tobacco from our country, as it has already done during the last 

 eighteen months. Such, at least, may be inferred from the late reports on the 

 tobacco trade in this immediate neighborhood, especially in Rhenish Bavaria 

 and Baden. The business of the Pfalz tobacco is at present in a more flourish- 

 ing condition than it almost ever was. 



"There is a demand from all quarters, a:nd slill higher prices would be given 

 if satisfactory articles could be obtained. * * * * The principal mar- 

 kets for these extensive sales are Belgium, Holland, and England, and consign- 

 ments are daily made to those countries. The manufacturers there purchase the 

 tobacco, probably, with a view of replacing that from Kentucky and Maryland, 

 and also partly as a speculation, thinking that the troubles in our country are 

 far from bnjng ended. In any case, however, Pfalz tobacco will constitute a 

 great part." 



These facts embody a lesson that every one can easily learn. They show 

 that when our tobacco, as between 1840 and 1850, was very low, the export 

 trade increased thirty per cent.; but when, because of its great home consumption 

 the prices advanced so as to be remunerative to the grower, as between 1850 

 and 1860, then the export trade virtually ceased to increase. They show that 

 our foreign tobacco trade barely holds its own against countries competent not 

 only to supply their own wants, but capable, when there is a scarcity here or an 

 advance in price from any cause, to meet the demands of those nations usually 

 dependent on us. And in these facts Congress will see the inevitable disas- 

 trous effect, not only of the proposed excise, but of any tax on tobacco leaf,* 

 with no draAvback for exportation. That result must be seen by all upon 

 a moment's reflection. As already said, Austria makes the production and 

 Bale of tobacco a government monopoly. Although it has nineteen prov- 



