MARKETING TOBACCO. 265 



sometimes operates to the disadvantage of the buyer, 

 and at best, it maintains an unnecessary number of 

 middlemen. 



If public warehouses for the sale of the crop, accord- 

 ing to the system so successful in the South, could be 

 provided at central points in the cigar-leaf sections, and 

 carefully regulated by law, that system could not fail to 

 revolutionize the old method, and greatly to the satis- 

 faction of all concerned. A large quantity of tobacco, 

 divided into established grades or descriptions, offered 

 at certain established dates, could not tail to attract 

 large numbers of buyers. Each crop would thus have 

 the benefit of competitive sales at auction, and would 

 thus get the best price the market affords. Such ware- 

 houses would also provide for sales other than by auc- 

 tion. It is singular that the North, usually so enter- 

 prising, should be so lacking in a businesslike method 

 for selling its tobacco crop, since the South has brought 

 the method to such a high state of perfection. 



The Warehouse System. By this system in the 

 South, warehouses are erected at a point that is the cen- 

 ter of a large tobacco-growing district. There is much 

 strife among towns to secure the location of tobacco 

 warehouses, because the large daily sales of leaf during 

 the season distribute immense sums of money to the 

 planters in the vicinity, and the town's general business 

 is greatly benefited thereby. This warehouse system is 

 building up many towns in the South. Within the past 

 ten years, eight markets for the sale of tobacco have 

 been established in as many different towns in the ten 

 counties constituting the "new golden belt" of North 

 Carolina. These towns contain 20 warehouses of spa- 

 cious size. They engage from 60 to 80 large prize 

 houses, ranging from 80 to 120 feet in length and 30 to 

 50 feet in width, three to four stories in hight, each 

 equipped with all the best methods of keeping and re- 



