380 



TOBACCO LEAF. 



quality or aroma, but is used because it is so light and 

 thin that but two pounds of it are required to wrap 1000 

 cigars, whereas four to ten pounds of American leaf are 

 needed to cover that number of cigars, owing to the 

 heavier weight of domestic wrappers, which, however, 

 are superior in other respects. This Sumatran leaf got 

 its foothold in the American market by the grossest cus- 

 toms frauds. The tariff of 1883 imposed a duty of 75 

 cents per pound on leaf suitable for cigar wrappers, but 

 this was avoided by importing Sumatran leaf as fillers at 

 only 35 cents per pound. Government was thus swin- 

 dled out of millions of revenue, while at the same time 

 domestic leaf was driven out of the home market. In 

 the tariff of 1890, the duty was raised to two dollars per 

 pound on leaf suitable for wrappers, being left at 35 

 cents on fillers. In anticipation of higher rates, how- 

 ever, nearly two years' supply of Sumatran leaf was 

 imported before the latter went into effect, and has since 

 continued on a large scale, as the following table shows : 



Table V. IMPORTS OF LEAF TOBACCO INTO THE UNITED STATES. 



(In millions of pounds and dollars.) 



In explanation of this table, it should be said that 

 practically all the leaf imported from Sumatra (the bulk 

 of which comes via Amsterdam) is suitable for cigar 

 wrappers, while only a small fraction of the Cuban leaf 

 is used for this purpose, say 15 to 30 per cent. The leaf 



