CONSIDERATIONS OF GIG Alt LEAF. 



383 



has developed since this leaf got a foothold on the 

 American market is shown in the accompanying table : 



Table VI. SUMATRA TOBACCO QUANTITY AND VALUE. 



*Values are in United States currency. 



The effect of the McKinley duty of $2 per pound on 

 wrappers, was to very largely reduce Sumatra's crop in 

 1892. Many acres were surrendered to the jungle, and 

 the crop that year was almost 100,000 bales less than 

 the production of 234,000 bales in 1890. This decrease 

 in the supph, and the reduction in the American duty 

 to $1.50 per pound in 1894, gave another stimulus to 

 the industry in Sumatra, and the '95 crop reached almost 

 as large figures as that of six years earlier. 



The famous Deli Maatschappy, or Pioneer Dutch 

 county, produces nearly one-third of the entire Sumatran 

 crop. It signalized the closing of its first quarter-cen- 

 tury existence by submitting an elaborate report of its 

 operations at the extraordinary general meeting of the 

 company at Amsterdam, in November, 1894, from which 

 our facts are condensed. It owns 21 establishments, 

 and now produces about 50,000 bales yearly. In 1893, 

 it paid a dividend of 100 per cent, and the average divi- 

 dends paid to its stockholders have been over 75 per cent 

 annually since 1880. During the past 23 years it has 

 received an average of 50 cents per pound (United States 



