6 to 15 cents; in 1905 from 8 to 17 cents. 

 Many conditions at home and abroad affect the 

 price, such as bad harvests or inferior grades 

 of produce. 



The tobacco trust has been very unjustly 

 blamed by many for the falling price of tobacco. 

 As a matter of fact and record, however, the 

 concentration of buying power by eliminating 

 the middleman and the small dealers has not 

 only placed the grower in a better position by 

 giving him a better price, as recent records 

 show, but it has benefited the consumer also 

 who can obtain the superior grades at a lower 

 price. It is the middleman's profit that has 

 been cut. Moreover, the concentrated buying 

 power of the large interests here has been an 

 effective force in keeping up tobacco leaf prices 

 against the foreign buyers. It must be re- 

 membered that about half of our crop is ex- 

 ported. The buyers of this portion, who are 

 principally the agents of foreign governments 

 (in the cases where tobacco is a government 

 monopoly as in France, Italy, etc.) assemble 

 at the auctions and bid in the usual way. As 

 this competition is very limited there is always 

 an opportunity for such buyers to agree among 

 themselves as to the limit of prices. This has 

 been one of the important factors which has 

 kept the prices of tobacco leaf down. The con- 



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