M 



anufacturing enters tlie scene 



In 1900 it was reported that there were six 

 estabhshments making cigars and cigarettes in 

 South Carolina with a capital of $12,510. The 

 value of manufactured products that year came 

 to $31,550. In 1905 there were seven such establish- 

 ments with a capital of $699,296, employing 500 

 people and using $108,289 in materials. The value 

 of products manufactured that year came to 

 $257,078. In 1907, one plant turned out $378,000 

 in manufactured goods. For a while it seemed as 

 if the tobacco manufacturing business would 

 thrive in the state. But competition to the north 

 proved so strong that manufacturing and process- 

 ing of flue-cured were left mostly to Virginia and 

 North Carolina. 



S 



trong and. sturdy 



Well before World War I, tobacco became a 

 leading industry in South Carolina. In 1907, Hart- 

 well M. Ayer, a member of the state General As- 

 sembly from Florence, filed a report with the 

 United States Department of Agriculture and said: 

 South Carolina tobacco has won its place in 

 markets of the world. It has been growing in 

 favor rapidly for some years, and is now being 

 especially advertised by foreign houses for 

 their trade as the most pleasing of all tobac- 

 cos. It is understood that fully 75 percent of 

 this tobacco is used at home . . . it has been 

 in great demand all over the country. It is 

 used for wrappers and cigarettes and cut 

 plug, which is year by year becoming more 

 and more in demand. It has both beauty of 



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