tobacco, exporters in Virginia and Maryland had been 

 sending a large part of their crops to Boston by coast- 

 wise vessels. There it was loaded on ocean-going ships, 

 with false bills of lading. 



It required a Parliamentary Act, passed in 1650, to 

 close up this loophole, so convenient to the largest 

 growers of tobacco in Virginia and Maryland. Yet Boston 

 remained a busy port for southern planters. An inves- 

 tigator for the London commissioners of customs found 

 in 1708 that much tobacco from Virginia was being 

 transshipped illegally to other colonies without paying 

 an intercolonial duty. This was but one of numerous offi- 

 cial complaints of customs violations by Massachusetts 

 shippers. 



Tc 



obacco pays its way 



In 18th century Massachusetts, tobacco as a commod- 

 ity was treated with more respect than it had been b\' 

 most of the Puritan Fathers. The cured leaf became 

 legal tender in payment of taxes at the rate of 4 pence 

 per pound in 1729. In some towns, fifty years earlier, 

 it had been accepted by tax collectors at 6 pence per 

 pound. Some clergymen grew it commercially to supple- 

 ment their incomes. Just before the War of Independ- 

 ence records show it being sold by them at 5 to 8 pence 

 per pound. 



Yet production remained low. Little of tlie crops was 

 consumed locally, for smokers were being supplied b)- 

 the superior leaf from the southern colonies. Some of the 

 inexpensive Massachusetts-grown tobacco was exported 

 to the West Indies for use by slaves who had a prefer- 

 ence for pungent varieties. 



22 



