AMERICAN TOBACCO TYPES, USES, AND MARKETS 69 
of daily price reports showing the current average price for each grade. 
The result of the inspection is to inform the grower the true grade 
of his tobacco, and the price report tells him the approximate value 
of that grade. 
The inspectors are employees of the Agricultural Marketing Admin- 
istration of the United States Department of Agriculture and have 
been especially trained. The inspections are made before the tobacco 
is sold and the appropriate grade symbol is entered on the basket or 
lot ticket. In view of the large revenue which the Government 
AMA 2212 
Figure 33.—A Federal tobacco inspector examining fire-cured tobacco 
on warehouse floor at Clarksville, Tenn. 
derives annually from excise taxes on tobacco products, provision 
was made in the act that inspection service on designated markets 
should be without charge. 
Up to December 1, 1941, 85 auction markets had been designated 
under the act, including one which no longer operates. These 
represent approximately 61 percent of the total number of markets 
where tobacco is sold at auction. 
CHANNELS OF TRADE 
Fully 90 percent of the tobacco produced in the United States is 
sold at auction. The buyers who compete on the auction markets 
for this tobacco are divided into three classes: (1) Those employed 
by manufacturers, (2) those employed by independent leaf dealers, 
a (3) small speculators who individually buy and immediately re- 
sell. 
