70 CIRCULAR 249, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Many of the larger manufacturers maintain their own leaf depart- 
ments which are either an integral portion of the company or a sub- 
sidiary corporation. The head of the leaf department is usually a vice 
president of the company and all the company’s operations in the 
buying, redrying, fermenting, and storage of tobacco (see Losses in 
Weight of Tobacco p. 78) are handled under his direction. The buying 
organization includes not only the actual buyers stationed on the — 
different markets during the selling season but a supervisory corps of — 
so-called circuit riders and head buyers, together with other personnel 
necessary for the physical handling of the tobacco, for maintaining 
suitable records, and for administering this important branch of the 
company’s affairs. 
The operation of a leaf department may be in itself a large business 
enterprise. Such an organization may purchase annually millions 
of dollars worth of tobacco. Since aging of the tobacco is necessary 
and purchases must be made from 2 to 4 years in advance, the leaf 
inventories of a company that manufactures cigarettes and smoking 
and chewing tobacco may total several hundred million pounds and 
comprise many different types of tobacco, each hogshead of which 
must be classified and recorded as to type, grade, year of production, 
prizing weight, location, etc. With respect to this branch of the 
trade, therefore, the sale of tobacco is made directly by the grower 
to the manufacturer. 
The buying policy of any company in a given year is based upon 
analysis of the present and prospective demand for its products, the 
volume of tobacco already held in storage, the size and character of the 
crop to be marketed, and the prices likely to prevail. Having deter- 
mined its policy with respect to its needs for different types and grades 
of tobacco, the company issues instructions to the head buyers, cir- 
cuit riders, and floor buyers as to the grades and quantities or percent 
of the offerings they shall buy including such limitations or provisions 
as may be necessary pertaining to prices. These instructions are modi- 
fied from time to time according to changing developments during the 
marketing season. 
Some manufacturers, instead of maintaining their own corps of 
buyers, place their buying orders with independent dealers. The 
method then followed is to specify the quantities and grades desired 
and place a limitation upon the price to be paid. The compensation 
to the dealer is usually in the form -of an allowance per hundred 
pounds for buying expenses. The dealer’s function is to purchase the 
tobacco, redry it, sort it into the company grades, and prize it in hogs- 
heads. Charges for these services are usually about 2% cents a pound. 
Manufacturers other than those referred to—those whose operations 
are on a very small scale—buy tobacco directly from dealers as needed, 
the tobacco having been purchased outright by the dealer as a specula- 
tive proposition. 
Aside from the purchasing operations of dealers already mentioned, 
most dealers also export tobacco. They may execute buying orders 
-for their foreign clients, or may purchase tobacco outright for later 
sale to foreign customers wherever they can be found. Figure 34 
shows dealer-owned tobacco ready for sampling by prospective buyers. 
A few foreign users of American tobacco maintain in this country 
either completely staffed and equipped buying and leaf handling or- 
