77 
Vueltas  comprise  three-fifths  of  the  crop  and  comprise  the  best 
Cuban  cigar  leaf,  both  filler  and  wrapper. 
The  estimated  crop  of  Cuba  for  1908  is  550,000  bales  (of 
ninety  pounds  each).  It  is  the  first  good  crop,  as  far  as  quality 
goes,  in  four  years. 
The  Cuban  area  planted  in  tobacco  is  70,000  acres. 
The  duty  on  Cuban  filler  is  twenty-eight  cents  gold  per  pound; 
on  wrapper,  $1.48  per  pound,  on  stemmed  wrapper 
$2.00  per  pound,  Cuban  duties  being  twenty  per  cent, 
less  than  those  on  goods  from  other  foreign  countries. 
The  duty  on  unstemmed  wrapper  is  practically  less  than  $1.48, 
because  filler  may  contain  fifteen  per  cent,  of  wrapper  leaf  and 
still  be  admitted  on  payment  of  filler  duties.  Filler  containing 
more  than  fifteen  per  cent,  wrapper  leaf  pays  the  higher  duty. 
England  is  the  largest  buyer  of  Cuban  tobaccos.  Germany 
is  second  in  quantity  (buying  mostly  Remedios  and  other  cheaper 
grades),  and  the  United  States  is  second  in  values  and  third 
in  quantity. 
HAWAIIAN  GEOWN  TOBACCO. 
Hawaiian-grown  tobacco  from  Cuban  seed  is  of  the  Vuelta 
type,  of  fine  texture,  unexcelled  burn,  good  body,  mild  aroma 
and  flavor,  and  running  largely  to  light  colors,  making  it  an 
excellent  wrapper  leaf. 
There  are  30,000  acres  of  virgin  tobacco  land  in  Hawaii, 
capable  of  sustaining  a large  and  profitable  industry.  The  best 
tobacco  lands  in  Cuba  have  been  cropped  continuously  in  this 
crop  for  one  hundred  years  or  more,  so  that  there  has  been 
marked  deterioration  in  yield  and  quality.  The  1908  crop  is 
the  first  crop  of  good,  sound,  workable  leaf  since  1904. 
The  yield  of  Cuban  leaf  in  Hamakua  in  1908  has  been  over 
1000  pounds  per  acre,  while  the  average  Cuban  yield  does  not 
exceed  600  pounds. 
The  superior  burning  qualities  of  the  Hawaiian-grown  Cuban 
leaf  will  sell  it  in  any  riiarket,  and  four  years  out  of  five  Cuban 
leaf  will  not  burn. 
The  maintenance  of  the  present  duties  on  tobacco  are  neces' 
sary  if  a tobacco  industry  is  to  be  built  up  in  Hawaii.  Brazil 
grows  just  as  good  tobacco  as  Cuba  and  has  twenty  times  the 
area  of  tobacco  lands  in  Cuba,  Porto  Rico  and  Hawaii  com- 
bined. A reduction  of  the  duty  on  tobacco  would  bring  ruin 
to  the  whole  tobacco  industry  of  the  United  States,  and  Brazil 
alone  would  do  to  the  whole  of  the  American  tobacco  industry 
what  she  has  done  on  a smaller  financial  scale  to  the  coffee 
industry  of  Hawaii,  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines. 
The  American  tobacco  industry  is  an  enormous  one,  the  total 
production  of  the  United  States  exceeding  880,000,000  pounds. 
The  production  of  domestic  cigar  leaf  exceeds  300,000,000  pounds 
annually.  This  gigantic  industry  would  be  wiped  out  if  the 
duty  should  be  removed  from  foreign  tobaccos. 
