78 
SUMATRA  TOBACCO. 
The  Sumatra  tobacco  coming  to  the  American  market  is  a 
wrapper  leaf  only.  The  United  States  imports  about  40,000 
bales  (of  170  pounds)  annually. 
The  total  yield  of  the  Deli  district  of  Sumatra  in  1900  was 
223,000  bales,  amounting  to  36,915,000  pounds,  valued  at  thirty- 
seven  cents  per  pound. 
“The  duty  paid  is  $1.85  per  pound  on  wrapper  and  $2.50  per 
pound  on  stemmed  wrapper. 
“England  is  the  chief  buyer  of  Sumatra  wrapper  leaf;  then,  in 
order,  Germany,  Austria,  the  United  States  and  France.  The 
duty  on  Sumatra  tobacco  imported  into  the  United  States  aver- 
ages $12,500,000  per  annum. 
The  average  yield  of  Sumatra  tobacco  is  about  750  pounds 
per  acre.  There  are  about  50,000  acres  planted  in  Sumatra. 
The  qualities  of  wrapper  leaf  are  that  the  tobacco  should  be 
extremely  thin,  silky,  elastic,  of  good  body  and  burn,  but  with- 
out flavor  and  aroma.  For  the  American  market  the  colors 
must  be  “claro”  and  the  sizes  extraordinarily  large. 
The  European  market  which  absorbs  eighty-three  per  cent, 
of  the  Sumatra  crop,  takes  dark  colors,  and  lengths  mostly 
under  sixteen  inches.  The  American  market  takes  all  light 
colors  and  lengths  over  sixteen  inches.  The  demand  for  “claro” 
is  so  strong  in  the  United  States  that  Sumatra  planters  are 
adopting  hothouse  methods  to  produce  enormous  leaves. 
The  average  of  the  first  grade  of  Sumatra  wrappers  is  so  high 
as  to  size  and  delicate  silkiness  and  thinness  that  one  pound  of 
leaf  will  cover  sixty-five  to  seventy  square  feet. 
The  cultivation  of  Sumatra  wrapper  leaf  under  cloth  has  for 
its  object  the  simulation  of  tropical  out-of-doors  climatic  con- 
ditions, all  to  produce  large  thin,  silky  leaves  in  light  colors, 
such  as  the  American  market  demands. 
The  labor  conditions  in  Sumatra  are  interesting. 
• . & 
The  Mexican  dollar,  valued  at  approximately  $0.50  gold,  is 
the  wage  unit.  The  laborers  are  Chinese  coolies  and  Klings 
from  Madras,  India.  The  coolies  are  employed  under  three' 
year  contracts,  the  contracts  quasi-free,  but  no  laborer  can 
leave  Sumatra  unless 'he  is  provided  with  a passport  indorsed 
by  his  last  employer. 
The  wages  during  the  first  year  of  the  contract  are  $45 
Mexican  per  annum.  The  laborers,  if  green  hands,  plant  no 
tobacco  the  first  year,  but  are  employed  in  clearing  land,  build- 
ing ditches,  roads  and  preparing  the  fields  for  cultivation. 
The  second  and  third  years  the  coolies  are  paid  at  the  rate 
of  $60  to  $80  Mexican  for  the  nine  months  of  the  tobacco  cam- 
paign, and  $45  Mexican  for  the  remaining  three  months  of  the 
year. 
