Newspapers / State Port Pilot (Southport, … / Aug. 4, 1937, edition 1 / Page 9
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I U'hitcvillc ? The [ Farmer's Town ftjLUME TEN NO. 2 IVER otton Replaced |[ By Tobacco As Chief Cash Crop' ^ armers Of This Section Last Season Sold 63,488,H 210 Pounds Of Tobacco H \t Average Price Of 21.58 Cents Per Pound ; i obacco long has been "MONEY CROP" ot Only Has It Been Used Hjc Brine: In Cash, But Often Has Been Used In Place Of Cash William H. Richardson) before automobiles.1 machines and chattels used in modern ^ftrsur.inf and selling came in-1 ff i being, tobacco has had a as well as a cash i H>y. This cash price, unfortu-; Ktcly. is not fixed by the pro-1 H is governed by condi which he does not ap-' - to have any great amount i control. Perhaps a specific for I economic malady will be ^Hrrkeii out some day. . ratio early Virginia. I If 1 primitively by the "Cream p" of immigrants from I-. ven a wife, it is said. I hased with tobacco. I I i that fluctuations in I ti>bacco are confined to | I. ration of modern marts is ' I: borne out by facts. If to-1 I ever been going to [ I millium or bring I plete economic disas|t: said millennium and flop ft irred long ago. i I fat back as 1860, records!] I Frank Parker of j i to crop reporting I show North Carolina's : Ifacco crop brought the far-1 - 7.618 at 14.3 cents a i 6 yield that year. . |. jfter the close of the War. ten the States, amounted to. p.C'Hki pounds. That was be-I Idr the day of cigarettes and be- j. Ike women took up the use of paccn. They simply smoked! km cob pipes and dipped snuff, p'.'.rast these figures with 1919. pat year, just after the close j ? the World War, when everykdy was using the weed, the ] Wp in North Carolina totaled I K24S.OOO pounds, which brought ( a average of 53.6 cents a i ( kind and yielded a total revc- j V of $174,333.000?the largest dventure in tobacco the farm- j, n of this state have engaged , ( ' either before that time or. ( Ten years later, the yield had j' toibed to 198.593.0O0 pounds, I j the crop, at an average of :!>' 18.3 cents a pound- -the in- j dtable result of ovcr-produc- j mi?brought growers just $92,-,1 u.ooo. ;1 Fluctuations Nothing New ' Six. eight and ten cent tobac- , however, is nothing new. The j Beast's averages remained be- ( Box ten rents from 1891 to , B 8 back When things 1 general were cheap and inclu- ^, Bjrt one war that fought be-.. B'een Spain and the United Sta-1, V in 98-99. The season's av- , B';*e m 1899, the year that war ^Fded. was only 6.6 cents, and ; Bn 199ft it was only 7 cents. The ' ^w-en smoked cigarettes then; some B^men dipped snuff, and most ( Hie masculine population chewI f rr m 1906 until the beginning of 1 B'" World War, there was not B'Jch fluctuation in the prices of Bt'bf.en, jt remained well above i V" tents, however. B And so, in a general way. goes ' story of tobacco?always the ^Pnstocrat of crops in the way | fairly good yields per pound, ^ though cotton was for a long king in bringing in the lartotal receipts. But now cotB'n appears to be definitely secB ' in North Carolina in the of totals as well as price per I from Cotton to Tobacco B This section of North Carolina BJ' S ago turned away from cot B? as its principal money crop, j Br's on warehouse floors in this ! B, r last year totaled 63.488,210 | "t an average for the ^peason of 21.58 cents a pound. I lumped Over the Moon" B "en the war in Europe was B?Jn earnest; when foreign proB ""a in this country was fast B '"S toward its climax that Bf,.,';L:r-1 about American particiBkv",.n then everything jumped B^a/iw'' tobacco included. That. B?; ttle silk shirt era, when fabrics gave way to that from the product of the (Continued on Page 2.) I * SEL TH1 8 SECTION TV YTHll TOBACCO BA INTO ATTRA - - -m d.? REMODELED. The : above once was a tobacco by its owner, Belton Thomi his employees.. It is located Card well Terrr Tantalizii Most Farmers Who Grow Tobacco Are Tormented From Season To Season With Fears Concerning Crop Outcome BALANCED FARMING PROGRAM IS HELP Smart Farmer Provides His Own Insurance Against Economic Failure By Planting Food And Feed Crops (BY GUY A. CARDWELL) Most farmers of the tobacco growing counties are tormented from season to season, and from seed planting time through the larvest and curing periods for fear that something may happen to lessen the money value of their so called golden weed. And then, after making a heavy yield tnd getting a good cure, there may come teasing thoughts that the prices that the buyers in the markets will hang over their heads for this great cash crop may or may not be satisfactory; so the torment goes on to the ?nd. Those farmers depending too largely on the tobacco crop, failing to support the crop with ather cash crops, with food, feed and livestock in proper propor? ~-f ? einrl themselves Lions, urc apt - in a fix somewhat comparable to that of Tantalus, a son of Zeus, who was punished in the underworld for revealing' secrets of the gods, by being plunged to the neck in water with luscious fruit about his head, both of which receded when he attempted to eat or drink. Unlike Tantalus, our better tobacco growers can usually reach food and drink and other necessities and some luxuries because (Continued on Page 2.) Practical Joke; Played On T Long night watches at the tobacco barn often give the imagination of some farmer boy an inspiration for a practical joke to be played upon one of his slumbering companions. One night in a neighboring county a young white youth turned over the watchful responsibilty to an elderly colorponsibility to an elderly colored man, who had just completed his turn at sleeping. Sometime later the boy awoke and discovered that the old darky had fallen asleep almost as quickly as he did himself. After mending the fire and checking the barn temperature the lad decided to give his partner a scare. He located a piece of rope several feet long and made a loop .L YOUR 19 E SL A Goo< vo 1GRE I RN MADE i iCTIVE HOME | , f, attractive residence shown barn, but it was remodeled oson, as a home for one of ? j itti fi :11 _ on L,ee street, in wnitevine, is Tobacco ig Cash Crop * ?VIRGINIA GOVERNOR POPULARIZED WEED Ralph Lane, first governor of Virginia, was the first white man to become a regular tobacco smoker. On one of his trips to England he carried some tobacco to Sir Walter Raleigh, who smoked it in the Queen's court and was immediately drenched by an overzealous court attendant who believed him to he on fire. It wasn't long before the entire English court was enjoying the pleasure of tobacco smoking. From the English court, nobility all over the world learned about smoking. When the nobleman of every country took up the habit, it wasn't long before the common people followed suit; and soon tobacco was spread all over the globe and was fairly easy to get. Florida Tobacco Good This Year Atlanta, Ga., Aug. 3.- South iGeoigia waiehousemen who have | checked the bright leaf tobacco crop in North Florida give it as j their opinion that belt will marI ket more than 17,000,000 pounds this season. Last year's crop was around 8,000,000. The Florida crop got off to a good start and was produced unI der unusually good weather conditions, warehousemen here say. j For that reason it wil grade better than the Georgia leaf and is expected to bring higher average prices than Georgia farmers will receive. Head, Heart, Hands and Health are 4-H's. 5 Sometimes obacco Curers r in it. This he placed over the sleeping negro's feet, then ran the other end thru one of the shelter rafters. Slowly he pulled up on his end of the rope, and soon the darkie was half-hanging in the air. The boy then tied his end of the rope securely and made a disturbing noise. The colored man awoke i with a start, then let out a scream of terror when he discovered himself dangling from the roof. Convulsed with laughter, the boy let the negro down gently. "Lordy, son," he gasped, . "you done skeered de' daylights out'n me. When I felt my feets up and my j haid down and seed the fire aburnin' in de furnace I jest knowed dat I wuz daid, and I knowed dat I wasn't haided right fo' he'ben." j i37 TOBACC m J Newspaper Ii Southport, N. C., We ADYI Former Newsman Recalls Early Tobacco Market W. B. Keziah, Former Whiteville Newspa per Man, Recalls Efforts To Make Whiteville "Little Danville Of The South" E. F. POWELL RECALLED AS EARLY BOOSTER Markets At Fair Bluff,! Chadbourn And Tabor City Also Have Been In Existence For A Number Of Years (By \V. B. KEZIAH) Writing recollections of growing and marketing tobacco in Columbus and Brunswick counties is something like trying to recall water that has long since passed over the dam. This artii cle will have to be purely in a ; recollective sense, in which there will doubtlessly occur many sins 'of ommission. for which the indulgences of the public is asked. Fair bluff as a tobacco market antedates the Wilmington and j Columbia branch of the Atlantic l Coast Line railroad. The tobacco I bought at Fair Bluff in its earlier days as a market was rafted | down the Lumber river to [ Georgetown, S. C., or transported 1 by wagon train into interior j North Carolina where it was manufactured. Fair Bluff is undoubtedly one of the oldest mar| kets in the South Carolina Bright (Leaf Belt. | After a vain attempt some (years previously, my recollection ! is that J. A. Wilson, M. O. Nelson, Sr., Frank Wray and others built the old Myers warehouse at jWhiteville about 1914. The op' erators were Myers and Nelson. The next year another warehouse was built and Mr. Wray operaI ted it with an associate. Mr. j Wray was a Brunswick county farmer and tobacco grower, the | other pioneers at Whiteville were all from Danville, Virginia. 1 The first two years of operations brought poor results. Toj bacco growing was not firmly established in Columbus and Bmnswick in 1914-15. There just was t not much tobacco for the two warehouses and the marketing system hadn't developed into anything very satisfactory to the farmers who did grow. Chad1 bourn built its first warehouse early in 1916, but was not able to secure an auctioneer that year ...,-1 eoloc \i /ii O Holfl llllU it\J OO1V0 (IV4U MV4W. New Blood Arrives But for 1917, Myers and Wal) ton, of Danville, leased the Chad-1 bourn warehouse. The Tuggle I Brothers and Harry G. Lea came I on from Danville and bolstered the Whiteville market. It seems I to me that there were other outstanding figures there at the same time, but I do not recall their names. At any rate, the 1917 season was a great one at Whiteville and thi minds of hundieds of farmers in Columbus and Brunswick turned to tobacco growing. The year 1918 was a reptition cf the 1917 success. Fu'r Blufl had three small warehouses goj ing full blast. I recall that outstanding figures on that market i at the time were J. T. (Jolly) ' Abbott, of Danville, J. F. Rogers and Hicks Powell, both of I Fair Bluff. Fair Bluff went J strong. So did Chadbourn. Under Myers and Walton, Chadbourn's first year as a tobacco marketing town was a great one. Before the 1917 season was over the progressive Chadbourn folks began to look afound for added facilities in the shape of another warehouse. Tabor City, then Mt. Tabor, i also entered the lists strongly as . a tobacco marketing town about j the 1917 season. My recollec) tion is that it was about the next year that the idea of a re! drying plant took hold there. The | plant was ultimately built. "The Little Danville" It was sometime in 1918, I j think, that E. F. Powell, cashier ! of the Bank of Columbus and ever one of the biggest boosters of the Whiteville tobacco market, came into my office with a big piece of news about a third warehouse at Whiteville. I think this , was the Lea Warehouse. Mr. j Powell, who could not conceal his exultation, said: "We will make Whiteville the | little Danville of the South. You just watch my prediction and see if it does not come to pass." This prediction of a real boos(Continued on Page 2.) i :o CROP IN P0Rr 1 A Good Com dnesday, August 4th, ] MS Filling Tobacco Barn Takes Every Member of Family ; Jobs Range From That of Hander and Stick Boy To Those Held By the Men And Older Boys of the Family FRIENDLY CONTEST BETWEEN WORKERS Continues Throughout Day Until Completed Job Is Celebrated By Watermelon Party When tobacco curing time comes around there is a job for I every member of the family from six-year-old Johnnie up to sixtyyear-old Aunt Arabella. On days when a barn is to be ; filled, truck driver Johnnie leaves the breakfast table early and goes out to mien up me muic ' the tobacco slide so everything will be ready for the men to go i right to work the moment they I finish their breakfast, j Johnnie is mighty proud of | his job, for this is the first year j he has been allowed to drive the i slide to haul tobacco from the [ field to the tying shed. Last year as a hander he spent spare | moments dreaming of the time I he would be given the rcsponsiI bility of truck driver and could I work with the men. By the time Johnnie reaches j the tobacco field and heads his j mule down the first set of rows, i the men are ready to bend low I to their task of cropping the leaves that are ripe and ready 1 to be cured. Carrying two rows ] at a time, passing swift, sure judgment upon the ripeness of | the leaves, the croppers lay arm! fid after armful of tobacco in the I slide before it is filled. I Under the tobacco barn shelter, or beneath a tying shed nearby, tyers and handers are waiting the arrival of the first load I of tobacco. The loose leaves in the slide must be gathered into small bunches, of from two to five leaves, depending upon the size, so that it may be looped | and tied on sticks before it is placed in the barn. Every move is by hand. The job of hander that Johnnie was so anxious to be graduated from last year is an important first step. Each bunch, or "hank", of tobacco must be about the same in bulk, otherwise the curing will not be unform. So almost by instinct a good hander must know whether it will take two leaves, i four or six to make the right size. ?~ <n A good tycr :s a human machine that works at a tireless j pace throughout the day until the last leaf is strung on a stick. This job usually falls to a woman, and two good handers can keep a good tyer busy. The sys-; tern for speedy work is for the handers to keep a bunch within easy reach of the tyer so that taking the tobacco from the hander and looping the thread is all one smooth, easy motion. From eighteen to twenty-four bunches will load a stick, and when one is filled, there is a man waiting to take it off and put another one on the tying rack. Among members of the average tobacco barning crew there i develops a friendly competition between the workers in the field and those at the barn. The latter will try their best to have a full tmck at the barn before the first is empty; and the tying crew will work like fury in the hope of a few moment's rest before the next load comes up. When the field has been cropped, and the last leaf is tied, it is a different story. The men of the field enlist the women and | children of the tying force in j handing in the full sticks so they ; may be hung on the tier poles in the barn. A line similar to an | old fashioned bucket brigade at I a fire is the most effective method for rapidly handling the I sticks. | The job of climbing up in the barn and hanging the tobacco is one that combines good judgj ment, strength and the agility of | a monkey. The sticks must be properly spaced, or again there i is danger that the curing will ont be uniform. The mere ability to ! stand spraddle-leggcd for more than an hour while handling | heavy sticks and constantly changing one's position is no easy task. When the last stick is hung and the barn door is closed preparatory to starting up the fire | in the furnace the usual payoff I is a watermelon cutting, a pretty ifine remedy for a tired feeling. I J WHITEVIL r piL munity [937 publij ARKE Twenty-Fi Set As C Market New Sales Si Experier Wide Experience In Promotion Work Makes Him Qualified For Duties Of Publicity Director And Supervisor Of Sales i The Whltevile Tobacco Board i of Trade was fortunate this year ir. being able to secure Dr. M. S. Smith for publicity director and sales supervisor. Dr. Smith 1 Un.l i?i<ln rtvnnrionoo in Pdl IlclS J1 ?lU VVK.IV: CAJ?VI ivuvv ?t wv> lege promotion work that makes i him eminently well qualified for his present positions. A citizen of Fair Bluff, Dr. i Smith is a native of Wilmington. I For a number of years he was ; a pharmacist and at one time ! owned a drag store in George1 town, S. C. He continued in this ! profession until ill health forced I his retirement. Forced to seek employment that I would give him a chance to [ work outside a good part of the j time, Dr. Smith became associated with the Baptist Board of ! Education of West Virginia as | assistant secretary. Later he I went to Breneau College, Gainsville, Ga., as endowment secretary and as secretary of the alumnae association. In this I latter role he doubtless earned the distinction of being the only man who ever held office in the graduate organization of a girls' : school. Later he returned to West Virginia, where he was associate Tobacco Rece Inspection . si TOBACCO IS NATIVE AMERICAN CROP Although much Is said of Turkish tobacco, f n r c ig n blends, etc., it is a matter of historical record that all tobacco originally came from America. Every plant of the foreign crop that today is grown In competition with domestic production originated from the seed which early Spanish explorers took home with them from Mexico, i Many changes have been w rought through climatic conditions and different methods of cultivation and curing, but there is no getting away from the fact that this is the native country for the weed crop Kentuckians Must Like Their Smokes Frankfort, K>., ?.ug. 3. ? The average Kentuck.an consumed from 65 to 75 cigarettes in June Ion the basis of consumers' tax pain on 178,071,680 cigarettes, the department of revenue announced recently. i From the tax of one cent on 'each ten cents or fractional part of the retail price of cigarettes, less wholesalers' commissions for affixing stamps, the state received 8131,781.14 during June. ; High ideals are set by Club j for \ outh Guidance. Crusoe Island* With Tobac Crusoe Islanders who last year began to experiment with the cultivation of tobacco weren't exactly satisfied with the results obtained. Last season the crop was I away to a good start, according to information from that section, but when dry weath| er made it's appearance the leaves burned up in the field faster than they could be housed and cured. This year Crusoe Island farmers again planted tobacco, but S. A. Long and J. ^ .?, LE ,0t SHED EVERY WEDNESDAY :tope ive Million ioal For V\ During 19 * ipervisor iced Promoter * i llPw-' ' I ^i 1 to the president of Broaddus College. Once more in 1931 poor health forced his retirement from 1 active duty and he moved to J Fair Bluff. Since he was employed ten weeks ago to handle publicity and 1 advertising preliminary to the op- j | ening of the Whiteville market,1 | he has proved himself a tireless! worker possessed with boundless! ! enthusiasm. He is thoroughly sold on the idea that Whiteville, located as she is in the center of a prosperous tobacco-growing I section, will easily attain her J j goal of 25,000,000 pounds this | season. ives Close In Each Stage !No Pains Are Spared In Effort To See That Only Tobacco Of Best Quality Ever Reaches The Warehouse Floor BAD PLANTS AND LEAVES DISCARDED Care Begins At Plantbed A 1 I - C nnlinuorl TKril rtllU AO WilllliUVVi m mmm m Each Process Until The j Weed Is Offered For Sale To Buyers Don't be too cynical when you' j hear a radio announcer with a j deep note of sincerity assure you j that the tobacco used in his spon- | , sor's brand of cigarette is care- j fully selected, and that only the very best of the lot ever reach-1 ' es the smoker. The truth of the matetr is ; that a careful culling process j goes on in connection with the | l producion of tobacco from the t j time the weed is purchased by | the manufacturer. There is nothing significant in i the fact that tobacco seed, bofore they are planted, are carefully j I cleaned and sterilized so that they may be as free as possible from all plant disease. When after careful nursing and protection the plants in the plant bed are ready to be pulled for . setting, the matter of selection is turned over to an old hand at : tending tobacco?someone who knows which plants will do well and which will droop over and ! (Continued on Page 2.) jrs Experiment co Cultivation I P. Clewis, who were in Whiteville recently, say they I are still not convinced that j it will pay them to divert | any of their corn and potato land to the cultivation of this cash crop. These two commodities are chief among the farm products of Crusoe Island. The residents of that section are famed for their live-at-home program, and Dr. Floyd Johnson, Columbus county health officer, attributes much of their healthiness to their simple, homegrown fare. i i Visit, Live, Buy or. Sell In Whiteville $1.50 PER YEAR 5flNG Pounds Whiteville 37 Season With Exceedingly Fine Tobacco Crop In Prospect It Appears Likely That All-Time Record Will Be Set MARKET BOOSTERS HAVE HAD A PART In Most Aggressive Advertising Campaign Undertaken In History Of ' Market The Citizens Have Responded Nobly , Everything is ready for Tuesday, and the first sale of the 1937 season, which promises to be the best, by far, in the history of the Whiteville Tobacco Mai kot The goal 25-million pounds ? was set, not because of the desire alone to establish a new record, but after a very careful > survey of the crops was made. Finding conditions very much better than they have been it several years, talking with farmers and parties interested in tobacco facts stood out which prompted making the goal 25million pounds. There is a prospective increase in acreage of ten to twelve per cent. Crop conditions arc better at this time than they have been in years in the immediate vicinity, excellent growing seasons having prevailed. Nature lias blessed this section this year from planting time 'till now, . with the exception of the hot days about the middle of July. These indications favor the establishment of a new high record for total sales. Whiteville, the Tobacco Center, is favorably located, being the county seat of Columbus county, one of the largest and best agricultural counties in the two Carolines. Whiteville is only 48miles west of Wilmington and three hours drive from Kaleigh. Hard-surfaced highways from all sections of the state bring visitors here where six big warrhous- < cs with a daily capacity of over two million pounds, modern in every detail, are conveniently located in the business district. The warehousemen are men with years of experience in the tobacco business anil have established the very highest reputation as successful business men. They have employed the most capable forces obtainable, effificient and courteous. Due to their knowledge and experience they render service that is more than personal it is obliging-polite-genteel. Tobacco is handled* promptly by a floor force, carefully selected, and baskets are placed by the floor manager to the best advantage possible. Representative Buyers Whiteville has three sets of buyers, experts in their line, replesenting all of the leading manufacturers ami factories. This cieates strong competition and the highest price is prevalent throughout the season. There is a probability of a fourth set of buyers on the VVhiteville market l'or the 1937 season. Due to the enormous quantity of tobacco antisipated. another set of buyers has been requested, and is cxpec;ted. I I Warehouses and 0|>crators I Tuggle's Warehouse will be op erated by the owner, H. Gordon ' Tuggle, who will have the same I efficient, and courteous force I [ employed for the past several I j years, M. O. Nelson, Sr., and his sons, Oliver and John, will oper- I ate two warehouses ? sNelson' I and Farmer's?with Paul Wooten, I assistant manager at the Farm- I er's. Crutchfield's Warehouse will be operated by Paul Tay- fl lcr, Gaither and Raymond Crutch - I field. W. B. Daniel and A. H. I Moore will operate the Star I Warehouse, which has recently I been enlarged considerably, giv- I ing them capacity for a full I day's sale. Daniel and Moore re- 4 e'ently purchased the interest of I their associate, W. M. Young. I Lea's Warehouse, will be manag- I cd by Hunter Y. Lea. This 1 louse will be operated on the same sound, progressive prin Cipies established by the found- I I The operators of the six big I wait houses 'ill bo In active I cnarge at all times and will give I (Continued On Page 3) I I J
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Aug. 4, 1937, edition 1
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