TOBACCO
The companions of Christopher Columbus on the first voyage of discovery
in 1492 found what has since been known as tobacco. Two weeks after
sighting the first known land in the New West, that is to say, on the
27th of October, the ships of Columbus anchored off the shores of a
great land, supposed to be the Kingdom of the Khan, to whose ruler
Columbus bore letters of introduction from the King and Queen of Spain.
Here--in the Island which is now called Cuba--exploring parties went
ashore and proceeded into the interior seeking mines of gold and silver,
which they had been told existed. They found no gold or silver, but many
strange things, among them natives, with firebrands in their hands, and
puffing smoke from their mouths and noses. After investigation into the
nature of this peculiar custom the sailors tried it for themselves; but
its adoption by the Spaniards was not immediate. The herb bore several
names, but tabago, or tobago, or tabaco, seemed to be the one of most
general adoption. It was the name of a peculiar-shaped implement, or
pipe, which the natives used in smoking, and from this the name tobacco
easily grew--though various European writers attempted to fix more
romantic or poetic names upon the new narcotic.
Although tobacco was first known to the Spaniards in 1492, it was not
until 1560 that it was known at all in Spain, and not until 1586 that it
was used in Europe, when Ralph Lane, sent out to Virginia as Governor by
Sir Walter Raleigh, returned and smoked the first pipe in England.
[Illustration: PLANTING TOBACCO.]
Thence very quickly the habit grew, until in the middle of the
seventeenth century tobacco was sought and fêted in every civilised
country of the world.
It may be appropriate in this connection to call the reader's attention
to the fact that, although every known climate and soil of the earth
have been tried in the cultivation of tobacco, Cuba, where it was
discovered more than four hundred years ago, is still first in the
quality produced, and Cuban tobacco need never fear a successful rival
in excellence.
The cultivation of tobacco in Cuba was not begun until 1580, when the
Spaniards laid out small plantations in the neighbourhood of Havana.
Three hundred years later there were over ten thousand tobacco
plantations in the Island. These first plantations were located in or
near the Vuelta Abajo (Lower Valley) to the south-west of Havana; and
although even at that early period these plantations produced the best
tobacco in the Island, the product of the Vuelta Abajo did not reach its
world-wide fame until two hundred and fifty years later. Having once
reached the summit of tobacco glory, however, the Vuelta Abajo product
has never lost its proud position, and to-day ranks as the first tobacco
in the world.
This is due, of course, to soil and climatic conditions; for that
peculiar skill or strange power, or whatever it may be, which the Cuban
tobacco grower possesses is not more a characteristic of the Vuelta
Abajo farmer than of other growers in the Island. Indeed, the Partidos
leaf is larger in size, finer in texture, and richer in colour than its
neighbour, the Vuelta Abajo, but it is lacking in the flavour which can
only come from water, soil, and air. The Vuelta Abajo district occupies
an area of about ninety miles in length by ten in width, and its
province (Pinar del Rio) leads in the Cuban tobacco output, both as to
quality and quantity.
Tobacco is the second leading industry of Cuba, with sugar first, and
its cultivation is considerably in advance of sugar as concerns not
only profit to acreage, but conditions of plantations and labour. A
sugar plantation is a wide waste of monotony in appearance; while a
tobacco plantation, or _vega_, as it is known, with its kitchen garden,
its _plantanos_ for feeding the hands, its flowering and fruit trees,
its stone walls, its entrance gates and, pretty houses, is the most
charming agricultural sight in Cuba except a coffee plantation. The
average acreage of a _vega_ is, say, thirty-five acres, and from a dozen
to forty men are employed in each _vega_, chiefly lower-class whites.
More skill, too, is required in the cultivation of tobacco than sugar,
and the class of labour is considerably superior to that employed in
sugar planting.
Only a small portion of the acreage of Cuba is occupied by tobacco
plantations, notwithstanding tobacco is its second product in value. The
bulk of it comes from the western end of the Island: the provinces of
Pinar del Rio, Havana, and Santa Clara.
The following report on the tobacco product will show the amounts raised
in each province, the grade, the amount consumed, and the amount
exported:
"The production of leaf-tobacco in the Island of Cuba before the
revolution of the year 1894-95 amounted to about 560,000 bales,
averaging about 50 kilos each, say 28,000,000 kilos or 62,173,800
pounds. Of this amount about 260,000 bales are harvested in the
province of Pinar del Rio, known in the trade as Vuelta Abajo leaf,
which is of the finest quality and of which about 140,000 bales are
used by first-class cigar and cigarette manufacturers of Havana,
the balance being exported to the United States of America and
Europe.
"The province of Havana on an average produced, before the war,
only about 70,000 bales known as Partido leaf, one-fifth of which
is used in Cuba for cheaper grades of cigars and cigarettes and the
remainder exported to Key West, New York, and Europe. The quantity
of tobacco grown in the province of Matanzas is so very
insignificant that it is not known in the market at all.
[Illustration: TOBACCO FARM AND DWELLING.]
"The province of Santa Clara produces on an average about 130,000
bales, generally known as Remedios leaf, of which about 30,000
bales are used in that district and the neighbouring cities, and
the remainder, 100,000 bales, goes to the United States; that is,
the finer grades, for the lower grades are shipped to Germany, etc.
The province of Puerto Principe produces little or no tobacco;
nothing at least comes to the market.
"El Oriente, or in other words the province of Santiago de Cuba,
had a production of about 100,000 bales, generally called tobacco
Gibara or Mayari, of which about 40,000 bales are consumed by the
inhabitants of the district, and the remaining 60,000 bales are
exported to those countries where a government monopoly of the
tobacco industry exists, viz.: Austria, Spain, Italy, etc. This
tobacco is very coarse and the greater part suitable only for pipe
smoking. The price is in proportion to the quality; often not
higher than twelve to fifteen cents a pound."
While the methods of the tobacco grower differ in detail in the various
provinces, in a general way one fairly broad description of tobacco
raising will apply to all. The activity begins in September, at which
time the seed is sown in the _semilleros_, or planting beds, which
ordinarily lie higher than the common level of the farm. About the end
of October, or say in fifty days, the young plants are transferred to a
field prepared for them, and are set out at intervals of eighteen
inches; great care being taken, as they are so delicate that a slight
bruise upon their roots will kill them. The plants are removed from the
nursery in the morning and set out in the evening. The growing plant is
now carefully watched, the ground kept free from weeds, the tops of the
plants pruned, and the suckers removed from the roots. The pruning is
done with the thumb nail, as its dull edge closes the wound to the stem
and prevents its bleeding. The three enemies to the plant are the common
tobacco worm, a slug that destroys the leaf, and a butterfly from this
slug, which lays its eggs on the leaves and kills them. These insects
must be removed by hand, and the work is hard and disagreeable.
The plant is ready for cutting in January, and after being cut the
leaves are hung on poles and dried in the open air and in the
drying-sheds. When thoroughly dry, the leaves are removed from the
poles, sprinkled with water in which tobacco stems have been left until
fermentation has taken place, and the tobacco is packed, first into
bunches, then into bales of 110 pounds each. In this form it is ready
for shipment. The tobacco is classed according to quality, which also
fixes the price. Fertilisers are not often used, as they affect the
flavour.
One man can attend to 15,000 plants, which is about the product of two
acres, and one acre has been known to yield a crop worth $3000, but, of
course, quality, rather than quantity, makes such value. It is estimated
that 80,000 persons are engaged in cultivating tobacco in Cuba.
Although profits of from ten to thirty-five per cent. have been realised
on tobacco-raising in Cuba, very few foreigners, excepting an occasional
German, have undertaken it. English and German companies own the
majority of the manufacturing establishments in Havana and elsewhere,
but they have found that it is more profitable to buy the raw material
than to raise it, although an English company, manufacturing in Havana,
is reported to have paid $1,000,000 for 18,000 acres in the Vuelta Abajo
district.
Among the great Havana companies are the famous Henry Clay and Bock
Company, Limited, with a capital of $2,500,000; the Partagos Company, of
London, capital $1,500,000; H. Upmann & Company, a German corporation,
and many others (120 in all), of varying nationalities; but no American
companies.[16] Of the total exports of cigars and tobacco from Cuba,
Havana ships by far the largest percentage, estimated at from
ninety-five to ninety-nine per cent. of the whole. The largest number of
cigars (188,755,000) were shipped in 1888, out of a total shipment to
all countries of 219,892,000. In 1896, owing to the high tariff in the
United States, the exports dropped to 60,000,000, estimated, and the
entire shipments of Cuban tobacco to the United States decreased from
26,771,317 pounds, valued at $10,613,468, in 1896, to 4,410,073 pounds,
valued at $2,306,067 for the first nine months of 1897.
The tobacco interests of Cuba have suffered, as all others have, from
Spanish greed, dishonesty, and misrule; and now that the new era is at
hand, changed conditions for the better will develop at once. No more
fitting conclusion to this chapter could be made than to present the
following clear and comprehensive statement of Mr. Gustavo Bock, of the
Henry Clay and Bock Company, Limited, of Havana, on the production of
tobacco in Cuba, its manufacture, its necessities in the present
difficult situation, and the quickest and best means of improvement. Mr.
Bock prepared this valuable report especially for the author.
"The war, with its sad and distressing consequences, has been the
principal cause of the destruction of the farms employed in the
cultivation of tobacco and the ruin of the tobacco industry.
"The principal causes of destruction are three: 1st. Depopulation of the
country. It is an undoubted and recognised fact that the scarcity of men
employed in the country has greatly reduced the production of tobacco,
limiting it to small zones, where at great expense and sacrifice a small
production has been obtained. This reduction in the population is
estimated at sixty-five per cent., as may be seen by the statistics of
the districts of Guane, Remates, Grifa, Cortes, and Sabalo, in the
province of Pinar del Rio, to which--not to make these notes too
long--we will limit ourselves. Before the war there were 36,000
inhabitants in the province named, and the average production of leaf
tobacco was 60,000 to 65,000 bales. To-day there are scarcely 6000
inhabitants, and the last crop was barely 6000 bales; and these were
produced thanks to the efforts of a foreign syndicate, which, risking
its capital, and with few hopes of future compensation, began the work
of reconstruction, thereby saving thousands of families from a certain
death.
"2nd. Seizure of cattle. Cattle, which are the most important factor in
agriculture, have been reduced to such small numbers that in some
tobacco districts there are absolutely none, and in the few places where
there are any left, they are entirely insufficient for the most urgent
requirements. Cattle in this Island are of the first necessity. Without
exaggerating the expression, oxen constitute the right hand of the
farmer during the crop. Their work commences with the plough and
continues without rest until the crop is gathered and taken to the
seaboard. They cannot be replaced by any other animal, as has been
proved by experience; practice having shown that horses and mules are
unavailable in this service, in view of the special topography of the
Vuelta Abajo district and the climate of the Island of Cuba. One of the
chief reasons of this scarcity is the constant seizure of the cattle by
the Government troops, carried on unmercifully. It is not necessary to
prove that this state of affairs will bring about the complete
annihilation of cattle, leaving the poor labourer and the majority of
the inhabitants of the Vuelta Abajo in the most precarious
circumstances. The consequence of this unjustifiable measure will affect
not only those employed in the fields of that province, but also those
who depend exclusively on the tobacco industry in the towns and in
Havana. Without a crop, without raw material, the factories will have to
close their doors, and the misery with all its horrors, brought about by
the system of reconcentration, will only be renewed.
"3rd. Loss of capital and credit. The disappearance of capital, and the
consequent absence of credit, are due essentially to the above mentioned
causes. It is unnecessary to prove this statement; it has been the
inevitable. These are, I repeat, the principal causes which have brought
about the disastrous condition of the tobacco industry.
"That the reconstruction be permanent, it is necessary to give ample
protection to the farmer, and for this we need:
[Illustration: WETTING THE TOBACCO LEAF.]
"1st. The promotion of immigration. All obstacles to the return of the
white man to his labour in the fields should be removed. As the existing
number of white labourers is entirely insufficient for the needs of the
cultivation of tobacco, it is necessary to favour as much as possible
the immigration of Canary Islanders, who constituted before the war the
majority of the tobacco growers. Their knowledge and condition make them
suitable for the working of these fields in preference to others.
"2nd. Free importation of cattle. The immediate free importation of
cattle is necessary, as only a few oxen and milchers are left. As I have
already stated, oxen are the principal factors in the farmer's work in
this district, and it is necessary to import them without delay, free of
duty, as the farmer cannot afford to pay the exorbitant duties now
enforced. Immediate attention should be given this subject in view of
the fact that work on the next crop must begin in a very short time.
"3rd. Inducement to capital and revival of credit. With the free
importation of cattle, immigration of white labourers, and the
establishment of a firm and stable government, undoubtedly this district
would return to its former prosperous condition. Peace, order, and work
would invite capital to lend a vigorous and impulsive hand to regain the
district's lost wealth and credit.
"4th. Construction of roads. The province of Pinar del Rio has always
felt the want of communication with the commercial centres. After three
years of war, between neglect and destruction, there are to-day
practically no roads. This evil has caused an increase in freight rates,
and in some cases the rates exceed the value of the goods. To promote
the industry of the province, new roads should be built and the old ones
reconstructed.
"5th. Establishment of a corps of rural police. The establishment of a
corps of police is an important point to the country districts. They
should be organised under conditions similar to those now given to the
Civil Guards, an armed force for the persecution of bandits and the
maintenance of order in the country districts of Cuba. It is not to be
expected that all the vagabonds, thieves, and bad characters who existed
before the revolution have decreased in number, considering the
irregular lives they must have been leading, and that, now peace is
restored, they will become honest and good workmen. Protection against
this class of people can be afforded the tobacco grower by a well
constituted corps of rural police.
"Protection and guarantee of the genuineness of Cuban tobacco. Now that
we have pointed out the measures we consider most urgent to re-establish
the industry of the tobacco provinces, we will mention what we consider
necessary for the protection of the Vuelta Abajo tobacco leaf. It is not
enough that the agriculture of the district should rise to its former
state of prosperity; it is necessary, besides, to protect in some way
the reputation of Cuban tobacco, and especially the Vuelta Abajo tobacco
leaf, considered to-day without a rival in the world. These measures are
purely economical. They concern an uncommon article, for the production
of which means and expenses are used that entitle it to unusual
protection, as will be shown by the following calculation:
"To produce 100 bales of tobacco, of 50 kilos each, a farmer would rent
one _caballeria_ of land (equalling 33-16/100 acres), one half of which
he would employ for tobacco cultivation and the remainder for
vegetables.
Rent of land per year $ 300.00
250,000 plants @ $1.50 per thousand 375.00
6250 lbs. of Peruvian fertiliser 250.00
Hiring of oxen 102.00
Wages and maintenance of 12 men @ $25 per month each 3000.00
_Yaguas_, _Majaguas_, and expenses 300.00
Taxes, physicians bills and medicines,
and living expenses of the planter 400.00
---------
Total $4,727.00
[Illustration: TOBACCO DRYING HOUSE.]
"So that a planter would have to sell each 50 kilos of tobacco at $47.27
to cover the cost of production. The foregoing figures show clearly
that the production of tobacco in the Island of Cuba is more expensive
than that in any other part of the world, special attention being
necessary to its raising from the day it is planted to the cutting of
the leaf, besides the subsequent treatment necessary to obtain good
results; which work goes on night and day, if a good quality is desired.
The following measures are therefore necessary for the protection of the
industry:
"To insure a planter the sale of his crop at a price in proportion to
the cost of production, it is absolutely indispensable that the present
regulations prohibiting the importation and reimportation in this Island
of all foreign manufactured or unmanufactured tobacco should continue in
force; excepting only snuff and chewing tobacco, that have always been
imported here and in no way hurt our trade or agriculture. Of the many
laws and decrees which the Madrid Government has issued to favour this
colony, none has been wiser than this prohibition of the importation of
foreign leaf tobacco, thereby avoiding the importation of a leaf of
inferior quality by unscrupulous persons, who after manufacturing the
cigar in the way usual in this country, made perhaps with a small
proportion of Cuban leaf, would export it as genuine Havana; a business
which would prove most profitable to the adulterator, but which in time
would totally ruin the reputation of our products, both agricultural and
industrial, bringing about a decrease in prices which would eventually
cause a cessation of the cultivation of tobacco.
"Production of tobacco in the Island, local consumption, exports,
particularly those to the United States. The production of tobacco in
normal times is estimated at:
In Pinar del Rio, called Vuelta Abajo 260,000 bales
In Havana, called Partido 70,000 "
In Las Villas Sta. Clara, called Remedios 130,000 "
In the Eastern Provinces, called Mayiri y Gibara 100,000 "
-------
Total 560,000 "
or, on an average of 50 kilos per bale (110 pounds), 28,000,000 kilos,
or 62,173,800 pounds.
"Note.--In Vuelta Abajo there is a good deal of uncultivated land, and
with permanent peace and a stable government, that could insure
protection to capitalists, this production could easily be increased in
Vuelta Abajo alone to 500,000 bales. The provinces of Havana, Las
Villas, and the Eastern Provinces would increase in the same proportion.
"In the manufacture of cigars, cigarettes, and packages of smoking
tobacco for home consumption, the following number of bales of tobacco
are used:
Vuelta Abajo 140,000 bales.
Partido 10,000 "
Sta. Clara 30,000 "
Gibara 40,000 "
-------
Total 220,000 "
and for export as follows:
Vuelta Abajo 120,000 bales.
Partido 60,000 "
Sta. Clara 100,000 "
Gibara 60,000 "
-------
Total 340,000 "
at 50 kilos per bale, 17,000,000 kilos or 36,956,000 pounds.
"The United States has bought and imported from the Island of Cuba as
follows:
In the year 1893 21,694,881 pounds $8,940,058
In the year 1894 14,578,248 " 5,828,954
In the year 1895 20,175,620 " 7,271,794
In the year 1896 26,771,317 " 10,613,468
In the year 1897 4,410,073 " (6 mos.) 2,306,067
A total value of leaf exported is estimated per annum at $12,000,000
and the 220,000 bales for home consumption are valued at 10,000,000
-----------
Total $22,000,000
"Manufacturing: its importance and prospects. Having expressed our views
concerning the production of leaf tobacco, we will now refer to its
manufacture, an industry which has for several years dragged along, and
which is of great importance and deserves the utmost attention. It is
impossible to estimate how important an industry it would be to-day, if,
instead of the setbacks it has received, its energies had been allowed
to develop. The universal reputation which this leaf enjoys, owing to
the excellency of its quality and the perfection of its manufacture,
would increase threefold if the industry were promoted. In importance,
it is to-day the second industry in the country, and in the provinces of
Havana and Pinar del Rio it is the foremost. With 100,000 cwt. costing
$4,000,000 in 1889, the following has been manufactured:
For exportation 250,000,000 cigars $11,500,000
Local consumption 50,000,000 " 2,000,000
----------- -----------
Total 300,000,000 " $13,500,000
"In addition to this, the manufacture of cigarettes represents from
$3,000,000 to $4,000,000 per annum. However, the importance of this
industry must not be gauged by these figures, but by the fact that the
proceeds of this industry circulate rapidly and give life and movement
to other industries that depend upon it, which in the city of Havana
alone employ from 18,000 to 20,000 workmen, who, with their families,
represent from 45,000 to 50,000 people.
"We have cursorily glanced over its actual importance: let us study its
future. Even if under the auspices of peace, with the adoption of proper
measures for the future of the agriculture and production of tobacco a
brilliant and promising future is assured, the same cannot be said,
unfortunately, of its industry and manufacture. The future of the former
is most promising; it has no rival in the world; there is only one
Vuelta Abajo district. The latter, besides, handicapped as it is by
excessive competition, has the insurmountable obstacle of being taxed
by the treasuries of countries burdened by a heavy national debt; while
other nations, like the United States, levy heavy duties on cigars to
protect their national industry in its various phases. As a proof of
what we say, we call attention to the following figures showing the
gradual decrease of the manufacture of tobacco in this Island, a
decrease which nearly reaches fifty per cent. of normal. The following
will show how the exportation of cigars decreased from 250,000,000 in
1889 to 123,000,000 in 1897:
EXPORTATION OF CIGARS IN NINE YEARS
In 1889 250,467,000
In 1890 211,823,000
In 1891 196,667,000
In 1892 166,712,000
In 1893 147,365,000
In 1894 134,210,000
In 1895 158,662,000
In 1896 185,914,000
In 1897 123,417,000
"On the other hand, the exportation of leaf tobacco has increased fifty
per cent.; from 177,000 bales exported in 1889 by the port of Havana,
the exports in 1895 had increased to approximately 250,000 bales. It is
easy, then, to understand the actual condition of the tobacco industry
and its dependencies, and that of the numerous families who live by the
work that this gives them; their future cannot be promising, unless laws
are immediately enforced to protect them and raise them from the abject
state in which they find themselves.
[Illustration: BALING TOBACCO.]
"Cause of decline. Besides the high customs tariffs on imported cigars
abroad, among which we may mention those of the Argentine Republic, as
well as the internal taxes of those countries where tobacco is a source
of government revenue, one of the main reasons of the decline of the
Cuban industry originated in the McKinley bill, which compelled many
manufacturers to move their factories to the United States, owing to
the want of protection on the raw material, thereby causing a
considerable decrease in the production of the Island, and increasing in
the same proportion that of the United States, in which country the
manufacture has reached the enormous sum of 5,000,000,000 cigars per
annum.
EXPORTATION OF TOBACCO TO THE UNITED STATES
In 1889 101,698,560 cigars $3,970,034
In 1890 95,105,760 " 4,113,730
In 1891 52,015,600 " 2,742,285
In 1892 54,472,250 " 2,859,941
In 1893 46,033,660 " 2,424,425
In 1894 40,048,330 " 2,131,981
In 1895 39,579,400 " 2,050,367
In 1896 40,601,750 " 2,091,856
In 1897 34,017,583 " 1,868,610
"Mode of protection. To protect and promote the prosperity of this
industry it is necessary: 1st. To maintain the suppression of export
duty on cigars ordered by the local Government of this Island on the
31st of last December, both on cigars and cigarettes and packages of cut
tobacco, as well as on tobacco in fibre or powdered, which are
considered as industrial products thereof.
"2nd. To maintain to its full extent the export duty on leaf tobacco,
ordered at the same time, of $12 per 100 kilos for that grown in the
provinces of the west and centre of the Island (Vuelta Abajo, Partido,
and Remedios). The following data will prove the justice of this step:
to manufacture in the United States 1000 cigars weighing 12 pounds, sold
in Havana, unstemmed, 25 pounds of filler, and 5 pounds of wrapper, we
should arrive at the following results:
For export duty on the leaf in Cuba,
30 lbs. of leaf at $12.00 per 100 kilos $ 3.60
Import duty in the United States on
25 lbs. of filler at 35 cents each 8.70
" " " " " " "
5 lbs. wrapper @ $2 each 10.05
------
Total $22.35
The same 1000 cigars imported from Cuba, weighing
12 lbs., at $4.50 per lb. $54.00
Export duty 25 per cent. ad valorem, valued @ $60 per thousand 15.00
------
Total $69.00
making a difference of $46.65 against our tobacco.
"3rd. It is also indispensable that the prohibition of importing and
reimporting all tobacco, whether prepared or in leaf, be maintained, and
"4th. If, as is to be hoped, the commercial relations between this
Island and the North American Republic continue in perfect harmony and
well directed, we may soon expect to have complete reciprocity and free
exchange of trade."
In this connection it will be interesting to note the relative
importance of the tobacco-producing countries of the world. The
following table is the latest and most reliable obtainable:
AVERAGE PRODUCTION OF TOBACCO
Countries. Product in Pounds.
United States of America 488,000,000
Mexico 5,600,000
Cuba 62,000,000
Puerto Rico 8,800,000
Santo Domingo 8,000,000
Brazil 33,000,000
Argentine 6,000,000
Austria Hungary 135,000,000
Russia 110,000,000
Turkey 80,000,000
Germany 72,000,000
France 50,000,000
Greece 18,000,000
Belgium 10,000,000
Roumania 8,000,000
Bulgaria 7,500,000
Bosnia 7,000,000
Netherlands 6,300,000
Italy 4,000,000
Switzerland 3,000,000
Servia 3,000,000
Sweden 2,200,000
Philippine Islands 45,000,000
British East Indies 370,000,000
Dutch " " 66,000,000
Japan 50,000,000
Ceylon 8,000,000
Cochin China 6,000,000
Algiers 10,000,000
Australia 10,000,000
China } 160,000,000
Paraguay }
Sundries 55,000,000
-------------
1,907,400,000
Thus the primary cost of the world's tobacco ranges from $200,000,000 to
$225,000,000 per annum. It is not in quantity but in quality that Cuba
leads the world.