THREAT OF CEUANG REMOVED:
TORACCO A U CT WAFERS AGAIN
ARE riSHIVG CASH THROUGH
North Carolina’s Big Pui
A familiar fall scene in scores of North Carolina towns. (i’hoto by llenuncr.)
That troubled tremolo of uncertain¬
ty has been removed from the raucous
but sweet tones of the tobacco auc¬
tioneer's chant, and once more it is
wafting from North Carolina's hun¬
dreds of warehouses with a confident
lilt.
The threat of a price ceiling, which
might have greatly impaired one of
North Carolina’s most picturesque and
important enterprises, has been re¬
moved for the moment, and perhaps
for all time.
While the effect of such a ceiling
is debatable. Phil Hedrick. North
Carolina Agriculture Department's to¬
bacco specialist, agrees with Rep. Har¬
old Cooley, that it might have endan¬
gered the existence of the ancient
tobacco warehouse sales system. Fred
Royster, of Henderson, president of
the Bright Belt Warehouse Association,
thinks it would not.
It’s a little complicated, but easily
understood if you keep in mind that
the 1951 flue-cured tobacco crop has
a price support which practically guar¬
antees the farmers an average of
S50.70 per hundred pounds. If a ceil¬
ing were placed at an average of, say,
$60 per hundred, the warehouse com¬
petitive bidding system in the ware¬
houses would have only a range of less
than $10 in which to operate. A ceil¬
ing on the overall crop average was
imposed from 1943 to 1945, and was
not fatal, but the ceiling proposed for
this year was different.
The flue-cured crop's final average
is made up of the average prices of
dozens of individual grades, and each
grade has its own support price, and
each grade would have its own ceiling.
One of the most prominent grades is
known as X4L. which this year has a
support price (90 per cent of parity)
of $56 per hundred pounds. Bids be¬
low $56 would almost automatically
turn the tobacco over to the Flue-
cured Tobacco Co-operative Stabili¬
zation Corporation. It might be pre¬
sumed that the ceiling on this particu¬
lar grade would be $66 per hundred.
If all the X4L were in demand at
more than this price, the grade would
be likewise removed from the sphere of
competitive price bidding. Such a con¬
tingency is not impossible, and it would
substantially impair activity of the auc¬
tions.
Already Many Changes
The tobacco auction system already
has undergone numerous changes in
the past ten years — changes brought
about by federal and state regulations
and by other regulations imposed by
the industry itself.
The chain of events which have
made the present situation possible,
began in 1929 with establishment of
THE STATE, VoL XIX; No. II. Entered a* srrond-rlass matter, June I. I93J. at the 1‘oslofllce at Kaleleh, North Carolina, under the act of
March 3, IKT9. I’ublbhrd by Sharpe I’ublbhing Co.. Inc., Lawyer* Bid*., Kaleleh. N.
С
THE STATE, SEPTEMBER 1, 1951 3
By KILL SHARPE
