AMERICAN TOBACCO CO, AND IMPERIAL TOBACCO CO. 13 
Resolved further, That khe President of the United States be, and he is hereby, 
requested to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to permit the said Federal Trade 
Commission in making such investigation to have access to all official reports and 
records in any or all of the bureaus of said Treasury Department. (Senate Res. 
290 8Rth Cone... 2d sess.) 
In presenting the above resolution Senator Ernst referred to the 
prevailing belief among the tobacco cooperative associations that 
the American Tobacco Eo. and the Imperial Tobacco Co. (Ltd.) have 
an understanding with respect to the sale of manufactured products. 
This belief appears to be based on the fact that the English concern 
sells little of its output in the United States and the American con- 
cern little in Great i However, the main cause of complaint 
is with respect to the policy of these two companies in the purchase 
of leaf tobacco, it being alleged that they Poth have practically 
boycotted cooperative marketing associations composed of tobacco 
growers in certain sections of the United States. In addition to 
refusing to buy leaf tobacco from these various organizations, it is 
alleged that these companies, by various means, have opposed and 
attempted to hamper the marketing and sale of tobacco in this man- 
ner. Among the means alleged to have been used are (1) the pay- 
ment of abnormally high prices for nonmembers’ tobacco on the 
auction floor, especially where a crop is split and the owner of one 
part is a member of the association and the owner of the other part 
ts a tenant who sells on the auction floor, (2) inducing members of 
the association to break their contracts, and (3) by encouraging the 
Erowing of tobacco in new fields when there is at present an overpro- 
uction. 
This antagonism, particularly on the part of the ppd Tobacco 
Co., is alleged to have existed from the organization of the cooperative 
associations. In fact in 1924 a committee representing the growers 
associations, was sent to England for the purpose o establishing 
relations, if possible, between the English company and the associa- 
tions. The committee referred to was composed of representatives 
from the Tobacco Growers’ Cooperative lan the Burley 
Tobacco Growers’ Cooperative Association and the Dark Tobacco 
Growers’ Cooperative Association. According to the report of the 
committee, the question directed to the Imperial Co., was: “Will 
you buy tobacco from cooperative associations, assuming that they 
can satisfy your buyers as to grade, condition, and price?’ No 
definite expression of opinion was apparently obtained from the 
eompany. 
_ The commission has also received a large number of complaints 
since the investigation was begun. The majority of these have 
come from individual members and the local units of the Tobacco 
Growers’ Cooperative Association which is composed of growers in 
Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Unfair activities 
on the part of the Imperial and American Tobacco Cos., as well as 
dealers and the auction warehouse interests, are alleged in many of 
these statements. The alleged unfair acts are of the same general 
nature as those mentioned in the statements on which the Senate 
resolution was based except that they are limited to activities con- 
cerning the purchase of leaf tobacco. The following statement 
Seadived from the Forsyth County (N. C.) unit of the association is 
ypical: