As representatives of 71,000 North Carolina tobacco growers met last week in Raleigh's Sir Walter Hotel, they filled the air with their troubles as well as tobacco smoke. The drought had hit most of them hard, postponed the harvest a full two months; growers in the state were hustling to get the big leaves into their curing barns before the first frost came. Moreover, the quality of this year's crop had suffered, and prices were down. To Agriculture Secretary Ezra Benson, the growers sent their suggestion for a cure: acreage allotments for 1954 should be cut by 5%.
Tobaccomen were...