Drummond Tobacco Building

[canjond]

Originally Posted by tedzan

This has always puzzled me about the DRUM cards (circa 1910). The Drummond plant was in St Louis;
and, many T206 DRUM card finds have been from the St Louis area, However, printed on the backs of
the DRUM cards is "Factory 25".
This American Tobacco Co. plant was in Richmond, VA; and by Federal law, these advertising premiums
had to be inserted in DRUM cigarette packs from that VA district. Therefore by 1910, had the DRUM to-
bacco production switch to VA ?

Can someone here explain this apparent contradiction ? ?


TED Z

Ted - it could be as simple as that based on Drum's former headquarters in St. Louis, the brand had its greatest popularity there.

[tedzan]

JAMIE and JON

By 1905, Factory 25 in Richmond, VA was the prime center of ATC's tobacco production....and, Factory 42 in Durham, NC
was quickly expanding.

James B. Duke realized the efficiency and economic advantages of producing tobacco in the South. Annual wages in New
York ($520), New Jersey ($460, St. Louis ($425), etc. were approximately 2x that of the VA ($255) and NC ($240) plants.
Furthermore, the combination of women and children employees by then were equal to male employment at these factories.
However, they were paid considerably less than the males.

Factory 25 produced the two most popular brands......

PIEDMONT
SWEET CAPORAL

also,

AMERICAN BEAUTY
BROAD LEAF
(North) CAROLINA BRIGHTS
CYCLE
DRUM
OLD MILL
SOVEREIGN

Therefore, regarding DRUM tobacco production, the St Louis plant was no longer efficient to keep in operation. The DRUM
production was transferred to Richmond. And, based on our experience in recovering DRUM cards (T205's and T206's), we
can safely speculate that Richmond shipped most of their DRUM product out to the St Louis area (circa 1910).


TED Z

[smokelessjoe]

Not sure if this is any help, but notice that on the two sheets that I pulled from the American Tobacco Co. report that there is a quantity for "Drum" brand coming from the "P. Lorillard Co." and the "Liggett & Myers - Drummond Branch" for 1911.

It actually reads: "Drum - 2 Oz. Tins"

Again, not sure what this means?

[smokelessjoe]

TedZ,

I think the St. Louis plant was still in operation as of Dec. 31, 1910. It is referred to as the Liggett Myers - Drummond Branch of which shows production of the Drum brand at that time. Albeit in 2 Oz. Tins????

[tedzan]

The Liggett & Myers (L & M) plant in 1911 was Factory 42 in Durham, NC. I have a colorful vintage postcard of it, and I'll post it later.

The P. Lorillard Co. plant was in New Jersey.

The Drum brand Tins I think are cut plug tobacco. And, like Jamie noted earlier different factories produced different forms of tobacco.

I'm certain that Factory 25 (Richmond) produced the DRUM cigarette brand in the 1910-1911 era.

Thanks for starting this thread.


TED Z

[smokelessjoe]

Hi Ted,

Yes, Liggett & Myers did have a plant in Durham... But they also had a plant in St. Louis called the Ligget & Myers - Drummond Branch. I will not disagree with you on the location of where the Drum "cigarette" brand was produced (I cannot tell), but they did produce the "Drum" brand in St. Louis in the 1910-1911 era.