The Battle for Walla Walla's Smoke
Local cigarmakers protest that city grocers are hyping 'home industry' while importing cheap cigars from out of town.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
To the Editor of the Statesman: Regarding the statement of the local Grocers' and Merchants' Association about local citizens purchasing groceries and other supplies from outside merchants, we agree that home industry should be supported. However, the members of the Walla Walla Grocers' and Merchants' Association should practice what they preach. There are eleven grocery stores in this city; of these, only four handle Walla Walla-made cigars. Over 1,500,000 cigars are smoked in Walla Walla every year, but less than 100,000 are manufactured here. If our grocers were to support local labor, it would leave over $7,000 a month in wages in this city. The plaint of the Association against outside merchants comes with bad grace when they discriminate against local cigar manufacturers in favor of cigars manufactured in eastern centers of trade. They even go as far as to state that 'good cigars cannot be manufactured in Walla Walla.' This is a silly, ridiculous assertion. The local cigar manufacturers are as honorable as the members of the Association, and their stock is often superior to the foreign-made goods the grocers choose to sell.
“Remove not the mote in thy brother's eye until thou hast plucked the beam from thine own.”
The tension between 'buying local' and the convenience of global supply chains remains a central feature of Walla Walla's civic identity. While the industry has shifted from cigars to wine, the argument remains the same: does a business truly support the community if its supply chain bypasses local producers?
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