Price : American Port Towns	167

did not ship unless they could not dispose of their tobacco in any
other way.

If any of these indigenous traders in die Chesapeake thought of
going into the tobacco shipment business in a large way, they would
immediately have run into a number of difficulties. The most ob-
vious resulted from the effects of the English Acts of Trade and
Navigation, which required diat all tobacco had to be exported
either to Great Britain or to other British colonies in America; in
fact, over 99 percent was shipped to Great Britain. Demand for
Chesapeake tobacco was quite limited in the Caribbean owing to
the small populations there and to the availability of much-esteemed
tobaccos and snuffs from Cuba, Venezuela, and Martinique, not to
mention the substantial production of Brazil. Thus, small men in
the Chesapeake area could not start out in tobacco exporting on a
modest scale to the West Indies or southern Europe as small dealers
in fish, flour, or provisions did elsewhere.

If the indigenous merchant in the Chesapeake thought of sending
tobacco to Britain, the only available market, he would of course
have to compete with British merchants already in the trade. Tliis
was most difficult for a variety of reasons, (i) When die tobacco
got to Britain, about 15 percent—the best in quality—was retained
for home consumption, while the remaining 85 percent was re-
exported, primarily to France, the Low Countries, and Germany.
Before sale, the tobacco had to be carefully examined and graded
according to type and quality; certain types and qualities could use-
fully be sold promptly for die ready cash that merchants always
needed, others were best held back until the right buyer came along.
These were difficult decisions to make three thousand miles away
and left one uncomfortably dependent upon one's correspondent.

(2) Tobacco was very heavily taxed in Britain—200 to 300 percent
ad valorem. Even though tobacco reexported recovered the taxes
after 1724, deposits had to be made and bond for the duties given.
Giving and discharging bonds was a rather technical business and

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required finding others to sign one's bonds as sureties. All this
created cash-flow and credit problems for new firms in the trade.

(3) The goods sent out from Britain to America in return for the