T ISTEN to the chant of the tobacco auctioneer.' 'Fotteen-a-lee-di-leen-ai, lee-di-leen---qwa-qwa-qwa-qwa-aw-aw---ha-ha-ha-ha-ha ---three-di-lee-di-lee--fifteen-American.' How familiar is this chant to the listeners of a well-known radio program. Yet how many of them could tell if they heard the same jargon at a real tobacco auction that the bid on a pile of tobacco had been opened at fourteen dollars a hundred pounds, that the buyers had raised the bid to $14.2S, to $14.50, to $14.75, and that the tobacco had finally been sold at $15.oo? However unintelligible the song of the auctioneer may be, there are words and phrases used in tobacco trading that are equally mystifying to the layman. The tobacco warehouse that we are about to visit is a onestory building about a block long with a low ceiling pierced by hundreds of skylights. As we pass through the oice leading to the 'floor,' we overhear one grower telling another, 'I jest sold my lugs to a pinhooker this morning and got eighteen a hundred.' One acquainted with the terms would understand that this farmer, in preference to selling his tobacco at auction, had sold it to a speculator at eighteen dollars per hundred pounds. Passing into the warehouse proper, we find truckers 'lining up the floor.' They are moving baskets of tobacco on their duckbills (hand trucks) and are arranging them in rows on the floor of the warehouse. About half a block farther down we see the auctioneer, the buyers, and the clerks in the walkways between the rows of baskets. As we get close by, we hear the auctioneer's chant, and although the buyers say nothing, we know that three or four of them have made bids on the pile of tobacco being auctioned. Each buyer has a signal of his own by which he makes a bid. The blink of an eye, a steady stare, a nod, the lifting of a hand, continual pressure against the body, and sometimes the foot of the auctioneer-any of these may mean a bid. The auctioneer and buyers seldom stop at the basket which is being sold but walk slowly along the row of piles as the tobacco is auctioned off. Perhaps 600 baskets are sold in an hour, although 360 iS the maximum supposedly required by warehouse rules. The starter, the warehouse man in charge of the auction, moves on to the next pile, calls a starting price, and the auctioneer takes up the chant. The buyers pull the pile, that is, tlley draw out hands, or bunches, from the middle of the pile in order to examine the tobacco. As the bidding on