The chronicle of Eger Tobacco Factory

The cigarette factory

THE CIGARETTE FACTORY

Adorján Oltványi was completely alone in the poorly heated first class compartment, on his way home from Budapest. Gloomy thoughts began to weigh on his his mind as he sat reflecting on the day’s meeting with Sándor Fattinger. The head of the Central Excise Office hadn’t had to say much with regard to the future of the Eger factory In the whimsical tobacco markets the cigarette had become king. Fattinger had shot straight from the hip: he was not prepared to dole out money to Eger for the purchase of cigarette-making equipment bang in the middle of an economic depression. But Adorján Oltványi had 600 weighty arguments up his sleeve, namely the futures of the factory’s 600 workers. He could even round this figure up to 2,400, because the factory represented the livelihoods of just that number of people if the workers’ families were included as well. On arriving at Eger railway station, Oltványi proceeded to the factory at once, asked to speak to the MP Mr. Petro on the telephone and then directly afterwards set off on foot to visit His Grace the Archbishop. These two important conversations brought about the due result - the excise office directorate granted permission to the Eger factory to produce cigarettes. This was technology in its stone age compared to the sophistication of the finished product. Since Eger was not given any machines to help them in their endeavours, they were forced to put together cigarettes completely by hand. It would only be a slight exaggeration to say that the time it took to make a single cigarette was slightly longer than the time it took for the consumer to smoke it. But at least Adorján Oltványi could accept his transferral to the Kőbánya factory with an untroubled conscience.