The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1878-12-21
THE SUGAR QUESTION.

We have been piled, for several weeks past,
with quite II flood Of documents on both sides
of the sugar question: which, since the recent
Baltimore decision against the sugar retinels,
As daily assuming larger proportions The
most importan' fact established by the l}alt
more litigation was, that whereas under our
tariff laws the duties ON foreign sugars are rat
ed according to their cOl0r, TIE Baltimore rch
ncrS hal the sugars they imported "doctorcd'
before they reached the custom house, so that
they passed as II lower grade, and therefore at
a lower rate Of duty than the tariff law "ontcm
plated. As this practice was not peculiar to
the Baltimore rciinccs, but obtained among
all Of them in every part of the country, the
fact was PLAIN that the government WAS beng
cheated annually out of many millions OF ITS
revenues by these frauds To obviatc their
commission in future, Secretary Sherman asks
congress to change the tariff on sugar SO as
hereafter to have but two gradcs-onc to IN.
cludc all sugars below the present grade No.
l3--that is, to include ali sugars OF less than
"a degrees of saccharinc strength according to
the Dutch standard; the other grade to include
all sugars of higher standard-the duty on
the 1st grade to be . and on the other cents
per pound.
Against this proposition the reiiners are up
IN arms Such duty on sugars which have
heretofore cost them less than . cents pound,
duty included, would, they say, ruin the rein
ing business in this country and transfer II to
the imperfect manipulation of Spanish slave.
labor dependency"
From the little attention we have been able
to give the subject our impression is that the
sugar rcfncrS are in the right. We cast aside
from the start the charge of adultcralion
against the retiners as ridiculous bosh. The
charge Of "doctoring" sugars IN transttu un
doubleday rests on Il better basis; but the rene
dy proposed by Secretary Sherman would be
merciless and runous to one Of tine heaviest
departments of American industry. The con.
sumption of sugar in the United States ut pres
cnt is not less thuu % lbs per capttd, or about
700, 100000 lbs, costing at the retinerics say
$4,000 900 At least half thsvalue is added
to the sugars by the process OF refinement, So
that an industry that pays some SGO,OOO,OOo al
wear to American labor will be virtually eX.
tinculshcd; or, in other words, some 10000
workmcn will be thrown out of employment.
1t is not IA question of tariff taxation and
"pro,cction" Nothing would please theretin-
crs better than to have the sugar tariff entirely
removed and give them Il free competition with
the foreign rcfners. The only question pre-
scented is, shall our tariff on sugar be so levied
as to turn the refining business over to the inn
perfect processes of the Cubans, Porto Rcans,
&c, and ruin our own rehnerics? 1t would
not cheaper sugar to the consumer but rather
increase its cost, while 1t is notorious that the
process of refinement IN Cuba and the West
Indies is SO imperfect that their best clarified"
sugars come to us full of animaculae and 9th,
err impurities that make them both nauseous
to refined taste and unwholeJome. The FREE
TRADERS advice to our congressman, therefore,
is, to stand up for the American relneries!
Snlab