St. Landry democrat., 1886-07-10
The Sugar Tariff and Over
Production.
States.

inenosts of our Government, and While
il contributes nearly fifty millions an
sualiy to it's support, or more than any
other single article imported into the
country. there seems to exist 4 remark
able miSapprehensiOn as To the effect
of tariff legislation ON this very neces-
sary commodity.
In the TALL Of 1883 the price of this
staple was such as to make its cultiva-
ton and manufacture unquestlORably
profitable, even under the d~Isadvanta-
geous contingencies OF floods and
freezes. Unfortunately for our plant
ers, during the following winter, be-
fore the report of the Tariff Commits
Sress. the price of sugar declined near
" two cents a pound, or nearly eight
times as much as the reduction recon-
Clended by the Tariff Commission.
1T certainly was not "hostile tariff
legislation that caused this disastrous
decline: a decline of two cents antici-
pating and following q legislative re-
duction of about One-quarter OF a cent
Of duty. Yet, in the face OF the plain
facts, thousands III Louisiana choose to
charge upon those they falsely call the
free trade d~octrinaires' the blame for
the ruinous depreciation of their pro-
duct, when they were and are not even
remotely connected with it. On the
contrary. it has been the policy of the
true revenue ref0rmers to save the
sugar duties as much as possible on the
strong ground that they come more
strictly under the definition OF a tariff
for revenue than almost any other on
the long list of Federal imposts.
Now, since during the past W years
tariff legislation could not possibly
have affected the value of sugar to the
extent of one-fourth OF a cent a pound,
and it has yet been deprecated at least
two cents, it would be more sensible to
look for the causes for this unfortunate
result than to denounce the Democratic
party, row dominant in the administra-
ton of our Government, for effectlng
an evil Of which it, and its leaders, are
utterly guiltless. \.
The true cause for the depreciation OF
sugars over the whole sugar producing
and commercial world, not only in the
United States, but in every country on
the face Of the globe, for the past two
years has been overproduction, under
the stimulus of government bounties
in the shape Of direct appropriation,
and not in the form of tariff protection
OF beet sugar in Europe. To reduce
the question down to a simple problem
of political economy, in those two years
more sugar was made than was needed
for consumption competing markets
became overcrowded with supplies, and
values, of course, suffered a great re-
auction. :.
Instead of seeking in Washington a
reason for the prevailing low prices OF
this article of and modern
--o.,o&x, - -onla ha haitian Tn 90 half
Say around the world and discover its
cause in the vast fields of the Orient,
lately made capable of development
end accessible, by an immense railroad
system in India and other Asiatic conn-
tries, which have recently become the
immense granaries Of Europe. Not
many years ago Europe grew a large
part of its own grain, and depended
upon America for its Deficiencies.
Twenty years ago when the price of
cotton was at a fabulous figure Ameri-
ca found a formidable rival in British
India in the production of this staple;
and within the past few years, in the
same part of the globe, the same re-
gion has proved a great rival In grain
growing, as our Western farmers know
TO their sorrow. when they sell wheat
for seventy-five cents a bushel, Late
" Europe has procured it's grain SO
cheaply from Asia that she found a
great area devoted to its cultivation
at home could be more profitably de-
voted t the production OF sugar. The
bounty system, inaugurated under the
first Napoleon seventy years ago, was
expanded to increase the cultivation
of beets, until the field of sugar pro-
duction has suddenly been removed
from the tropics and transferred to
the temperate Zoue.
Louisiana is not the only country or
region that has suffered from this
transfer of the sugar sceptre. Cuba
was brought to the verge OF bank
ruptcy by If. and hundreds OF her
planters have been ruined. But, with
the energy born of desperation, she
struggled against fate, and the last
year succeeded in making. IN Of the
largest crops grown on the Island
since the instruction.
While the sugar industry OF this
State must always enjoy the adyan
tages of a tariff commensurate with
the demands Of the governmental
expenses of the country, 1T cannot
reasonably hope to be made the OBJ
iect of special legislation in it's favor.
It's hope lies not only in a fair and
liberal and strictly revenue tariff, but
also in the adoption OF those modes
and methods Of cane culture and sugar
manufacture now in vogue in every
country where sugar is successfully
produced; where consolidated estates,
corporate companies and central fac
tories perform the work that is car,
Tied on here on scattered farms and
plantations by individual effort where
perfected and scientific machinery
manipulate the raw product that we
treat with crude mills and clumsy in
y%enGinns.
The States claims to be as deeply