The evening world., 1888-02-06
THE MONOPOLY'S TENTACLES.
HOW THE SUGAR TRUST sQUEEzEs THE
SHIPPING INTERESTS.

Tho Efforts Of the Giant Combination %
Control the shipments OF Raw Sugar and
Bear the Freights-The Long TentacIes
of the Sugar Trust-EGect of tho Monop-
oily Upon the 'Longshorcmon.
Everybody is delighted" said o we'll
known Brooklyn shipper to a ~reparter to-
day, with the splendid fight The EVENING
WORLD is making against the Sugar Trust
monopoly, and we hope it will continue TO
expose its infamous operations. There Is
nothing like letting in a little light into o
conspiracy of this kind to break it up. There
is an interesting point connected with the
secret workings of the Trust which I have
not yet seen b~rought.out. 1t is important
because it not only affects the shipping inter-
ests of the port very materially, but also the
welfare of a large class of the working
people.
1T affect the shipping interests in this way.
Captains of vessels from this port to any Of
the sugar ports of South America are almost
always sure to find themselves forestalled by
agents of the Sugar Trust, who have control
of a great part of the sugar not only in store.
but on the plantations. They are completely
at the mercy of these men, for there is moth
ing but sugar for the vessels to carry back to
New York, and the Trust can dictate in many
instances the amount of freight that shall be
be charged.
Instances have occurred where, this hav-
ing been settled, the agent compels the cap
tain to sign an agreement whereby the Sugar
Trust of New York shall have twenty-ope
days lay order This means that when the
vessel arrives here the captain must notify
the Trust of the fact, and If it does not want
to receive the cargo at the time the vessel can
be compelled to remain III port three days
without unloading. The loss occasioned by
this delay has to be borne by the ship. This
is sometimes avoided by anchoring in some
out-of-the-way place until the Trust signifies
its willingness to receive the cargo and desig-
mates the place where the cargo is to be un-
loaded. All this, as one can naturally see,
has a tendency to drive trade in sugar away
from this port instead of bringing it here.
But this is not where the shoe is pinch
ing hardest. Since the Trust went into oper-
alton the Brooklyn warehouses. where almost
until it was wanted at the refneries, have
been abandoned by the sugar vessels, prin-
cipally on account of these lay orders. Tho
hundreds Of 'longshoremen who were en-
ployed in unloading the sugar from the
vessels and then reloading into lighters when
it was needed by the refinerIes, have been
thrown out of employment. and the sugar
docks, which once presented a scene of busy
activity, are now deserted. Among the
families of those who depended for their
livelihood on what they could mako at the
sugar docks there is want, and some serious
cases of restitution have come to light. The
men cannot readily obtain employment else
where because at the other docks the force OF
'longshoremen is sufficient to do all the work
required. Their work was in q certain sense
a speciality, and. being deprived of 1t, it Is
not easy for them to find othe rmeans of sub
sistence, especially at this season of the year.
This is a case where the operations of the
monopoly directly affect the working classes
by depriying them of employment, and on
this account the business ought to receive q
thorough ventilation in the newspapers."