The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1888-04-24
THE
SUGAR..
SAN FRANCIsCo.

SAN FRANCISCO, April 9TH.
The news of interest to Hawaiian
residents from this point is not very
exciting. There is lull in the agi-
tation against the Eastern Sugar
Trust, but it is certain to be resum-
ed very speedily. "War to the
knife" has been declared by Col
onel Spreckels and the Trust, and
the evidence, or rather statement,
of the California "Sugar King" be-
fore the House Committee on Trusts
has been regarded as such declara-
tion throughout the country. 1t
was manly, straightforward state
ment of fact and opinion, and very
greatly disconnected the Havemeyer
Trust interest. They thought Col
onel Spreckels' journey East, and
talk about sugar refinery there,
was 'bluff." SO did many of the
Island planters and merchants but
as matter of fact the attempt to
"bluff'' was by the other side.
"When any one tries to bluff me,
said the level-headed Californian,
81 make him show his hand. "a
reference to the national game OF
draw poker), which was highly APP
preciated by the committee. The
questions put to Colonel Spreckels
by the Trust attorney were very
weak. They simply afforded him
an opportunity to ''knock them
cut, which he did in Zone round"
The situation is now clearly de-
fined. Colonel Spreckels has bought
site at Philadelphia for $500, 900
cash, and his draughtsman are en-
gagged preparing plans for the inte-
rior of the refinery, white architects
are at work on plans for the build
ing. The refinery will cost So, ,0OO,-
600, which money is also to be
found by Colonel Spreckels. Local
capitalists subscribed S700,000 as
an inducement to establish the refn-
cry at Philadelphia, bu5 he refused
to accept it. The refinery will be
finished in year. When complete,
it will be, out of all comparison, the
largest sugar refinery in the United
States, and most decidedly better
equipped than any other Eastern
refinery.
The war has thus been carried
into Africa. Meanwhile the Trust
will fight the California Refinery
with duty free sugar from Hawaii
on this coast. This is g very dang
erous experiment for the planters
who have given the bitter opponents
of the Hawaiian Treaty control
through the American refinery, o
two-thirds of the Island crop. 1t il
safe experiment for the Trust
who make the planters their tool tt
fight antoher refinery (Which draw
its supplies very largely from th,
Islands, and whose owners spenC
large sums in the employment O
labor, and in commercial operations
between this city and Honolulu espe
cially. And who is the gamer by
this struggle? Not the planters, bu
Havemeyers, Searle & Co., wilt
spent enormous sums TO maintain al
anti-Hawaiian lobby at Washington
in years past.
If it were any other set of people
except the small CLIQUE of short
sighted business men who engineer
ed this Trust deal, to save themselves
as they imagined, from Spreckels
they would have seen at a glanc
where this alliance was likely t,
lead them, They are now tied up
and cannot escape from the Trust
in the management Of which the,
have no voice whatever. They dt
not control or direct its policy
They are simply tools in the hands
OF unscrupulous spectators, anC
are used to tear down one third a
least of the sugar interests of the isl
ands, and damage, if possible, five
sixths of its carrying trade. Have
they considered that they canno
thrive by destroying or weakening
the sugar producing and commercial
interests of the Hawaiian Islands tC
the least imaginable degree? If they
hNhS bOb WIS JOllb. u
sensible men they should set abou
its consideration forthwith.
The planters, or rather the direct,
ors of the American Sugar Refinery
were influenced by one considera,
toe, according to theif own declara-
tion. Having forced a sugar wal
&. on the California Refinery, and find.
ing the fight too hot for them, they
turned to the new-made Trust, and
reasoned thus: "Let us strike hands
with our bitterest enemies, so that
they may bear our losses, and save
us from the consequences of our
own folly, in challenging Spreckels
to war of prices" They had one
object in view, and it las been for
mulated by one of themselves: "If