The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1888-03-08
THE SUGAR WAR.
The Fight in Much Mixed COnd1'
tiOn-The Trust Talks Back.
IS. z. Post. Feb. 25th.l


can be found in San Francisco who has
not theory about the new sugar deal.
They have all resolved to stand by one
or the other refinery, and have hopes, in
a general way, that their profits will be
increased in some manner or other.
The consumers have an idea that they
will get their supplies cheaper than ever
before, and are awaiting reductions IN
prices. Among the leading jobbers the
opinion is that Claus Spreckels must get
into the Trust or fight, and that the lat
ter course is a necessity, because the
American Company is already in the
combination.
Despite the many denials that have
come over the wires, Claus Spreckels is
quietly preparing to go to New York and
carry out the plan he has formed. The
New York refners profess to believe that
Spreckels is conducting gigantic bluff
game, and they ridicule the statement
that he can get any considerable capital
besides his own into what they call
hare-brained enterprise. He has had
conferences with many Of the best known
capitalists in the past week, and has
promises of all the funds he may need
besides his own fighting capital of $15,-
OOO, 900. He stoutly asserts that he will
combat the Trust at any odds or hazard,
and that he has assurances of ample
support from Eastern men, as well as
from this State. To all, he says that he
does not want to go into the Trust, and
will not, and that he is simply beginning
a retaliatory war.
"Well," said a down town grocer to-
day when talking of the sugar deal,
'"those American Refinery people must
have been dreaming to think that
Spreckels would let Their get away with
him so easily as that shaA holder related
in the Post last night. 1t is a case:of Ha
waiian simplicity and San Francisco
folly combined for them to think he did
not foresee the effect of the little arrange
ment they made with the Trust. They
ought to know Spreckels pretty we'll by
this time, and [ guess they will before
they get through with him. What does
Pop Corn Jones know about running
sugar refinery? He has all he can man
age in running his store in Honolulu and
delivering addresses at the Young Mems
Christian Association there. I suppose
he thought that Spreckels would take
back seat as soon as he arrived upon the
scene, and would never dare to carry
the battle right into the enemy's camp.
The Trust will have enough to do to look
out for themselves, without shepherding
the laundry out here. l see that in New
York they ridicule the idea of Spreckels
building a refinery, or going into the
sugar business there. Now, know for
a fact that he will do SO. The move
ment was started here and in the East
simultaneously. The capital already
guaranteed is fully equal is that of the
Trust, and more will be forthcoming, if
necessary. Half of it is put up
here, and that shows what con-
fidence people have in Spreckels
and his management. The rest of the
capital comes from various cities in the
East. It is not from New York alone.
This trust system has become the most
Objectionable feature in the worlds his
tory of trade and commerce, and every
effort should be made to wipe it out of
existence. Here are these Eastern sugar
people, who have for years and years
been decrying Hawaiian sugar and Ha-
waiian planters, hand in hand with the
Kanaka crowd just because it suits them.
Their opposition to the Hawaiian treaty
won't have much effect any more. They
ought to be nearly as much ashamed of
themselves as our Chamber of Com
merce, which wants to enrich the Ka-
nakas and Cinnamon at the expense of
our farmers. Havemeyer says that
Spreckels likes to run bluffs. Perhaps
he does, but the old man is in earnest
now"