The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-09
TRUST OF THE REFINERS.
The Committee of the House Begins
its Work.

WASHINGTON, March S.-The investiga-
tion into the subject of trusts and their in
fuence upon the price of commodities,
authorized by the resolution adopted by the
House at the instance of Representative
Mason, of Chicago, was formally begun
this morning by the House Committee on
Manufactures When the meeting began
but six of the eleven members of the COM
mittee were present., namely: Messrs. Ba-
con, chairman; Breckinridge, of Arkansas;
Wilson, of West Virginia; Mckinney, of
New Hampshire; Grimes, of Georgia, and
Henry Smith, of Wisconsin.
The investigation began With an inquiry
into the sugar trust.
OF the witnesses subpoened to appear
there were present Theodore Havemeyer,
Henry o. Havemeyer John f. Parsons,
Hugh N. Camp and George H. Muller, of
New York. William H. Morris, of New
York, failed to answer the committees
subpoena.
FORMATION OF THE TRUST.
John E. Parsons, attorney of the sugar
trust, was first put upon the stand, and in
answer to a question as to the mode of
formation of the sugar trust he said there
was deed or agreement which created a
board called the Sugar Refiners Company
He was member of that board by election
to a place held by one of the
original members. He produced a copy Of
the agreement, with the exception that that
part relating to the interest held by the
various members of the board in the Capi-
talization of the company was eliminated
from the copy, as that was regarded as n
private matter, and one which could have
no bearing on the investigation. The board
was composed of eleven persons, and Theo-
dore HaVemeyer had been elected President
The agreement was read. 1t has already
been made public in connection with the
recent investigation of trusts by the COM
mittee of the New York State Senate. Very
little information was elected here that was
not given in that investigation. In reply
to questions as to whether the price of re-
fined sugar had declined since the trust be-
gan, the witness said that if he were com
PEELED to answer yes or no, he should say
no; but he added that while sugar had risen
in London lc. per pound it had only risen
&c. here.
NO BOOKS KEPT.
The trust kept no books. So far, there
had been no dividends, because there were
no profits 1--WE are waiting and are long
ing,n said the witness To an inquiry
whether the board assumed to limit the
production Of any of the corporations in the
trust, the witness replied: mot to my
knowledge. They have not attempted it by
member that the members of the board
represent vast interests in the properties of
all the companies. They meet each
| other constantly, and | have no
doubt that each has a tolerable idea of
the views of the others, and l take it for
granted that they rather adapt themselves
| to the interests of the stockholders than &c
against them.'
Several of the refneries, he said, had been
closed up since the trust went into effect
but the purpose was not to throw the work
men out, as the skilled labor was very nee.
essary to be retained, and one refinery had
actually kept it's entire force under pay
during shutdown.
RESULT OF THE COMBINE.
The practical result of the aggregation OF
| capital, as in this trust, was to steady the
business and prevent an irregular market
| The time during which the Louisiana croI
was being put out had always been period
| of dread to refiners. 1t was necessary al
| such times for Eastern and Northern re
| finers either to shut down or lessen produc
| tiou about 50 per cent, because they were
unable to compete with the Louisiana men
| at that time Under the present arrange
ment this matter could be regulated The
present tariff, he said, really Disseminated
| against the American sugar industry, as the
rate of dnty on raw sugar was higher thar
on refined sugar, thus extending premium
to foreign refners.