The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1890-03-13
OUR AMERICAN LETTER.
The American sugar Refinery shut
Down.-A Receiver Appointed
The situation Disrasstd
SAN FRANcIsco, Feb. 2s.

NAN fRANClsCO, req. 20.
The budget of general news might
be made very heavy, but there is
not much on the whole that would
interest Hawaiian readers. AS you
are likely to enter somewhat largely
upon irrigation works on Oahu and
other islands, involving the con-
struction of dams for storing water,
the collapse of the Walnut Grove
dam in Arizona may probably he an
exception. This dam was built at
cost of 5000, 900, and was intended
to catch and retain the water from q
drainage area of $50 square miles,
but it collapsed suddenly few days
ago and, as in the JOhnstown dsas-
ter, the flood swept everything be-
fore it. The water travelled down
the narrow valley at the rate of
forty miles an hour. One hundred
lives are known to be lost, but the
conditions of settlement were such
that the actual number cannot he
ascertaincd. The collapse of the
dam was owing to sudden pressure
of water caused by cloudburst,
although from the faulty cOnstruc-
ton and dishonest work in part, its
destruction was only question of
time. This dam was described in
the January number of Scribner,
and was one of the largest works of
the kind in the country. AS the
Hawaiian group is subject to the
sudden precipitation of large guam
titles of rain great care should he
taken in the construction Of dams
both in regard to the character of
the work and the plans upon which
it is done, if similar accidents are
to be avoided.
THE AMERICAN SUGAR REFINERY
is again in difficulty. Judge Wal
lace appointed II receiver on the
18th, with orders to wind up the
business in the interest of the own
ers of the property. Senator Pat.
Rcddy, q prominent lawyer, was
named receiver, and he at once fur
nished bonds and took possession.
The trust officials refused to recog-
nize his right, but the. receiver lost
no time in making them understand
his position. He instructed the
New York superintendent of the re-
iinery to stop operations as soon as
the sugar in process of manufacture
was finished, so that there should
be no waste, but the superintendent
kept on melting sugar as if nothing
had happened. Receiver .Reddy
"fred him." and put the superin-
tendent of the Alvarez beet refinery
in charge. Since then there has
been no sugar refined by the Anne
rican company, and no man can tell
when any more will be.
But the trust dies hard. Upon
the new manager going in,o posses
sion the trust lawyers, Wilson &
Wilson, applied to the Supreme
Court for writ of prohibition adj
dressed to Judge Wallace and the
receiver, directing them not to in
terfere with the business of the re-
finery until the Court had decided
the case of the People VS.. The Anne
rican Sugar Refinery Company on
appeal from Judge Wallace's de-
cisiOn. The writ was issued late in
the afternoon of the 10Th, but it was
too late to lie effective. Orders
had been already given to stop SUI
gar making. The result has beer
that the trust, by this writ, tied uI
the refinery and prevented the re-
ceiver carrying on refining if hi
were 80 minded, because he coul(
not order q renewal of work. Two
hours sooner and the refinery woult
at least have kept on making sugar
to March sd, the date when the wri
was made returnable.
Having overshot the mark on this
point another plan was tried. Th'
Chronicle got up sensational articles
about sugar famine and the DANCE
of a Spreckels monopoly. Inter
views were had with Tillman ant
Bendcl, Albert Mares & Co., ant
other stockholders and brokers TO
the American refinery, all of whom
declared that they could not get su
gar to supply their customers, tina
they must send East for it, and that
Messrs. Spreckels would not sell i
to them although they admitted the!
had not tried whether they woult
or not. None of them had deal
with the California Refinery fol
years, but they knew just how i
would he if they should apply
They did not tell why they though
it hopeless to apply to Messrs
Spreckels, because that would have
been n dead give-away. However
the reason may well be told. Class
Spreckels refused to give large buy
crs any advantage over small buy
ers, treating all his customers alike
The American refinery gave an al
vantage equal to / per cent. to fe,
large buyers who had the insid
track, and it is these men who, hav
ing lost this advantage and are un
able to control the jobbing trade
join in the cry of sugar famine
Major Bendcl is known in Honolulu