Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-14
sucAR-GRowINe as AN INDUSTRY

sults of which cannot be foretold with GER
tainty. Just now there is disposition to
declare that it will result in domestic
product equal to the entire consumption in
the United States. 1t remains to be seen
whether this will be the result. Specula
ton on the subject is little better than
mere guess work.
As soon as the ports of the United States
are opened to free sugar, new factor Will
set up. Bearing in mind that the ad va
loren rate was from 1895 to l0S.69 per
cent. of the value of the article, and the
extent of the encouragement OF lmporta-
ton now offered will at once be perceived.
Admitting the sugar of the world free
may have the effect of killing the entire
industry of the United States. The bounty
to be paid should be equal to the differ
ence between the cost of producing the
article in this country and in the countries
entering into competition with our do
nestle production. The question, there
fore, is, will this bounty Offset the cheap
labor of Germany, the better climatic ad-
vantages of the West Indies and other
sugar-producing countries of the world ?
Another question is, will the admission of
sugar free into America encourage its pro-
duction in Brazil, or generally encourage
its production where cane sugar may be
grown economically?
The payment of the bounties offered I'M
der the Mckinley Act is another thing
which will have to be looked to very care
fully. The producer of sugar, under the
laws, to be entitled to the bounties shall
have filed prior to January LIST of
each year with the Commissioner
of Internal Revenue, a notice Of
the place of production, with a general
description of the equipment and the
methods employed by him, with careful
estimate of the amount of sugar he pro-
poses to produce in the coming year, and
the number Of maple trees to be tapped,
in the case of maple sugar; also an appli-
cation for license to so produce, to be
accompanied by bond conditioned that
he will faithfully observe all the rules and
regulations that shall be prescribed for
such manufacture and production of sugar.
The Commissioner of Internal Revenue,
upon receiving the application and bond,
shall issue the license asked for, designat-
ing what kind of sugar is to be produced;
but the license shall not extend beyond
one year from its date. The Commissioner
of Internal Revenue, with the approval of
the Secretary of the Interior, shall from
time to time make rules and regulations
for the manufacture of sugar, and under
the direction of the Secretary of the In
terror, shall exercise supervision over all
manufactures. And for the payment of
the bounties, the Secretary of the Treas
ury is authorized to draw warrants for
such sums as may be necessary, when GER
titled to by the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue.
The measures thus outlined involve the
appointment of large number of agents
in the Internal Revenue Department. 1t
will expand the Internal Revenue equip
ment of the United States many fold. As
originally presented to the House, the bill
contained no provision furnishing any one
who would knowingly refine, or aid in re-
fning sugar imported into the United
States, but the Senate amended the bill by
providing that any person knowingly re-
filming or aiding in refining any sugar
upon which bounty has already been
paid, or applied for, or any person not en-
titled to bounty, who shall apply for or
receive the same, shall be guilty Of a mis-
demeanor and upon conviction thereof,
shall pay fine not exceeding $4,000 or be
imprisoned for period not exceeding five
years, or both, at the discretion of the
Court.
Thus there is a penalty fixed for claim
ing bounty on sugar manufactured out Of
the country, but that will not prevent
frauds being practiced any more than the
penalties attached to frauds on the
revenue at the present time can prevent
them from being pract;ced. A very large
portion of the sugar imported into the
country will be so mixed with the do
mestic article that the Government will
paying a bounty on the imported
article. From the very outset, therefore
this false factor will run through the
ledger account of home production. The
bounty on the production Of domestic
sugar is also a bounty equal to $40 per ton
upon any frauds which may be practiced,
and the onl safeguard against these
frauds is the vigilance of the Collector of
Internal Revenue. 1t viii not be long be-
fore sugar importing rings will be formed
and systematic attempts inaugurated to
deliver this bounty on sugar to foreign
production.
As to the beet sugar industry. beet
sugar may be prQftably grown almost any,
Tnere south OF the ONO river. Up u
this time, the production Of beet sugar
in this State has been Improbable. The
experiment of enterprising citizens Of this
State and the failure of that experiment
is still fresh in the minds of many and
the bounty of $40 per ton upon sugar may
encourage the growth of the sugar beets,
but the problem still to be solved viii be,
can sugar be produced abroad for two and
one and three-quarters cents per pound
less than the cost Of lis production in the
United States? If it can, the imported
article, on which no duty has to be paid,
viii stand upon equal footing with the
domestic product, and if it should prove
that there is margin under this head in
favor of foreign sugar, the market will be
given over wholly 10 the foreign article.
Whoever, therefore, predicts any re
vival of sugar production must be pre-
pared to show that they have completely
mastered all the real factors of the prob
lem, and must be prepared to answer
definitely and specifically all questions re.