The Forrest City times., 1891-04-24
THE SUGAR TRUST,
IT WILL NOT REVEAL ITS SE-
 CRETS.

A Fruitloss investigation - Tho Trust
 and Its Profts-How It VIII Flourish
 Under nlsytsm-Millions for Mo- nopoly.
 A committee of the New York Legis- lature has been trying to investigate the sugar trust, but the president or that great monopoly, as well as others connected with it, was as dumb as an oyster to the most important questions put to him.
 In the meantime, some facts are known about the trust which Will snow the people what this tariff monopoly has been costing them. The trust was or Ranized in November, 1887, and there are about ten refineries in it, besides six independent companies.
 How the trust put up prices In granu- lated sugar may be seen from the fact that while 1t sold granulated sugar In 1sS6-S7 at an average of 69 cents per 100 pounds higher than the best raw sugar, the average in 1SSs-S9 was $1. "A < higher.
 The wel-recognized cost of refining sugar, including all expenses per ton above the cost of the raw sugar, IS $l4, or S of cent per pound. Mckinley put duty of 1S cent per pound on re- fined sugar to protect the trust against the lower wages of foreign countries, the protection being thus almost equal to the entire cost of refining. The diff ference between 96 centrifugalS and granuiated in 1886 and 1887 was S15. 635 and $l5.344, respectively. so that the profits O., refining sugar in those two years were $1.635 and S1 344 per ton. But in 1888 and 1889 the differences amounted to S27. s2 and a2s.044, and the profits of refining per ton were Sl3 s2 and $l4. 044, respectively.
 In 1888 the sugar trust" produced 72.7 per cent. of the refined, and the in dependent refneries 27.3 per cent, while in 1889 the sugar trust" produced 65. : per cent and the other retneries 34. 3 per cent. The total United States pro duction of refined sugar in 1888 was 1,457, 264 tons, of which the trust" pro duced 9s7,570, on which it made proht of $13,64S,217.4o The independent re- fineries produced 371, ,sS6 tons at profit of $5, 139, 465. 52. So that the total profit of the sugar refncries in 1888 amounted to SIS, 7S7, 6s2 92.
 In 1889 the sugar trust refined 963, ,3o5 tons at a profit of SIP, l26, 255.42, and the independent refiners produced 450,- SS0 tons dt d pIUHt Oi To,o"o, 'oo, thdS making the total profit of sugar rein- ing in the United States in 1889 S1S,- 449, ,602. so.
 Such were the operations of the sugar trust during it's first two years. It earned 274 per cent in 1888 and 24. per cent. in 1889 on it's nominal capital ization of $50, coo, 900, over two-thirds of which is water At the recent investi- gation in New York it was testified by the trusts lawyer that one factory worth $3O0,O0O went into the trust and got S3, SOC, GOO as it's share of stock On it's real valuation the profits for 1888 were over 92 per cent, and for 1889 80 per cent Every cent of the profits of sugar refining in the United States in 1888 and 1889 above fair profit was taken from the consumers of sugar in this country in the form of an indirect bounty that could mover have been squeezed from the people of this country had sugar boen upon the free list.
 Now that raw sugar is on the free list, refined sugar has fallen about cents a pound; but the trust still has it's half a cent per pound protection. Even hali a cent per pound on q million tons, which the trust can turn out in year, amounts to $1O,OoO, 900. The trust still haS a o0Od thine