Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1891-07-25
THE SUGAR BOUNTY.

applications For $1,000, 0,0O0-Enormous
Sums For the Sugar Planters-How Uncle
SANS Millions VIII Be Divided-Where
Does the Wheat Grower Come In?
The applications for the sugar bounty
filed at the internal revenue Office in
New Orleans offer some highly inter-
esting figures for the taxpayers who
must pay that bounty. The number Of
applications filed is $50, but these rep
resent only 56s individuals or COM
panies, since some planters own several
plantations and separate application
must be made for each. These 56S per-
sons expect to produce 1,030, 500
pounds of raw sugar, and they are ask
ing Uncle Sam to pay them bounty
of s11, 2O6, 100 on it,
II this amount is allowed, each plant
er will pocket the neat little sum of
nearly $40, 000 This will be the aver
age of all; but an astonishing result is
reached by taking the seventeen larg-
est planters, who propose to make each
an average of 5000, 900 pounds or more
These seventeen men ask for bounty
of 50, 1856, 72O, an average for each per-
son of $3.50
There are 1852 persons who expect to
I"maase frosp Loo. go 10 4, COO, 900 pounds
each, and they ask for bounty Of 81,
779,2S0, or an average to each man of
S35,670. Next come 26S planters who
want a free gift from Uncle Samuel of
So, 7S0, 900, which means $40, $50. Finally
come the small fry to the number of
121, asking for slO3, $40, or 1867 per fry.
Omitting the small fry, there remain
in the first three classes 447 persons.
and the average bounty asked for by
them is about SIS, 900.
The beauty of this thing, from the
standpoint of the planters, is that the
billion congress fixed this bounty for a
period of fifteen years. If the people
should submit to this tax so long the
Louisiana planters will in that time
make away with about S16S, 900, 600 of
money wrung from the payers Of tariff
and other taxes, This makes no allow
ance for the increased product IN, which
is sure to follow in the next few years,
in order to get the bounty. When we
get through with this bounty business
it will undoubtedly be found that not
less than 5000, 10000 has gone into the
pockets of the sugar planters.
But why this bounty to the planters?
Do they add anything more to the pub.
lie wellbeing than the growers of
wheat? The price Of the best centrif-
ugal sugar in the New York markets
is now 325 cents pound, while the
Chicago price OF wheat is 81 cents a
bushel. At these prices bushel of
wheat is worth 27 pounds of sugar.
Uncle Sam, therefore, makes present
of 52 cents to the sugar planter for pro-
ducing 27 pounds of sugar, while the
farmer, who produces an equal value in
wheat gets no bounty at all, but on the
contrary must chip in his portion of
tariff taxes to pay the sugar man his
fat bounty.
This thing is not right, however well
it may fit in with protectionist ideas of
taxation, Uncle Sam has no money
except what he gets from the people
themselves in taxes and every penny
that he pays the sugar grower must
come from the pockets of men who grow
other things. The sugar bounty is a
piece of class legislation, of favoritism,
which shows exactly the nature of pro-
lection itself Itrobs ninety-fve men
out of every hundred for the benefit OF