Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1894-09-26
Hon. s. s. Turner's Speech in Harrison
burg.
HARD TIMES. SUGAR. WOOL.

HARD TIMES, SUGAR, WOOL.
On Monday of last week there was a
joint discussion between Robert ].
Walker the Republican candidate for
Congress in the 7th district, and Hon.
| S. S. Turner, the Democratic candi-
date. We copy from the report of the
Register portion of the able speech
made by Mr.. Turner as follows =
| Then addressing himself to Mr..
| Walker, he said that gentleman had
simply done what all of them are doing
talked about hard times" Because
the democratic party is in power at
this time does not prove that that
party is responsible for hard times,
any more than that it is responsible for
the forest fires in Nebraska. Up to
August % of this year there was not a
piece of financial legislation on the
statute books for which the democratic
party is responsible The republicans
had been in control for thirty years,
and if legislation brought about these
panics, then the republican party is
responsible for this one. Mr.. Walker
had denounced tariff bill of 60 or 70
pages, and yet he had not quoted a
line or sentence OF the bill. He had
not named a single defect in it. He
had talked about the sugar trust and
read a great deal from other mems
speeches. He said that under the Nc
Kinley bill you had untaxed sugar
There's not a word of truth in it
| Loud Applause. There's not a man
| in this audience who ever saw an ounce
of untaxed sugar. Laughter and ap-
| nj I Thau craua fpQp 1'n2g smear To
the Trust and taxed refined sugar to
the people. Renewed applause. J.
That tax was prohibitory and no re-
fined sugar could be imported IL this
way they gave the Trust a monopoly
of the entire home market. But they
put bounty of cents pound on
raw sugar to the sugar planters. Who
pays that bounty? Why, the tax
payers of this country. The sugar
planter took out a regular license to
grow sugar under the bounty clause,
and in it he agreed not to refine any of
the raw product. This clinches the
grip of Sugar Trust on the American
market, and to day if you have whole
sale grocery firm in Harrisonburg he
must put the price of sugar up or down
just as he receives orders from the
Sugar Trust 10y telegraph, and it has
that power ali over this country.
Now the democratic Congress re-
pealed the bounty altogether, and
struck off one-half the protection on
refined sugar. We did put a tax 90 on
raw sugar and in that way put $40, 900,
are we for the Sugar Trust? By rails
ing this revenue and repeating the
bounty of 100000, we have put
$50, 900, 900 in the treasury, and there is
that much less taxes to be raised from
the people. Mr.. Walker knows moth
ing about sugar. Laughter l don't
profess to know very much about it,
but l will read from a man that knows
more about it than both of us put
together 1t is Henry o. Havemeyer,
President of the American Sugar Re-
| ining Co.-the Trust. In his sworn
testimony before the Senate commit
tee Mr.. Havemeyer tells, reluctantly,
what the Mckinley bill did for the
Trust. Here it is in full
| Senator Allen-Mr Havemeyer, is it
not true that YOU control, that is, the
American Sugar Refining Company
controls the prices of sugar to all the
Louisiana refineries
Mr.. Havemeyer-Direct we do not;
indirectly we do.
| Senator Allen-Through your organi-
zation you do. If you fix the price at
cents for granulated throughout the
United States others obtain it, don't
they? And in that way the price is
controlled.
Mr.. Havemeyer-We undertake to
control the price of refined sugar IN the
| United States That mast be disti7actIg
understood.
| Senator Allen-And the price of re-
fined sugar in the United States is
higher to the American people in con-
sequence of the existence of the Ameri-
can Sugar Refining Company than it
would be if the different companies in
your organization were distinct and
| independent companies
Mr.. Havemeyer-For short time
it is.
Senator Allen-And what difference
does it make for the consumers in this
country in year in your judgment?
| Mr.. Havemeyer-It has been in three
years past three eighths of a cent more
on every pound they ate.
| Senator Allen-And that would be
about how much in round numbers?
| Mr.. Hayemeyer-It is a large sum in
the aggregate.
| Senator Attention. many millions ?
| Mr.. Havemeyer-I should say it was
close to $25, 100000 in three years.
Senator Allen-And you intend TO
keep your hold on the American peo-
pie as long as you can?
| Mr.. Havemeyer-AS long as the Nc
| KinIey bill is there 1Oe shall eTGct that
profit.
Senator Allen-Is that the result of
the Mckinley bill?
| Mr.. Havemeyer-We could not have
achieved it without the Mckinley bill;
but great deal of the profit is due to
these men in consequence of combining
the different interests and the skill and
labor attending it.
I'VE could not have achieved this
| without the Mckinley bill !" and, "As
long as the Mckinley bill is there we
shall exact that profit ~ This is what
my friend Walker calls free sugar
under the Mckinley bill.n Loud
laughter and applause.
They say we harmed the farmer
| when we put wool on the free list
| What was wool worth when the repub-
licans put the tariff up? What brought
| it down to II cents pound under the
Mckinley bill? Why has the price
steadily declined ever since the pas
sage of the Mckinley law. which gave
IL the highest prOtectlOu Tue WORTH
ever saw? Why is it that there are
not to day one-half the sheep east of
the Mississippi River that were in the
country when the Mckinley bill was
passed
| Mr.. Turner here read from the Amer5-
can Wool Reporter figures which
showed that since wool was put on the
free list every grade of domestic wool
had advanced in price, while Australian
wool had declined from 80 to 10 cents.
A computation based on last years
statistics showed that in the single
item of clothing the democratic tariff
would save the people $163, 100000 a
year.
He exhibited samples of foreign
fabrics which had been actually i'm
ported and duty paid, upon which the
new tariff will reduce the price nearly
80 per cent.
| 1t is fact that not dollar of the
tax on production goes into the federal
treasury. 1t is only the tax on con-
sumption that yields any revenue
Therefore the poor man who has a
large family to support may and fire.
| 0uaptIv 6OaS oOntributa moro tn tho