Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1894-09-29
LEGISLATION ON SUGAR.
How Republican laws Have Robbed the
pro>'a.


- y,,h.d the
How kepuohcah 'N"S
feof-a
There has been so much Tepunhcan mis5ep,
reSentation Of the new sugar scheuu'e am = y
much enort 20 confuse tEe p"p'e 90 ara
is no wonder that some ere snrprlSeu 10 "a,
that the sugar schedule OF the tatil Io,us' -
isa distinct aud emphatic triumph - =
reform. The beat way TO explain tHV '"e"N
tariff IS to tell the story OF sugar iett,''''o
There are three stages OF sugar Ies.>,stu
the republican stage before tio "aa,
the stage Of the Mckinley hiII anu tns 80 -,
new stage OF the deinocralic t'tu' a. 80
The sugar tarin peiore tho ''Vnili,'
a So-called revenue larlu On ~ .ata3
into the United states II ""N a.
scale Of duties, rising with 'ne qU~i''S " 80 ~
Of the sugar. Inc average u"'' ""'
cents per pound.
These duties, whle Vu'eHS ~ l,t.i
aoteu hS II very hish nas n,,u1arlv
ana sugar sro"e'S' "a -" o,,tre ,e,tnrc
supposed 'oue tuou ~ in the hin that
lhere WIS NJ Hh"oul.," -. ,ro sut.ur -
there WIS any p'o'e'VioI :" ,t11,r /, nm,
liners lherc was noNe,oi' nn,.ttcol nm
scheduie oil sf"uua'cu u.tV " !, a,nounted
teetloh TOT the renuei' io ~ mo-, nubIi,
TO was not suheralS hN'S"L n,o.haIf cent a
prupei", A. ""o p ; ,,as there. II was
Pun" ~ ttt,a srs,sn ~ tho reDab-
- n.a,oot rasners and surnr farm
.to"" pal.S ,H rr som ,ha Ave. stare NJ the sugar
tariff.
Now comes the Mckinley bill me repuo-
ltcan party, when 1t went into power AFTER 1915
found the government In the possession OF u
very large revenue. II had a-huhdred mllllohS
of dollars n year surplus. Inc repupIcahs
saw that that was u temptation to the people
aud to their enemy, the democratic party TO
cut down the protective tariff because as lhe
government had more money than IL wanted,
it was perfectly natural that 1t should cut down
the taxes, and first of all the protective larlH
taxes. To remove that temptation ana protect
protection the repuolloahs theh III pow.
up their minds TO wipe out the surplus HIst ny
largely increasing the expenditures '" w
government by raising lhe eApehul'"ioo W II
bllllon-dollar figure; but that they dld no1
think enough, so they also cut Gown the lh-
come Of the government by cutting on the
revenue part Of the tariff ON sugar soo'ooo"" a
year. They wanted to destroy the surplus ana
create n deficit, and they actually turned Il
surplus Of $780, 0,0 900 into Il deficit OF
S10,UO0,0OO SO as to remove the temptation OF
the people to cut down protective taxes.
But they did not want to injure the protec-
tive feature of the sugar schedule. They did
not want to take off the protection to the re-
Guers. Mark. however. THAI the situation In
the refining business had changed. We did not
make much objection to this protective duty in
the old time. partly because most people know
nothing about it, and partly because at that
time refining was free and the competition
among retlners was very keen and kept prices
down. But before the Mckinley Dill went mo
operation that had been changed, The colnpe-
titiol had ceased, and the sugar trust hau
risen up and made refining a practical mohop-
oily. The Mckinley people wanted to give the
trust a big protective duty on.sugar, but they
did not want the government to get any rev
enue out OF the sugar, and the consequence
was that the Mckinley bill arranged lhat al
raw sugar coming into the country should
come in tree, but no refined sugar or Su&aF
That could compete with mat prouuceu ny 'Ho
trust could CONT III lree'
Mckinley gave the trust the advantage Of
free raw material, then highly protected the
trusts product. He gave the free sugar to the
trusts and the protected sugar to the people
Refined was taxed one-half a cent a pound ana
one-tenth Of a cent extra II 1t came from Ger
LiVhS Va LIuHN'' va IA bANNAl N"'N
tries paid bounties to their sugar growers. But
while this arrangement provided well for the
trust, the removal Of the duties on raw sugars
took sway the protection Of Louisiana sugar
growers, This led to that extraordinary feat
ure of the Mckinley bin creating a bounty of
two cents u pound on all sugar raised by the
farmers Of Louisiana, Nebraska, California
and Vermont, 1t was the first bounty ever
created In America, and 1t Will doubtless be
the last. So that was the situation in the Nc
Kinney bill. The Mckinley bill made the sugar
the history of the country and created q bouu-
ty system. Sugar was now openly protected.
There was a straight-out duty Of a half cent
per pound on refined sugar.
Now, how did the republicans represent this
action to the people? They went before the
country with the cry OF free sugar when they
had only made free the raw material Of the
trust, and when they had given protection OF
half a cent or six-tenths per pound, which the
people had to pay. They sought to carry the
election Of 1892 on the theory offree sugar when
for the first time In the history OF this country
they had made sugar an openly protected arti,
ole, and that for the benefit OF the sugar trust
alone. The reason the people were'deceived
was their unwillingness to believe that a great
party would deliberately deceive them by such
u statement, but that is what the republican
party did. They we're aided in their deception
by the lower price Of sugar. AS two and one
half cents revenue duty had been taken of
sugar, of course the market price of sugar was
lower. Notwithstanding the fact that the neo.