The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-02-07
THE SUGAR TRTsT.
The esteemed Journal comes to the
relief of the sugar trust as follows:

The esteemed Journal comes to the
relief of the sugar trust as follows:
The thousands Of men in BROOKLYN
and. other cities who worked in the sugar
refineries are entitled TO sympathy for
the free sugar proposition of the Wilson
bill, which will interfere with their en-
ployment, but the sugar trust which
runs the refineries and which took
millions out of the people before the Nc
kinney law, and recently practically
withheld sugar from the markets, de-
serves no pity.
This, it will be observed, is the same
defense that is made for all the protec-
ton robbers Protection is not for them.
but for their unfortunate employees. It
is presumable that this is inspired by
the recent statement Of Mr. Havemeyer
that the American sugar refining COM
pany Ghe trusO will have to go out of
business. IT should be remembered.
speaks ffgurativcly. and that the price
of sugar stock has already revived from
the drop and is standing about where
it did when sugar went on the free list
More probably Mr.. Havemeyer means
that the trust can no longer pay such
high dividends on its $50, 100000 of
capitalization of property which experts
pronounce to be worth 10000 600 Last
year the trust paid % per cent on its
$4,000 OOo OF common stock, which is dis
titled water. The st. Louis GIobe-Demo-
crat, which is a somewhat wiser protec-
ton organ than the Journal, said on
Wednesday:
1t will be well. therefore. for the coun-
try TO prepare itself for tales of disaster
TO the refining industry if the Wilson
bill passes in its present shape. Some Of
the tales have started already. Brook
lyn's board of aldermen protesting
against the placing of refined sugar on
the free list The refining interest in
that city and throughout the country.
so the board says, will be "annihilated''
il the duty he removed. That body,
however. will be quickly made to under
stand that the refiners forfeited all claim
to protection when they entered into
trust and made an assault on the laws
of trade and the laws of the land They
have organized themselves into mo-
nopoly to stamp out all competition and
10 control the market by means which
and prejudicial to good government.
Being compelled in one instance to dis
solve they obtained a charter in a
different state from the one in which
they effected their first organization, and
have been successful since then in dodg-
ing the law.
1t further calls attention to the fact
that several years ago Mr.. Havemeyer
informed several members of congress
that if he was given free raw sugar he
wanted no protection, xnd that the
American refiner could meet the compe-
tition of the world. This is true beyond
question so far as anything like legiti-
mate profits are concerned. The sugar
trust is not interested in legitimate
profits, however Mr.. Warner showed
that very conclusively in the house, a
few days ago, and the Journal of Com
merce and Commercial Bulletin, a con-
sentative trade journal, taking up the
subject, proved the same facts by figures
from the Sugar Trade Journal. 1t says:
This is the record: what does ii mean?
1t means that for eight years of free
competition among the refiners the
margin of profit was steadily reduced
the total reduction being nearly one
half. The trust was organized and the
refiner's margin was nearly doubled for
two years. The great profits made then
stimulated the Independent refiners, and
the effect of competition was to reduce
the profit. The outside rehners were
brought into the combination or forced
out of business, and the market was
again forced up and kept moving in an
upward direction. This record sub
stimulates everything that Mr.. Warner
charged against the trust. With compe-
tition suppressed. and the whole pur-
pose of the trust is to suppress cOmpe-
tition, the refiner's profit is about double
what it was reduced to under free com>
petition.
The sugar trust is one of the vilest
mOnopolies in the entire country, and
If it makes any reduction of the wages
Of its men it will simply be in continu-
ance Of the policy of highway robbery
which it has successfully practiced on
the country for some years past