Condon globe. (Condon, Gilliam Co., Or.) 189?-1919, 1895-11-01
THE CHINESE SUGARS
Large Quantities Surreptiti'
ously Sold on the Coast.
IT Is BILLED AS MERCHANDISE
But Few People Are aware o: the Dan
ger That Is Threatened From
This Unclean Article.

Tacoma, Oct. 21.-The curiosity o.
the unwary reader is not aroused wher
he sees among other items of cargo re
ported by the agents of the AsiatiC
steamers $500 pkg's merchandise. u
There is tea, silk, spices and 5000
pkg's merchandise
Aren't tea and silk merchandise
Yes; and there is nothing to be con.
cealed in their importation, but with
sugar it is different. Secrecy is the
watchword. The public must not
know that Chinese sugar is being
dumped upon them. Why? Because
the public don't want it.
The steamer Strathnevis, which ar
rived in Tacoma October s, brought in
her cargo $500 pkg's merchandise, "
or 860,0 pounds of Chinese sugar,
and importations of this same secret
'merchandise" since July into Ore
gon and Washington have amounted to
4S,3 bags, or nearly 5000, 900
pounds, valued at nearly quarter of
million dollars.
Where has it all gone? How many
people know they are buying sugar
from the plague ridden Orient, with its
poorly paid and poorly fed labor? The
same secrecy exercised by the importer
is exercised by the grocer and every
one who handles it, and the public be-
comes large consumer of an article
that it knows nothing of and would
not buy if it knew what it was getting.
And yet there has been secretly i'm
ported in the last three months six
pounds of this sugar for every man,
woman and child in Washington and
Oregon.
Why does the r~ocer handle it? Not
single wholesale grocer of any stand
ing in the Northwest does, but some of
the retail grocers in their anxiety to
buy cheaper than their neighbors have
let their ayarice get the best of their
patriotism and good sense. They buy
it because it is cheaper and they can
make two or three cents more on dol
lars worth. Do these grocers sell this
sugar cheaper? Did you ever see in
your grocer's store two bags, one mark
ed American Sugar. and the other
Chinese Sugar." No. They buy it
at an insignificant difference in cost
and sell this 'merchandise" as "sug-
arr at the same price as American sug-
ar. For little extra profit they sell
the public an article that they do not
dare call by name.
Secrecy is the watchword. The pub
lie will not have this merchandise
if they know what it is. Therefore
they must not know what it is.
There are few people who will buy
sugar from plague and vermin ridden
China when they get better article
at practically the same price made at
home, and it is because the public
don't want this product of coolie labor
that it is handled in the dark and sold
in the dark, concealed by the importer
and concealed by the tradesman.
There is probably not one reader of
this article who has not purchased Chi
nese sugar thinking that he was get
ting clean American product made
by American labor. Who reaps the
benefit of the deception?
A few honest grocers here and there
display cards: "We handle American
Sugar Only" Many grocers sell Chi
nese sugar thinking that they are doing
nothing wrong, that it is all right SO
long as the customer does not ask what
he is getting o. specify American sug-
ar. If the customer asks they tell him
it is Chinese sugar, with a very few
exceptions.
Nevertheless, it remains a fact that
this immense quantity of sugar is
dumped in here and sold and no one
ever sees or hears of it.
The American people are protection
lists in theory and in fact and are not
SO inconsistent as to frame laws to
shut out the products of pauper labor,
and they turn around and buy, at prac-
ticaliy no difference in price, an every
day staple food product from the most
poorly paid, the most degraded, the
most filthy labor on the face of the
earth.
Hardly freetrader would be so un.
American as to patronize such products
although he does not believe in keeping
them out by law, and he can well point
his finger Of scorn to any one profess.
ing to believe in protection to Ameri-
can industries who brings to his own
house and family sugar from China.
Suppose the grocer gave his custom
ers the benefit Of the lower price and
gave them one more pound Of Chinese
sugar than of American sugar for one
dollar, few families would save over
thirty cents a year. 1t is ridiculous
and no one will listen to it. Hence
the secrecy. Hence the merchandise "
This is why no grocer will ask you
what you will have, American or Chi.
nese sugar.
Let every American stand for Amer
ican goods. Find out what you are
getting. At least pay for what you
get and get what you pay for. This is