The Saint Paul globe., 1896-12-10
AFTER MORE "sUGAR.,

AFTER 2OEtE "SOOAS
If the country has had one assertion
more than another dinged into it's pa
tient ears for two years it is that all
the country needs is more revenue. 1t
was not the endless chain at al that
drained the treasury of it's gold, it was
the deficient revenue. There would
have been no bond issues if there had
been money enough in the vaults to
meet the expenditures Of a congress
generous with the money of other oeo-
pie We notice that our Louisiana ex-
changes are quite of the same mind
with those who have been thus assur-
ing the country, but they no longer
dwell on the need Of coming silver as
a remedy. With a diSintereStedness
that is charming they suggest that the
only proper source from which to draw
the increase of revenue is a tax Oh i'm
ports of sugar.
1t is unfortunate. perhaps, that sugar
is what Hancock would call a local
issue down in the land Of the cypress
and mosquito, for the added profit it
would be to that industry to have TIE
impost raised tends, in jaundiced
the suggestions of our contemporaries
of the Pelican state. This does them
injustice. 1t may be true that the
lords Of the plantations might reap
gain if the sugars of Cuba and Ger
many were taxed yet more, but what
is their trif1e of advantage compared
with the great gain to the nation if
it's sweets are relieved from the bane
and the nastiness of cheapness? It is
this broad, public view that inspires
this suggestion. and only little minds,
incapable of focusing their cameras on
anything but petty objects. see nothing
in it but the gain of few sugar plant
ers.
Our neighbors at the delta are not
without hopes. There is the senator
from Ohio and New York. who says
that he, Senator German, and sundry
others who are senators because they
are rich or rich because they are SEN
ators," are willing to join with the
other protectionists in passing a tariff
bill, and the whole country knows what
a sweet tooth these senators have. They
held up the Wilson bill until it was
sweetened to their taste, and there is
no reason to believe that their appe-
tite for things saccharine is a whit
less sharp than it was two years ago.
In fact it may be presumed to be more
eager than then because unappreciative
constituencies have put the senators on
the free list. Sympathizing with the
planters and the senators and, doubt
less, ready to aid them, but maintain
ing a prudent silence, is that little
group of humanitarians who have done
their best to put into practice the eco
nomics of the president-elect and the
president-ex by preventing the sugar
consumers of the country from being
infected with sugar that was nasty
because it was cheap. Rude people,
reckless of speech, call these latter "the
trust" but they console themselves
with the thought that the saints were
all reviled before sanctification.
In view of the walls from the cane
fields with which we have been regaled
since the bounty was removed, it was
quite indiscreet for that sugar planter
to tell the G / o b e's correspondent, as
narrated in the Sunday issue, that he
could make sugar as cneaply as it Is
made anywhere in the world, and it
was very inconsistent in him to tell
him also that the or cents a pound
he gets for the sugar did not pay the
cost Of running the mills. Shallow rea-
soners will argue If he can make sugar
as cheaply as it is made anywhere in
the world and is losing money, it fol-
lows either that all the sugar makers
in the world are working for nothing,
or that our correspondents informant
did not tell the truth. These little con-
tradictions- should be all carefully edit
ed out before the sugar lobby make
their biennial assault on congress.