Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1897-08-12
THE SUGAR LIE E
DEMOCRATS MAKE ASSAULTS
ON THE REPUBLICANS.
A Little lnvestignttoa Proves the
Falslty of the Their Claims and
shows the Action OF the Republicans
Decidedly Unfriendly to the Trust.
washington Lottery

subject OF the advance in price of sugar
stock when the tariff bill emerged from
the conference committee and the ac-
ton Of the committee on the sugar
schedule became known, and the fact
that sugar trust stock did actually ad-
vance by great jumps warrants a pre-
~sentation OF the facts, a study of which
will show that the Democrats as usual
have been shouting themselves hoarse
over nothing.
The bill gives to the farmers the
protection on wool and other farm
products which they had asked, the
house rates On first and second class
woods being restored and a highly sat-
isfactory rate 70 the wool sections Of
the mountain states being adopted.
Now as to the sugar schedule: II was
generally conceded when the bill passed
the house that it was not in any way
advantageous to the trust but that on
the contrary it took away from the
trust much of the advantage which ii
had under the Wilson law. Stripped
OF all technicalities the cold facts are
that as the bill left the house the rates
on refined sugar were 1914 cents per
hundred pounds greater than the rates
on raw sugar. OF course the rates on
different grades OF raw sugar were diff
OF any grade which were required to
make a hundred pounds Of refined
sugar 1t was found that the rates were
on an average of 121a cents per hun
dred pounds less than those on refined
sugar. This means that the sugar re-
finers of the country. whether in the
trust or out of it, were allowed a diff
ference OF 12h cents per hundred
pounds or u CT a cent a pound differ
ence between raw sugar when imported
or refined sugar when imported. thus
giving them an opportunity to import
raw sugar at Is Of a CEN a pound less
than the rates at which refined sugar
can be imported. 1t is generally con-
coded that the cost of refining sugar
is not less than about s of a cent a
pound so that the rates really given
to the sugar refiners are simply the
bare difference between refined and un-
refined sugars of the cost of refining.
1t is we'll known that the rates adopted
by the senate were more advantageous
to the sugar refiners but it is a fact
that the rates agreed upon by the con-
ferees made precisely the same differ
ence between raw and refined sugars
that the house bill made when il was
1 ma Gcad |hu thaf hndu Thn annfaranno
report did increase the rates on re-
fined sugar slightly but 1t also in
creased the rates on raw sugar, thus
making the difference in the rate Of
duty between raw and refined, or the
"~differential" as 1t is called, precisely
what the house bill made ii originally,
12k cents per hundred pounds, or ~
OF a cent a pound. But, says the cs-
jector, IL the conference report gave
, to the sugar trust no advantage why
was it that sugar trust stock advanced
during the time that the bill was in
consideration by the conferees and
after 1t was presented to the public?
The answer to this is simple enough.
The sugar trust, knowing that the new
bill would certainly advance the rate
OF duty on sugars as a protection to
American producers, has been bringing
into the country as rapidly as possible,
sugar in enormous quantities, getting
1t in, of course, under the comparative
ly low rates Of the Wilson law. They
have secured the world for sugar and
had in stock by the time the confer
ence report was presented to the public,
I'VE 700 thousand tons of raw sugar,
or, in round numbers, 1,5O9, 600, 900
pounds. Think Of it! Enough g
to load seventy thousand cars, or to
load three thousand, five hundred
freight trains of twenty cars each, or
to make one continuous train over fifty
miles in length. On every pound of this
sugar which they had in stock 1t was
make whatever profit there was be-
tween the tariff rates of the Wilson law
and the increased tariff rates named
by the Dingley law or an aggregate
profit calculated at IL million dollars.
Is 1t surprising that sugar stock went
DIP in view of the fact that this organ
ization would make upon the sugar
which it had brought into the country,
IL million dollars by the mere advance
which the trainers of this bill have
found 1t necessary to make in tariff
rates In order to protect the sugar pro-
ducers of the United States and bring
a revenue to the government? But,
the objector will say, everybody famil-
lar with this subject knew that the
sugar trust had all this sugar in stock,
and since this fact was we'll known this
does not account for the sudden rise
in sugar trust stock which followed
the announcement Of the agreement OF
the conference COMMITTEES. This Is
true. but the explanation of the sudden
advance, which was caused by the
profit thus assured to the sugar trust
through. the enormous stock on hand
Is found in the fact that Secretary
Gage had recommended to congress- the
placing of an internal revenue tax Of
n cent per pound on all unrefned
y cttoor IN TIA Tyntfal Otakao -vkor 49,