The herald., 1897-06-30
SACCHARINE RICHNESS

The senate Is getting near the end Of
the tariff bill, and in its patched up form
It will go to the conference committee Of
the two houses in few days. In many
respects as we have repeatedly pointed
out, this ley-Aldrich-Allison ct al.
system of duties is fearfully and Won
derfully made. Heretofore we have
called attention to its neglect Of consid-
Grafton Of the interests of the people, and
its careful consideration of the interests
of the trusts which own the Republican
party. Easily the worst Of all the many
very bad features in this bill Is the sugar
schedule. Scarcely at any point could
the interests Of the people be more sue
modify offers so large an opportunity
to a trust to fatten at the peoples ex-
pense.
This nation Of over seventy million
souls is the second largest consumer of
sugar in the world regarded from the
per capita point of view, and far the
largest in the absolute amount of sugar
consumed. England ranks first in per
capita consumption, owing to the fact
that she manufactures so much pre-
serves for the markets of the world
She Is able to more than compete in this
market, because of the cheap price of
sugar in that country. The Importance
of this matter is apparent in California,
where the goods of Cross & Blackwell
might be so easily surpassed in quality
and cost, but for the high price put upon
sugar by the gigantic trust, begotten,
reared and supported by the excessive
protection foisted upon a long suffering
people by the Republican party.
We consume in the United States an
average of 69 pounds for each man. wo-
man and child in the country. This is
nearly four and one-half billion pounds
per year. The consumption of sugar is
increasing much more rapidly than the
population. In fifteen years the in
crease was from 993532 long tons in
1881 to 1,96O.0S6 such tons in 1896. This
increase is at the rate of nearly 6h per
cent per annum. At the same ratio of
increase, at the end Of fifteen years
more, the requirements will be over
four billion pounds.
In 1896 there were refined in this coun-
try 1,72S.S0S long tons, of which the
American Sugar Refining company is
credited with 1,330421 tons. Here is
where we get at the Senegambian in the
pile of wood. Last year only 1882 tons
of foreign refined sugar came into the
country; only 1895 tons were con-
sumed in raw state. independent
refiners turned out S9S,3S7 tons. The
trust made 1886 per cent of all our sugar.
The raw sugar from which these melt
ings" were made came in the shape of
nearly 100000 tons of foreign, cane
sugar, 25ooOO tons OF foreign beet sugar,
2S5,o COO tons of domestic cane, 1000 do
mestic beet, and odds and ends of sor-
ghum, maple and sugar for molasses.
There are three tariff bills which have
been before us within the last ten Years
The provisions of these measures re-
duced to common ad valorem basis
Will shed light on the present situation.
The Mckinley act. passed in 1890, pro-
vided a bounty of ia cents per pound
on all sugar grown and made in the
United States. This law imposed
duty of u cent per pound or all i'm
ported sugar above No. 16 Dutch
Standard, and a countervailing duty of
lilo of a cent additional on all sugar
from country paying an export bouptv
The original Wilson bill repealed the
bounty clause OF the Mckinley act. But
the senate amended this by providing
for duty Of l cent per pound on all
imports testing above so degrees. and
"a of a cent additional for each de-
gree of purity up to 80 degrees. from
90 to 9S degrees 2-100 OF a cent for each
degree in addition to all the foregoing
duties, and on all refined sugars II cent
additional to all the above.
The Mckinley act was equal to about