Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1897-05-08
DICKER WITH BEET SUGAR
THE TRUST HAS TO PAY sPRECK.
ELS A LONG PRICE.
Fear Of Opposition by Hawaiian
Planters Leads SPrcckels 90
Make the Deal.

uc icCcht uSiCVihOhs cS'"SS"
John T.. Searles, secretary of the
sugar trust, and Claus Spreckels
whereby the trust secured large
interest in the beet sugar indus
try of this State, says the San
Francisco Chronicle, has more be.
hind it than mere desire to
strengthen the position of the SUI
gar trust with American refiners.
The beet sugar industry of
California threatened the sugar
trust and both the trust and the
beet sugar industry were threaten
ed with competition ny the rich
planters of Hawaii, whose con.
tract with the American sugar re-
finers will expire this year. The
planters are backed by an i'm
mensely wealthy syndicate and if
the reciprocity agreement between
the United States and Hawaii can
be maintained the produc. of the
island plantations will make the
Pacific Coast controlling factor
in the price Of sugar in the Unit
ed States, for the reason that
should the trust make excessive
prices for granulsted beet, sugar
consumers could fall back on the
Hawaiian planters and their
friends in San Francisco, who are
prepared to erect great refinery
here independent of the trust re-
fineries controlled by Spreckels.
Should the planters of the isl
ands be able to induce the United
States to annex Hawaii they can
by an outlay of about S25, 900 for
each plantation add to their sugar
boiling plants machinery enough
to produce graduated sugar and
put it on the American market in
com petition with the product of
the trusts refneries.
The object of the sugar trust in
the deal with Spreckels was pri
marily to head off competition
from the beet sugar refineries of
California controlled by Spreckels.
That was accomplished in the re-
cent transaction whereby an in
terest in the Watsonvilie refinery
and interests in other beet sugar
industries controlled by SprcckeIs
were purchased by the trust,
though the seller declares that he
still holds the controlling interest.
The sugar trust had to pay
through the nose for these inter.
ests. Most of the stock which it
purchased had been sold by
Spreckels to his friends, and sold
with a string to it. 1t was deliv-
cred only on condition that it
should be returned whenever
called for on the payment of the
actual value of the stock, with
the par value as the minimum
figure. The dividend last year
was 80 per cent on the stock, 30
per cent of which was back boun
ties. Up to the year previous the
shareholders were given in earn
ings SLY for every 500 worth of
shares they held, and naturally
they were reluctant to part with
their stock. Louis Sloss held a
good deal of it, but under the
conditions on which he purchased
it he was obliged to sell, and the
Spreckels paid him $500 share
for his holding. Now the object
of the Spreckels-trust combine is
to wipe out the reciprocity section
of the Hawaiian treaty, if possible,
and should that be accomplished
to oppose annexation.
Competition from other sources
is not anticipated. 1t needs great
capital to establish beet sugar
refinery. At least 100000 is re-
quired to erect the necessary
buildings and purchase the ma
chinery, and as much more is re-
quired to purchase land and pre-
pare it for the cultivation of the
beets, and as at least three years
is required before the land can be
made to produce beets with suffi-
cient saccharine matter to make
sugar, another half million dollars
is needed for working capital.
Beet sugar cannot be produced in
a hurry and on cheap lines.
Spreckels has given the indus
try much attention. He has tax
en- advantage of the mistakes OF
others, and the balance sheet of
the jacksonville refinery has de-
monstrated that California can
produce sugar beets which cannot