Evening star., 1897-06-11
THE DUTY ON SUGAR
Yesterday Afternoons Tariff Debate
in the Senate.
TERMED BY MR.. VESf''C 'CAPEHkfFERAS'
Old Fight Between Planter and
Refiner.
THE INDUSTRY IN GERMANY

In the Senate yesterday afternoon Mr.
Vest followed Mr.. Jones in criticism of th,,
| general features of the sugar schedule OF
the tariff bill. 1t had always been. ne sail
the cape Hatteras Of the tariff debate II
| involved the whole question of ,b,, .x;s,
ehee OF the gigantic sugar trust which had
apsorped refinery after refinery untr n
was supreme and all powerful i'm the field.
Inc Lekow investigation had disclosed the
! enormous profits of this trust II showed
| ne saia, capital of s15ooaun common
| Stoch' ana S'a.Hn.o0 preferred stock an
| aggregate of sl5non0n with nrof,,s az ~
| per cent on Its common stock and per
| cent on the preferred stock. II was an
| open. bold, admitted trlst
| At 'his point Mr.. Calfery ILa) said he de-
srSd 70 show the fluctuations of the stock
| ana the sales for some months lie ra,d
| the lowest and highest mark OF tbe siocp
| anu the daily sales for long period show
ing the nourishing condition of the COM
| pany.
! What effect en- the stock =. asl.a NJ
White, significantly. had the intro,.uction
OF me last amendments to the sugar
An advance OF five points" answered
! Mr.. Vest
Mr. Vest cut eff some cross firing between
MI W hite and Mr. Caffery as 10 the effect
] cn ]lhe proposed schedule on the .rice OF
sugar trust stock by resuming his speech
| AS TO the question of the effect of our
| action here on sugar stock" said he way-
| ihs ms arms, we may be in dc uht here
! hut there Is one place where there is NO
! uouot-that is, among the spectators in
| Naii street TEey know Immediately and
| iiIsuilctI"lE what effect a proposed sched-
| ule Wiil nave There is no question about
| the correctness of their conclusions And
| they put the price of sugar stock ,lp 81 n
| snare within thirty minutes after th,. new
| schedule was agreed on by the caucus
| They know whether this schedule is more
| favorable than the los
| Dingley bill schedule. and in two DAYS they
| ran the price up from lis to ia. I have
| heard predictions from those who ought
TO know that If this schedule stands sugar
| viii go to $50 a share
| Proceeding. Mr.. Vest pointed out the
| great revolution which had occurred in the
| past two years in the sources of the trusts
sugar supply. The war in Cuba had cut of
| the cane sugar. and the trust had been
| obliged to take the beet sugar of GERMANY
| The importations from Germany for The
| last nine months had increased from those
OF the previous nine months from io~.Wn.'sD
| to .bO.EU.on pounds
| Mr.. Vest described the new sugar sche,l-
ule as ingenious and artistic The spec
| ulatorS understood it. He had ascoriained,
| and was prepared to prove mathematically
| that the protection given to the trust on
sugars testing .5 degrees I'm the pr. sent
| law was ~ cents pound: i'm the ptneIey
schedule -: in the original Senate hill
.G2, and in the new schedule agreed by
the republican senatorial caucus Ga.
| IL conclusion. Mr.. Vest declared that the
schedule deluded the public in the interest
| of this gigantic monopoly"
| M Lindsay Oky.D offered an ameudme Mt
10 strike cut the dlfferential on refined
| gar. In speaking few days with an
| official high in authority in the customs
| service, he said. he Uindsay) expressed his
| difficulty in comprehending the technicali-
| ties of the complicated phraseology. Tho
4 official agreed with him. and said that the
| explanations offered 10y its trainers al
ways 'darkened the mystery"
| Mr.. JiEdsays amendment strikes out OF
the House schedule. in paragraph 2n6. the
| words. Not above No. IL Dutch standard
| in color and also strikes out the nruvi-
sion in the same paragraph for differ
/ entail duty on refined sugar.
| The Planter vs.. RcHner.
Mr.. Caffery U.a) followed. The old
| fight between the producers of raw sugar
and the refiner. which in this country was
the trust, was, he said, again on. He spoke
of the scandal of 1874 over the sugar sched-
| ule produced by the rapacity of the sugar
| trust. 1t was to be repeated nov. There
| were consumed in this country Aeon. .um.M0
| pounds of sugar annually. If the trust was
| to receive half a cent a pound. this
schedule proposed. that would mean S2O.-
ooooo0 to the trust. Here, then, was tho
| impellant cause which brought this great
corporation to Washington to look after
| its interests.
| He dwelt on the advantages enjoyed by
| the sugar trust. and read At length the
| testimony given by Mr.. Havemeyer before
the Senate investigating committee. This
disclosed. the senator said, that Mr.. Have
meyer freely admitted that the purpose of
this confessed monopoly was to control the
| market and run up the price to the :m-
| porting point. They not only control the
price. but they advance the price accord
| ing TO the testimony of Mr.. .Havemcyer. MIR.
| Caffery said this advance would aggregate
s15,o00,oo0. the advance being three-eiehths
of cent per pound, according Mr.. Have
meyers testimony.
Mr.. Caffery said he would show that
! under all of the tariff acts the nrofi:s of
the sugar trust were very large. Tic SEN
ator showed the gradual Increase Of differ
ence between the price Of centrifugal
sugars and the standard granulatetl. This
difference doubled shortly after the fol ma
ton Of the trust, reaching S1.2i. An ef-
fort had been made to show tina; the trust
had been a benefit by lowering the price of
sugars, but any lowering of ,Dli ses at
the expense of the producer of the raw
ticle, the differentiai always remained
the same The trust never lest All it
wanted was sufficient tariff to keep out the
foreign producer, and then 1t had the
American consumer at its mercy, TO be
fieeoed at its sweet will. The rust had
said it would be ruined by any differential
under one-eghth of a cent per pound and
yet it had thrved under such rate. The
ingenious senator from Rhode Island (Ald-
rich) had compared iifferentials Tor a g.ven
month, when these of a year would have
given a far more equitable basis.
Sugar Industry i'm Germany.
Mr. Caffery discussed the sugar industry
in Germany, which was. he said toppling
to its fall, crushing every one engaged in
it, because it. was reared an artificial
basis. He quoted recent consular rtporis
in support of this statement.
While Mr.. Caffery discussed the Ger
man sugar industry the first secretary or
the German embassy entered the diplo-
matte gallery and was interested lis
tener.
The senator showed that in order 10
maintain this sugar industry the cost OF
sugar to the German consumer Was much
higher than in the United States, that
a few agrarian sugar producers reaped the
benefits of the German bounty. while the
masses of the people paid the bill.
Mr.. Caffery then took up the sugar pro-
duction his own state. While he had
been in the Senate the sugar producers
had besieged him to place a high tarin
their product. When the Wilson bill
was considered he had voted for duty
of 40 per cent because sugar had been
recognized as legitimate revenue-produc-
ing article No one up to that time ques-
toned that sugar came within the strict
a rs,-z