People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1897-03-12
War of the Sugar and Coffee Trust.

A night is on Tor industrial supremacy |
between the aggregations of organized |
capital known as the sugar trust and
the Arbuckles. Such a war is a mat
ter of immediate public concern, to say
nothing of economic significance. We
give two editorial accounts of the fight, |
the first alleging that the public bene-
fits by it, the second denying his.
The Chicago Chronicle thinks that |
the story of the war shows that ''even |
trusts get into competition, and that
their war makes cheaper prices for the |
people,"
''The coffee trust represented by the |
Arbuckles, originated the scheme of
selling coffee in one or two-pound pack
ages or in packages of greater weight,
already prepared for customers at the
grocery counter. The plan gave the
customer full weight; his purchase was
ready on demand, and he lost no time
by the delay of the grocer in weighing
out his purchase. The Arbuckles had
procured machinery, invented and con-
structed for the purpose, working au
tomatically, by which coffee and spices
were turned out from the hoppers in
their mills after the grinding process,
weighed in small packages, dumped
into paper bags, and sealed up for de-
livery at the grocers' counters to pur-
chasers. This system worked so well
as to coffee and spices that the Ar
buckles bought vast quantities of sugar
that was weighed by their automatic
process and placed in sacks of various
capacity to be delivered by grocers
selling both coffee and sugar This
trade of the Arbuckles became enor-
nous in amount. They were selling in
this way to their own customers for
coffee and spices large proportion of
the output of the sugar trust. They
sold sugar at retail at very near the
barre rate prices.
THE Arbuckles then demanded a
rebate from the sugar trusts whole
sale prices. They were handling so
large proportion Of the sugar-trust's
than wholesale prices. The sugar
trust refused to make the rebate. The
Arbuckles then, having nearly as much
capital as the sugar trust, determined
to go into the business of refining
sugar. They bought up half-dozen
independent refneries and began to
sell all grades of sugar at lower than
trust rates. The trust met the cut.
Other cuts were made, which were met
on both sides. The result is that the
people have been buying sugar for the
last few weeks at from half a cent to a
cent pound below all previous rates.
Then the sugar trust had its inning.
The coffee and spice works of 9. firm at
Toledo were purchased and the sugar
trust began to cut prices on coffee.
The Arbuckles secretly secured stock
in the firm (Woolson Spice Company
and have applied for a receivership on
) the ground that the sugar trust is ruin
ing. the business.-Ed. Literary Di
gest The Arbuckles met this cut, and
lower prices for coffee at retail have
resulted
$50 with the sugar trust operating
coffee mills and the coffee trust oper
ating sugar refneries, the competition
has produced lower prices for the
prime elements of an enjoyable break
} fast table. OF course, the quarrel will
: be arranged and previous prices res
/ tored. But the public has had the
benefit of reduced prices during the
progress of the fight"
THE OTHER SIDE.
The Hartford Courant prints a very
= different moral to the story
THE Arbuckles, big dealers in ground
coffee, spices, etc, understood to be
millionaires on large scale, have de-
cided to go into the sugar-refining bus
mess. The sugar trust, however,
known as the American Sugar-Re6ning
Company, doesn't propose to have any
body else in that field. 1t controls the
Congress, which could hamper it. Per-
t haps that fear isn't very serious. 1t
will be remembered that certain
t broker declined to tell an investigating
q committee what members of Congress
, were specializing in sugar through his
: house. The route from the Capitol to
. Wall Street and the sugar offices is not
, circuitous.
'"When the sugar trust found the
: Arbuckles were in earnest in their
wicked scheme of going into sugar
. refining, they the sugar people, bought
= the control of large spice company in
Toledo, and started in to smash the
Arbuckles Coffee has risen, but the
: sugar people, through the Woolson
. Company, are selling roasted coffee
: two and a half cents a pound lower
than before the market began to rise.
This is said to mean a loss of $1,000 a
day. AS the Arbuckles do their own
coffee import ting, all the little folks,
who roast and grind coffee, have to
: sweat, and, as these are the customers
of the importers of green Coffee against
the Arbuckles who import their own,
, that importing trade is in trouble,
too.
$40 finish the story, it is given out
E that after the sugar trust has broken
= the Arbuckles, then the embarrassing
industry will be turned over to them as
the price of peace. The trust is after
several other roasting plants, and it is
:. expected that when, after eXhausting
war, a settlement is effected, all these
kindred concerns will be handed over
to the Arbuckles as the price of peace.
and then the little grinders and roas-
ters will be in the hands of the Ar
buckles, who can roast them.
"And there are intelligent people
> who say these things are benefits