Evening journal., 1897-06-26
SUGAR TRUST PROFITS.
John De witt Warner Makes Some Esti-
mates aud Scores the Trust.


Ex-C Congressman John De Witt War
ner is one of the best posted men in this
country on sugar tariffs When in con-
gress, he carried the house for free sug-
az. In recently published statement
he estimates the net protection to the
trust given by the Aldrich schedule at
from 35 cents to $l.14 on every 100
pounds Of refined sugar.
Without attempting to give his argu-
ment as TO each Of the ways in which
the trust would be protected we give
his summary Of trust profits as follows;
Specific differential. ..............SO 80 18GsO. 4O+
Thirty-iive per cent al valorem
differential. l.....................-..O O.lAg O.sl
Countervailing duty, say..... .... O.OSg O.55
Additional by substitution Of 70
per cont ad valorem for specific
duties in low grades. ............. O.OJ0 OBS
Total. SJ.oo9Fl'l4
In the vast majority OF cases, however, the
actual result il between 45 and % cents per lOJ
pounds net protection TO The trust, and il Is
imprncticahle 80 to combine circumstances as
TO bring this below 40 cents or above 90 cents
for any considerable amount
As an item Of tariff taxation the sug-
ar schedule is ideal from the protection
ist standpoint Sugar is the one article
used by poor and rich to an equivalent
extent and a tax on which therefore
falls most heavily on the poor ia pro-
portion to their ability to pay it. Its
production and distribution arc control
led by concern which is at once the
greatest Of cur mean trusts and the
meanest Of our great ones
1t is consistent therefore that on this
one article there should be levied iucre
than oue-third of our total tariff taxa.
ton, and that our people should be bur
dened by tax of more than 500, 600,
600 that realizes less than $40, 900,
OOO for tho treasury and more than
$40, 600 900 for the sugar refining com
bine, while the same combine is enabled
to net an additional $40, 600, 900 by the
opportunity given it to import at present
| duty rates raw sugars from which 1t
can make refined to be sold by it under
the enhanced price assured it by the
proposed Aldrich schedule. The net
protection Of from 40 to go cents pei
100 pounds given the trust on its rein
ing process alone should be considered
as sufficient when we remember that
the labor cost Of this process is slightly
less than 6lS cents per 100 pounds-that
is to say, Senator Aldrich, in behalf OF
American labor, proposes unduly to ta'
wage earners in order to give the trus
from five to seven times as much pro
lection" as it pays for all the labor in
! volved.
Next to the wage Garner the farmei
is dear to the protectionist heart, anC
he is therefore equally favored by th'
b sugar schedule. OF late years through
out the eastern and middle and many o
the central states the competition CT tn
2 far west has driven our farmers from
grain raising into fruit culture. Thi
4 has now so developed that except TO
- exports of canned goods-jams, pre-
a serves, etc.-in which we ought to sup
ply the world, the business of fruit rails
ing has in its turn, become almost profit
less. And poverty is now assured t
those who are dependent upon fruit cul
ture by the proposed tax Of two cent
pound on sugar. This increase
by from 90 to 20 per cent the articl
. which would make up from 40 to z
per cent Of the total weight of the jams
! etc, the export Of which might insur
: living prices for the surplus fruits, bu
which is now practically prohibited.
?. And this is "a government of tn
}: people, by the people and for the pee
ple" Who are "the peoplef"