Evening star., 1898-06-13
Some Reasons Why 1t is Opposing
Hawaiian Annexation.
lose 4 PROFIT OF NEARLY 100000
How 1t Has Buncoed the Hawaiian
Sugar Producers.
S o M E AIN FACT S

tIutH Is an apt describing the
methods of those who are opposing Ha-
Waiian annexation, and urging that an
nexation will be beneficial to the sugar
trust.
Another quotation equally apt, in this
connection, is that 1T is filthy bird that
fouls its own nest for ii is Mr. Henry
O&nard, who like Abou Ben Adam, leads
all the rest in assertion that the wicked
sugar trust is promoting annexation for its
own benefit, while he. Oxnard is simply
pl omoting the public veal by protecting
the poor beet farmers (and incidentally
the interests Of those eminent beet, farm
ers with whom he is in partnership Messrs
Spreckels, Havemeyer and Seares). Mr..
OXnard is one of the men who put his re-
hhefy INTO the combine which originally
constituted the truSt-in fact, he may be
considered as one of the bacilIi from which
the trust germinated, and he is yet so in
tlmately intertwned and sardwiched into
the beWlGeTing cCngeries of trusts cor
pofauons. partnerships and combines with
WHICH the trust maSnateS cover up thei,
connections and proceedings that no one
can make affidavit TO exactly where Ok
nard ends and Spreckels Searles and Have
meyer begin.
When, therefore, Mr.. Oxnard seeks to
pii.cktn the character of Hawaiian an
neXatlon by alleging that it is in bad COM
pary. and desgnates the trust as its spon-
ser, he Is befouing his own brood.
win smile and washing of the hands
IN invisible water. which for innocence and
blandness can give cards and spades and Il
liberal discount besides to Bret Harte's
'heathen Chinee," Mr.. OXnard assures us
that the sugar trust .'is exclusively a refin-
ing ana not a sugar-producing business;
that the cheaper it can get the raw product
the more profit it can make; that annexa-
ton will admit raw sugar from Hawaii
free, and, therefore, will be beneficial 10 the
trtst by reducing the price of raw sugar
ana assuring them of certainty of sup
ply, while the tariff will keep the price of
ie!lned sugar up thereby affording the
trust an increased profit"
Ii airy other evidence were needed to
demonstrate that Mr. Henry Oynard is
the agent of the trust in opposing Ua-
"ailan annexation il is the fact that he
is and for the past year and a half has
been haunting the halls of Congress and
Ginning this tale into the ears of members
printing and distributing it broadcast in
pamphlets and. publishing it, both in the
guise of editorial matter and in articles
S:sned s. ,,neI, over his own name; for Mr. Oxnard
is an intelligent man and an expert in the
sugar business, thoroughly familiar with
all its intricacies and mysteries.
Some Plain Facts.
The plain facts about the sugar trust
aid its interest in the Hawaiian question
as follows:
First, under the Hawaiian reciprocity
treaty refining grades of raw sugar already
come In free, but that treaty does not ad-
nit duty free either refined sugar or light
colored raw sugar
Under existing conditions, therefore, Ha-
Waian sugar can come to the American
market only in a crude state, fit only for
refining; because the duty imposed upon
refined sugar and light colored raw sugar
is so great as tC prohibit importat ton.
Present conditions therefore give the trust
Tree raw material and prohibit competi-
ton with it's refined product
In case Of annexation, however, all this
Will be changed; for, Hawaii will be
American territory, all sugar produced by
it-refned and high-grade raws, well as
lcW-grade refinery grade rawS-will be eX-
empt from duty, and the Hawaiian sugar
producers will be able to refine their own
sugar or make a light grade raw sugar
which can successfully compete in the
American market with the refined sugar
produced by the trust.
The sugar trust axes a profit of from a
quarter TO a half a cent, equal to from IS
TO so ton. on every pound Of sugar pro-
duced by it.
The Hawaiian sugar crop last year
amounte ed to 100000 tons.
A profit of $40 a ton on 240, 900 tons
amounts to 81, 100000.
There is no reason to believe that Ha-
waian sugar producers will sell their raw
sugar to the Sugar Trust when the law will
allow them to do their own refining and
market.
Under existing conditions the Sugar Trust
obtains free raw sugar and is protected
from Hawaiian competition in the refined
sugar market.
Under annexation, the Hawaiian produc-
ers being able to refine and sail their own
sugar, the Sugar Trust will lose its present
supply of 600 tons of raw sugar per an
mum and the profit which it would other
wise have made in refining such amount of
sugar, amounting, as above shown, to ap-
proxmately $2,40O,0OO per annum.
Second. Under existing conditions the
Sugar Trust has for years been the only
purchaser of raw sugar in the American
market. Hawaiian sugar producers have
therefore been obliged either to sell their
sugar to the Sugar Trust or ship it to Eng
land. The greater cost of shipping to Eng
land, by reason of increased freight insur-
ance, interest and deterioration of the sac
charine strength of the sugar, amounts to
approximately an eighth of a cent per
pound, or $3.50 Fer ton. The trust has taken
advantage of this situation to compel the
Hawaiian planters to sell their product to
it at $3.50 a ton less than the American
market price, which reduced price the Ha-
Waiian producers have been obliged to ac-
cept, because first, there was no other pur-
chaser in ths United States; second, they
could not themselve refine their sugar, be
cause the American tariff has been so high
as to prevent them from sending refined
sugar to the United States, and, third,
there was no object in shipping 1t to Eng
no higher price, while, the market being
more distant, the returns would be slower.
Buncoing the Hawaiian Sugar Pro-
ducers.
Under existing conditions, therefore, and
for the past ten years, the sugar trust has
been able to bunco the Hawaiian sugar
producers out of $3.50 per ton on each and
every ton of raw sugar produced by them
and purchased by the trust, because such
producers were helpless to protect them
selves.
If annexation takes place. however. if the
American sugar refiners do not offer the
full market price for raw sugar the Ha-
waiian producers will be able to refine and
sell it themselves. Consequently, the sugar
trust no longer having the whip handle
over The Hawaiian sugar producer, will lose
this $3.50 per ton which 1t heretofore has
been receiving as a pure bonus. A profit
Of 81 so per ton on 100000 tons, the annual
Hawaiian crop, amounts to $3.50. 600 per
aEnum.
The above figures demonstrate, therefore,
that annexation Will cause loss to the
sugar trust of s., 100000 plus $3.50, 900, or
- 295o,o0o per annum