The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1899-06-17
Haz.marer ON the SUGAR Trult.

Del ITO tho luuuHti lh OOuimlnbiOh Nv
Washington on Wednesday last Mr.
ii Vemeyer, Of New York, testified.
Mr. H.vemeyer was asked if the sugar
trust was now manufacturing ut loss.
81 decline to answer was his reply.
"rhAt IL "a matter for the American
Sugar Refining Company alone His
other utterances, however, indicated
that the company WAS losing money,
for, " he said. I'VE tried to defy com
petition 10y keeping down prices, and
we have not succeeded. lie spoke OF
the competition at another time AS being
dangerous and rulnOus After one
Of his references to losing money, ho
was asked how the trust could pay
dividends If it was not making profits
Mr.. Htvemeyer gave one of his charao'
teristic chu 'kles con- he replied,
chat lsA simple matter for the direc-
tors to decide We can take II out Of
the surplus or we can borrow It, Our
credit is good.
BUILT Up BY PROTECTION.
But how long can you keep that
processGoing 2"
Mr. Havemeyer chuckled again and
threw his hands over his head. That
is the problem for everybody. he said
"YOu can buy or sell our stock II you
know that
Another quest, on and answer will be
heard from In the next campaign. 1t
was as follows
. By Mr. Liviugston-Was the
sugar refining industry built up under
free trade or protection! A-Protec-
tion enormous protection.
The customs tariff. he declared
was the "mother Of all trusts, becom-
ing such by providing IAN inOrdinate
protection TO manufactured articles
He asserted that tariff of 10 per cent
was as high as any tariff should be tie
oantended that sugar Is Disseminated
against in the tariff in the interest Of
the Louisiana cane growers, the beet
sugar makers, and sugar growers OF the
Hawaiian Islands The protection on
sugar amounted ~ only one .eighth of a
cent a pound, or about g., per cent al
val0rem Ii ought to be twice as much,
What the sugar refining business
has paid or is paying represents moth
ing more than ali adequate return on
the capital invested, - he said
The United States tariff bill. in as
sessing about $40 per ton duty. on i'm
ported sugar, pays into the pockets OF a
few L0uisianians on their annual crop,
250. 900 ton $40 900, 600 10 the Hawaiian
islanders, probably represented by 100
foreigners. on their annual crop of 300,
600 tons. $40 900 900 say 100 600 tons
produced elsewhere in the United
States 81. OOO, 600
Here you have $24 600 900 extracted
from the people Of the United States
for the sake Of getting the revenue
which $40 per ton on foreign sugar
provides This is merely illustrative
Of the whole tariff-every line Of it
end its effect upon the people In fact,
the tariff bill clutches the people by
the throat. and then the Governors and
the Attorney Generals of the several
States take action not against the cause,
but against the machinery which the
people employ to rifle the publics
pockets
What Congress should have done was
TO have put an internal revenue tax on
the American production OF sugar
The representations made in Congress
c1ncerning the trust, he declared, was
untrue, and if it was fact that the
people suffered from trusts they must
blame the protective tariff system, OF
which the trusts were merely the ma
chinery. No advantage had ever been
taken by his company of the protect
i've system beyond the one-eighth Of
cent given.
He admitted freely that the company
did all possible to advance its own bus
mess interests Capital and labor. -
he stated would all adjust them
selves if let alone The only way to
prevent competitor, Mr.. Hayermeyer
testified, was to keep prices at a mini
mum-not necessarily in the interest
of the consumer, but as a matter OF
business He referred to the anti
trust laws of some of the States as
premium 90 neutrality-suspicious. the
Missouri law.
CAPITALIZED AT LESS THAN VALUE.
Mr.. Havemeyer said the American
Company was capitalized for much less
than it was worth. but for the
clamOr against trusts, he said, cit
could be sold for three times its capital.
ization Yet he thought the refneries
could be duplicated for s35. 900. 600 or
$40, 900 ,00O The present capacity Of
the trust is, he said, 40 600 barrels a
day, and the output 30, 000 He thought
the trust was refining about 80 per cent
of the sugar refined in the United
States.
The late drop in the price of sugar
had been caused by the starting Of new
refineries which had threatened to take
90 per cent. Of the business 1T was
a part of our policy to put prices down
and let the opposition take the result,
whatever it may be. Every sale made
by the opposition displaces so much Of
the American Company's product. he
said. I'VE must protect our own bust
ness " Mr.. Havemeyer then went on
to say that what the company did it
did not do for motives of philanthropy
that it had its own shareholders to
protect. Anybody can buy our stock,
he continued, land as consequence
the public owns the stock But | doubt
whether any one would want any of the
stock Of the independent refneries. "
ELEVEN THOUSAND STOCKHOLDERS
"How many stockholders have YOU"
asked Prof. jerks.
About II, 000 " he replied, and add
ed. "enough to take Cuba, and they
would take it if they could" The
latter remark was made in light vein.
He stated as his opinion that the Cuban
sugar should be brought in free of duty,
and that this course would bring re.
fined sugar down to cents pound.
Speaking of the coffee business Mr.
Havemeyer said he was in the business
aud in it to stay.
A Negro Turning White