The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-06-28

business Combinations Are Necessary,
WASHINGTON. D. C. (SpeciaD.-Hepry o.
Sugar-Rehning Company, was a few dayz
ago before the Industrial Commission up.
pointed by President Mckinley in accord
lnce with an act OF Congress In 1893 to in.
Gestigate labor, manufactures, agriculture
and business, and to suggest reformatory
laws.
Mr.. Havemeysr opened with an attack
Upon the tariff. This attack was made in
written statement which the witness had
prepared. In the course OF this statement
Mr.. Havemeyer said:
'The mother OF oil trusts is the customs
tariff bill. The existing bill and the pre-
,sding one have been the occasion Of the
formation Of all the large trusts, with very
.ew exceptions, inasmuchas they provide
Tor an inordinate protection to all the In
:erests OF the country, sugar refining e1-
,erted.
Economic advantages incident to tho
consolidation of large interests In tho
same line OF business are great incen Two
to their formation, but these bear very
Insignificant proportion to the advantages
granted in the way OF protection undor
the customs tariff.
There probably is Of an Industry that
requires a protection OF moro than ten
rer cent. nd valorem, and it Is to obtain
what Is provided over such percentage in
the tariff that leads 20 the formation OF
what are commonly spoken OF as trusts
with q protection to an industry not
exceeding ten per cent. all menace to tho
community, Of trusts. would cease. Any
advantages that might then acrue to such
combinations they would be fully entitled
to.
''The rate OF protection on sugar is an
eighth OF a cent q pound, which is about
81 per cent. ad valoreuf, and is not the
difference in the cost OF refining between
this aud foreign countries. Tie least it
should have Is eighth per cent, or, In
specific figures, u cent per pound.
"The United States tariff bill, In asses
sing about $40 per ton duty on imported
sugar, pays into the pockets OF few
Louisianans, on their annual crop OF $780,
600 tons, SIC, 900 900; to the Hawaiian ISL
anders, probably represented by one hun
dred and fifty foreigners, on their annual
crop of $50 900 tons, s10, 1000, 900; say 100 900
tons produced elsewhere IN the United
States, S4,000.000.
Here you have S24 100000 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--und its effect upon the
people.
"f repeat that all this agitation against
trusts Is against merely the business ma.
chinery employed to take from the public
what the Government in its tariff laws
says 1t is proper and suitable they should
have. It is the Government, through its
tariff laws, which plumbers the people,
and the trusts, ETC., are merely the ma.
chinery for doing 1t.
whether the Sugar Refining Company
has been a benefit or injury to the COM
munity can be best expressed on o table
showing the prices for a considerable
period Erior to the formation OF the trust
and for a corresponding period subsequent.
The difference since its formation shows
an advantage to the consumer-note that
consumer-of over one-eiGhth OF cent
per pound"
Mr. Havemeyer admitted freely that the
company did all possible to advance Its
own business interests. He did not think
the corporations were under obligations to
the different States, but that the reverse
was true. Capital and labor" he said,
The only way to prevent competition,
Mr. Havemeyer testified was to keep prices
at minimum-not necessarily IN the In.
terest OF the consumer, but as matter OF
business.
Replying to questions by Professor jerks.
after he had finished the reading OF his
paper, Mr.. Havemeyer said the American
Sugar Company was capitalized for much
less than 1t was worth. "But for the clamor
against trusts" be said, "it could bo sold
tor three times its capitalization" Yet he
thought the reanerles could be duplicated
for S35, ,000, 900 or $4,000, 900. Tho present
capacity OF the trust is, he said. 5000 bar.
rels day, and the output 10000. He
thought the trust was refining about ninety
per cent. OF the sugar refined In the United
States.
Mr. Havemeyer at first declined to say
whether the company was making moncy
at present, saying that was the business OF
the company alone, but he Gfterward made
IN Incidental staten ent which the commits.
sion construed into an admission that the
business was not profitable now.
The witness said that trusts were an e1-
ample Of the survival OF the fittest In ousi'
ness.
On the question Of labor Mr.. Haveneyer
said the laboripg element were forced to
form organizations, but that in doing &C
they sacrificed much independence, and the
unions had tho effect OF "brinSing other
men down to a low level" He contended
that he was friend OF labor, and said that
good men in the employ OF the trust were
paid ten per cent. more than they could
get elsewhere.
Mr.. Havemeyer said that many things
were done in business which looked cold
booded and harsh, but that business con-
ditions often required conduct justifng
such characterization.
Replying to a question as to how he
could conduct business 1T loss and still
declare dividends, Mr.. Havomeyer de-
,lared lau2hingly: lone Is an executive