Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-14

the sugar used or about that, he thought
these refineries had a. capacity for 30 per
cent of the entire consumption. Speaking
of the competition given his company by
the SpreckIes refinery in 1889, he said:
when Spreckles came in with his enor-
nous capacity, we had to fight, and the
fight lasted until we got his refinery That
is all there was to it,
When his attention was called to the Ar
buckle refinery, he said. in a depreciating
way: "Oh, he don't cut much ice in sugar.
He is in Coffee
He enumerated seven or eight rein ries
in different parts of the country which he
said are now competing against his COM
pany.
were twenty-five firms refining sugar, and
eighteen of them went in forthe trusts !:
three or four of them, who represented so
per cent Of the production, stayed out Pre-
gone bankrupt.
Mr.. Havemeyer said that the sugar indus
try and the oil industry, as represented in
the great corporations, handling practically
the entire business in those lines, could not
bs considered monopoiies for the reason
that anybody could go into business He
was very positive that legislatures could
keep their hands off of the great corpora
along great deal better without int rfer-
ence. and he declared that a corporation
only does what an individual can do.
About Decentralization.
When asked whether he did not con-
slider it an evil to have Decentralization.
by which ignorant investors sometimes
lose their money, he replied that people
could not be treated like babies, and if
they did not know how to invest they
would have to go in and get feeced sew
eral times before they learned what to do
He had no sympathy for people who go on
the stock market, for instance, and lose
mOnev. "a Ia frlra
child would run to It's mother. He was
very positive in his belief that the Ameri-
can Sugar Refining Company was not over
capitalized. He said that if there was not
howl at the present time against the
trusts, and especially against the sugar
trust, the stock of that corporation would
be worth several times what it is worth
today. because he was satisfied people
would pay that much for 1t, and he thought
that was the best means of testing what a
thing was worth.
When asked what he thought of labor
organizations, he said he believed they did
no good to the laboring men: but finally,
when a number Of questions were put at
him on this subject, said he preferred not
to talk about 1t. He said that he knew
that laboring men had succeeded in getting
their wages raised. He was questioned in
regard to his opinion of the way the grain
elevator companies are doing their business,
and in reply he said, brusquely: Then, why
don't the farmers form a trust?" When ask
ed in regard TO the ethical aspect of his
business. he replied: II don't care two cents
about your ethics. I do not know enough
about them to apply them L apply to
business principles
There was quite a tilt when the tariff
question was being discussed, as the COM
mission has adopted a rude not to discuss
any partisan question. Mr.. Havsmeyer
said they could strike 1t all out, so far as
he was concerned. They could strike out
everything he had said. He had been
brought there under spear, and he wasn't
especially interested In testifying.
A recess was taken. and the commission
reassembied to hear Mr.. Haveaneyer con-
cfude his testimony shortly after o'clock.