The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-06-15
SAYS TARIFF
IS TO BLAME
Havemeyer Declares It to Be
the 'MOther of Trusts"
A VIGOROUS ATTACK
BY THE SUGAR KING
His Interesting Testimony Before
the Industrial Commission.
Says All Industries of the Country
Are Inordinarily Protected, Ex-
cepting the Sugar Refning-Peo-
pie of United States Robbed By
the Government-Fate of Rival
Concerns No Affair of His Com
pany's-Is a Friend to Labor.

Washington, June 14.-Henry o.
Havemeyer, president of the American
Sugar Refining company, was exam
ined by the industrial commission to-
day in connection with its investiga-
ton of trusts. His testimony related
almost wholly tS the sugar industry
and he opened with a vigorous attack
upon the customs tariff, which he de-
clared was the mother of all trusts, "
becoming such by providing ''inordin-
ate protection to manufactured arti-
cles.''
This attack was made in a written
statement which he read. Mr.. Have
meyer asserted that a tariff of 10 per
cent was as high as any tariff should
be. He contended that sugar is dis
| eliminated against in the tariff in the
( interest of Louisiana cane growers, the
beet sugarmakers and the sugargrOw-
ers of the Hawaiian islands. To these
interests, he contended, the United
States contributed S24,000,00 which
was taken out of the pockets of the
people. The protection on sugar
amounted to only Is of cent pound,
| or about 312 per cent ad valorem. 1t
ought to be twice as much.
The full text of the statement read
by Mr.. Havemeyer is as follows:
1ut lllOlHeI VI dIl 10 lAt CuS-
toms tariff bill. The existing bill and
! the preceding one have been the occa-
! sion for the formation of all the large
/ trusts, with very few exceptions mas
much as they provide for an inordi-
nate protection to all the interests of
! the country, sugar refining excepted.
Economic advantages incident to the
I consolidation of large interests in the
same line of business are a great in
centive to their formation, but these
/ bear a very large proportion to the
advantages granted in the way of pro-
lection under the customs tariff.
His Opinion of Trusts.
'There probably is not an industry
J that requires a protection of more than
I 10 per cent ad valorem, and 1t is to OBJ
tain what is provided over such per-
centage in the tariff that leads TO the
formation of what are commonly
spoken of as trusts
with a protection to an industry
not exceeding 10 per cent, all menace
to the community Of trusts would
cease. This 10 per cent would represent
the difference in cost of production
and likewise act as a protection against
surplus products of foreign countries
being dumped in our local markets,
thereby interfering with the regular
economic working of our industries.
Any advantages that might then ac
crue to such combinations. they would
be fully entitled to. and the public
would not be damaged thereby. as any
expansion of price would be met by
foreign competition and relief.
Il have said that sugar was an eX-
ception- The rate of protection on
sugar is an eighth of a cent per pound,
which is about 312 per cent ad valorem.
and is not the difference in the cost OF
refining between this and foreign coun-
tries. The least it should have is per
cent. or, in specific figures, A-cent per
pound. The sugar refining industry of
this country, no matter what form its
organization, is entitled to adequate
protection, if any industry is. There are !
at least 100000 people dependent upon |
il. What it pays or has paid to its /
stockholders in the past represents |
nothing more than fair return to the |
capital invested, considering the extent !
of the business.
Blames the Tariff Bill.
"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 Louisianans on their annual crop
of 250,000 tons, S20000,000; to the Ha-
waiian islanders, probably represented
by $50 foreigners. on their annual crop
of 250.000 tons, $4,000, 600: say 100000
tons produced elsewhere in the United
States, 81 100000.
Here you have s24000.000 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-and its effect
upon the people. In fact, the tariff bill
clutches the people by the throat, and
then the governors and the attorneys
general of the southern states take ac-
ton, not against the cause, but against
the machinery which the people en-
ploy to rifle the publics pockets.
There appears to be in the public
mind a distinction between robbery by
an individual and that by a corpora
ton. What is commendable in an in
dividual appears to be dishonest in a
corporation.
Il maintain that it is immaterial to
the public in what form business is
by an individual. firm,
or even trust. These are
merely forms of conducting business.
II is the duty of the government to see
that under the tariff laws they enact, |
this machinery cannot, in its action,
result 10 the detriment or impoverish-
ment of the public.
1T is the government, through its
tariff laws. which plumbers the people,
and the trusts. etc, are merely the
for doing it,
Whether the sugar refining company
mas been benefit or injury to the
can be best expressed in a ;
able showing the prices for a consid-
.rable period prior to the formation of :
he trust. and for n corresponding
period subsequent
Advantage to the Consumer.
'The difference since its formation {
hows an advantage to the consumer s
tote that, consumer-of over 1s of a {
ent per pound.
THE sugar company undoubtedly {
ries it's utmost to enlarge it's business,
,ut does it in a way which they con- [
ider the only proper one, that is by I
making the price so low as to defy S
ompatition. q
1T is my opi,sion that corporations c
re under no obligation whatever to [
ny Of the states for their existence. a