The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-07-29

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SAN FRANCISCO, July 1S.-Whole-
sale and retail dealers in sugar are
wondering whether the recent sensa-
tional drop of half a cent a pound is
to be followed by another tumble Most !,
of the dealers think sugar will go still
expressed it, from hand to mouth
Others apparently equally we'll in
formed, do not believe the price will
go lower, and think that the sugar
trust, which made the cut, is satisfied
with the trouble it will create among
the beet sugar refiners.
The agitation in the sugar market is
confined to this Coast. The price of
sugar east of Utah, the boundary of the
respective territories of the Havemey
er and Spreckels interests, has not
changed, except for little drop of 10
points made by Arbuckle. Nor is the
price likely to drop in the East on ac-
count of the reductions on this Coast.
The reason for this was expressed yes
terday by a prominent dealer in this
fashion:
1.-The total production of sugar in
this country this year will be about
1900, 900 tons. OF this amount about
100000 tons is produced on this Coast.
OF this Coast production about 100000
tons will be beet sugar, according to
the best information we have. Now the
Spreckels, or trust, interests have 10000
tons of this beet sugar crop. The total
output of beet sugar refineries outside
of the trust is therefore not over 10000
tons. Bearing in mind the enormous
consumption of sugar in the country
at large, what figure does the anti
trust production cut? None at all.
Suppose We grant that the objet in
making the cut is to discourage the
competitive beet sugar refineries and
cause them to quit business. 1t cannot
be done, unless the Havemeyer inter-
|ests controlling the United States east
of Utah, makes a corresponding cut,
for the reason that the beet sugar
men would simply go outside of the
Coast States and find a market. Now
it is absurd to say that the sugar trust
will cut the product half a cent or more
to squeeze out bagatelle of 10000 tons.
1t would be like a whale fighting
minnow
have the best of this fight even
though the combined sugar trust should
make reduction. Beet sugar can be
refined and sold for IA cents with a
profit The price of raw cane sugar is
not less than cents, and this price
cannot be reduced by the trust, as 1t is
fixed in the worlds open market. The
cost of refining cane sugar Is three
eighths of a lent. so that the refners
cannot sell sugar for less than 3-8
cents a pound without losing money,
even if they sell sugar at cost; there
fore, they cannot beat the beet sugar
refiners.
THE refiners trust knows this as
well as we do. Then the question nat
urally arises, why is the cut made at
all? The answer to this, I believe, Is
that those controlling the sugar situa-
ton on this Coast are simply deter
mined not to permit their competitors
to make too much money To prevent
them they are willing to lose some
money themselves.
"It is thought by some jobbers that
one object of the cut was to head off
the importations of China sugar. But
don't think SO, for this reason: Chi
nese sugar has been imported here for
years. Some years ago the Spreckels
interests cut the price of sugar to
figure that made China importations
improbable. They stopped, of course
All that the Spreckels interests could
do was to divert the Chinese sugar for
the time being to other markets than
this Coast. AS soon as their prices
went up, Chinese sugar was imported
again. The Chinese refineries are
owned by English and Scotch capital.
They have great producing capacity,
and send here only a fraction of their
output If the trust should cut sugar
still lower, importations from China
might stop for the time being, though
I don't think they would stop without
a pretty radical cut. Chinese sugar is
now sold for twenty cents a hundred
less than trust sugar. The price quot
ed by the Western Sugar Refinery is
$525, and the importers from China sell
at S5.05 They have met the cut and
gone it one better. It remains to be
seen how much more the English-own-
ed refineries in China will stand before
they divert this sugar to other and
better markets. They can get down to
business if they want to, and make
hot fight. But what is the use when
they can sell for a higher figure in Aus
tralia or elsewhere?
ITO sum the whole situation up, I be-
lieve this cut is the work of the sugar
magnates of this Coast, and its purpose
is simply to pinch the beet sugar men, at
the same time with the realization that
they cannot be driven out of business.
They will go ahead and work up all the
sugar beets that come along, and they
will sell the sugar, too. In the mean
time, the public Is benefiting by the
fight, so let the war go on
THE DROP IN SUGAR.
A drop of half a cent in the price of
sugar at the opening of the fruit can
ming seasonswas a surprise to the COM
munity. There would have been much
less wonder at the news of a rise. The
price of sugar west of the eastern line
of Utah is set by the Western Sugar
Refinery. East of that point the Ameri-
can Sugar Refining Company is charged
with that duty. The eastern branch of
the trust has more or less trouble at
i