The Washington times., 1902-01-23

tatlOn OF the case ana ne demonstrated TO
the committee his familiarity with every
aspect Of the. question at issue. answering
without hesitation the rapid fire of the
many questions put to him.
Ten Years Protection Wanted.
Cuba has had 800 years in which to
protect and develop her great sugar inter-
est" he said. 'If you stand by us for
ten years the future of beet sugar is as
sured. And even should we annex Cuba,
We could hold our own"
He charged the trusts with employing
agents who masqueraded under high
sounding commercial names and who were
flooding the country with anonymous cir
culars favoring Cuban sugar.
Yes" remarked Representative Met
calf of California; I'VE have all received
some of them
Mr.. Oxnard warned the committee that
free trade with Cuba meant an influx of
Chinese labor into that country.
Scandal in Cuban Concessions.
The witness then turned his attention to
Mr.. Havemeyer, and told the committee
very bluntly if they probed the matter of
Cuban concessions and some of the indi-
viduals advocating them "a great scandal
would be revealed" In his opinion Cuba
had been most generously treated by the
United States, which had relieved her of
s3CO00o,OG0 of Indebtedness to Spain and
contributed S5.00o,00o in rations and $3,-
000.000 in money to relieve the suffering
among the Cubans.
Did we do anything like that for the
South after the war;" enquired MIR. Ok
nard.
Representative Richardson. reading
from President Roosevelt's message rec
ommending Cuban reciprocity, said to the
witness very impressively:
DO you mean to say that was iDsti-
gated by Mr.. Havemeyer?"
General Grosvenor, who had been loll-
ing back in his chair, leaned forward and
said quickly:
Reflection on the President.
Hold on, sir; l denounce such pro-
ceedings."
What do you mean, sir?" replied the
Tennesseean. sharply.
81 denounce such a question: replied
General Grosvenor. shaking his finger at
Mr.. Richardson. ut is d reflection on the
President"
And what does your denunciation
amount to?'' rejoined the Democratic
leader, scornfully.
Chairman Payne ruled the question out
OF order. Mr.. Oxnard hastened to say he
believed the President and the Secretary
of War had been misinformed and were
not familiar with the facts when the rec
concentrations were made.
Beet Sugar Industry Feared.
Mr.. F. r. Hathaway, general manager OF
the Alma Beet Sugar Company, of Alma.
Mich. devoted nearly all the time allotted
to him to a criticism of Mr.. Havemeyer
nd ha lat
the beet sugar industry. He read from Mr..
Hayemeyer's testimony before the Lexow
commission and later repeated before the
Industrial Commission to the working
of the American Sugar Refining Company.
Mr. Hathaway said if raw sugar came
in free II would destroy the beet sugar
industry in less than five years.
No Benefit to Consumer.
"a reduction IN the tariff said the
witness, would not mean a cent OF benefit
to the consumer. but it would mean an
enormous benefit to the Sugar Trust,
which has other markets to purchase from.
but the Cubans must come to them with
their sugar. This is the whole situation"
Mr.. Hathaway read the following tele-
gram from Mr.. John y. Blodgett one of the
best known citizens OF Michigan, saying:
state flooded with anonymous circulars
favoring Cuban sugar What philanthro-
pist other than the American Sugar Trust
would be interested in this direction?''
Mr. Hathaway said the beet sugar qucs-
tion was q vital one to the State of Mich
igan, where IS 0C0 900 was invested by
sugar companies in this Industry, all of
which would be ruined by a reduction in
the tariff. He also furnished figures show
Ing the importance OF the manufacture of
beet sugar to the farmers of that State
nearly II 600 of whom are engaged in rails
ing beets. for which they received last year
50 l70,G2C.
The Labor Question Emphasized.
Mr. " H. Stewart. President of the
Kalamazoo Beet Sugar Company, empha-
sized the labor question entering into the
discussion, contrasting the Chinese
coolies with the American laborer.
"Our laborers represent a high grade
of intelligence" he said, "as they do not
have to live on nothing and go naked. but
maintain home and family, and you
might remember. gentlemen, they are all
voters
The actual cost of the labor in American
beet sugar, he said, is S25l for 100 pounds.
Others who spoke briefly against the
proposed reduction, were o. d. Smith. of
Michigan. a member of the Republican
national committee: Hayward Leayitt, of
Leayitt Neb.: Thomas X. Cutter. manager
of the Utah Sugar Company, and Herman
Myrick.
Representatives Fordney and Hamilton,
on the Republican side, and Representa-
tive Robertson, On the Democratic side,
circulated yesterday a petition to the
Ways and Means Committee asking them
TO make no change In the present tariff
law The petition was literally signed on
the Republican side. but the Democrats
fought somewhat shy of il. The petition
read as follows:
eve. the undersigned members of the
House of Representatives. do hereby urge
the Committee on Ways and Means to
make no change in the tariff laws which
will in any manner injuriously affect or
imperil the growing beet sugar Industry
of the United States
Among the signers were Messrs. VIII
liam Alden Smith, Henry ii. Aplin, a. b.
Darragh, s. NJ. Smith, Washington Gard
ncr ]. B. Corliss. Z. ID. Sheldon. Edgar
Weeks. e. L. Hamilton. ]. W. Fordney. r.
p Bishop OF Michigan, Julius Kahn. F. l..
Coombs J. G.. Needham, James McLaugh-
lin, f. f. Loud and s. d. Woods of Cali
fornia; w l.. Jones, +. f. Cushman of
Washington. Thaddeus Mcmahon of Penn
sylyania Charles Curtis of Kansas J. ID.
Bowersock of Kansas. Theodore Often and
]. Eseh of Wisconsin, J. A. Beidler, 7. b.
Kyle r. w Taylor and Charles Dick OF
Ohio. Thomas Hedge of Iowa. e. S. Mi
nor of Wisconsin, ID. J. Flynn OF Okla
homa. Frank Wachter of Maryland; ". S.
Greene Of Massachusetts, J. G. Sibley of
Pennsylvania. Loren Fletcher OF Minneso-
ia, w. L. Brown of Wisconsin, George