The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1902-03-21
SUGAR CONSPIRACY,
Great Trust Called the ssKartell''
Found to Exist in Germany.
Through 1ts Operation the Price Of
Sugar II Forced Down I'm England
and Other Countries to the
RuinatiOn Of Industry.

The British sugar n.agnates assert
that their Investigations have re.
vealed the existence H. Germany of a
great trust called the "Kartell,'
which has been in existence about a
year and that it is chiefly owing to
its agency that sugar has been forced
down in England and other countries
to the lowest point in the history OF
the industry, and that Germany to.
day is enabled to dictate to the world
the price of that commodity. The ex.
act extent of the ''Ka:ten'' was dis
covered, they say, only quite recently.
The magnitude of it's operations sup
plies the missing factors in the pres.
ent alarming conditions of the sugar
market.
The abolition of this organiza ton
will be one of the CHIEF objects of the
nations other than Germany attend
ing the forthcoming Brussels cor
ference. Already British firms have
entered into negotiations with lead
ing American sugar interests, and
tables are now being drawn up show
ing the transactions G; the 'Kartell,"
with view of submitting them to the
authorities at Washington. The Brit
ish government will be urged to en-
power it's representatives at the Brus-
sells conference to threaten retalia-
tory measures unless The "Kartell" is
broken up, or at least modified.
The latest figures availab in Lon
don show that Germany now pro-
duces one-third of the worlds supply
OF beet sugar, of which she exports
no less than 100000 tons after COM
pletely supplying her own popula-
ton. These exports. which are al
most one-fifth of the worlds avail
able supply, are sent out at loss to
German manufacturers, but. thanks
to the "Kartell,' plus the bounty,
the! are able not only to make up for
this. but to reap a handsome profit
in addition to gaining absolute con-
troll OF the sugar market.
TIE ''Kartell'' is ruc, very secretly.
but from confidential reports shown
to = representative o. the press in
LONDON it is learned that it consists
of an ironc}ad combination of almost
all producers and refners to keep up
the price of sugar in Germany. This
is cone so successfully that German
consumers to-day pay thrice as much
for sugar as the Briton does for the
SAM article imported from Germany.
The members of the ''Kartell'' bind
themselves to buy from and sell to
only those affiliated with the COM
bine. This has worked so satjsfac-
toriiy that the ''KarteIl'' now includes
practically every factor of the sugar
interests in Germany, from the agri-
cultural producer to the refiner. The
latter agrees always to paw 1878
marks per hundredweiyht for the raw
article. though natural conditions
might ordinarily allow him to buy
three marks cheaper. This. however.
lnsnres permanently high price to
the German consumer. The enormous
profits consequent upon these meth
obs are pooled in the "Kartel'' and
are divided upon an elaborate and in
genious scale. and tho surplus prod
uct is disposed Of at a slight loss in
other European and American mar
ketS. though even this d, fic:t is often
made up by the bounty that Germany
provides.
British sugar authorities are quoted
as saying that the German ''Kartell''
and bounty combined VII within two
Years ruin the beet and cane industry
IN other countries. espt cial!y in Cuba
and the other West Indies.