Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-04-29
4 ar OF HYPOCRISY.

a BIZ Uf HIfUChlSI.
Acting favorably on Mr.. Teller's
proposal that an investigation of the
charge freely made that the Cuban
sugar crop is almost, if not entirely. in
the hands of the sugar trust. the SEN
ate committee on Cuban relations has
recommended that such an investiga-
ton be conducted in order to settle
the question whether Cuban sugar
growers or the trust would be bene-
flied by tariff concessions on Cuban
sugar. This charge has been one OF
the stock arguments against the reci-
procity bill A writer in an eastern
journal of high repute says this is
one OF the stalest and most hackneyed
bits Of stock in trade of the beet SUI
gar ring. To every demand for justice
for Cuba and for the opening of Cuban
doors to American commerce the beet
sugar men have responded, DO you
want to play into the hands of the
sugar trust? ?" precisely as pro-slavery
democrats two generations ago used
to demand, as an unanswerable reply
to gnti-slavery arguments, DO you
want your daughter to marry a mig
ger?"
This writer goes on to say that If
this charge about Cuban sugar We're
sincere it would be an egregious bit
Of hypocrisy-if the paradox be per-
MISSILE. The spectacle of the beet
sugar ring railing at the sugar trust is
calculated to put to shame the ira
ditional revilings of pot and kettle
But there are the strongest reasons for
believing 1t is not sincere, that 1t is a
mere bluff" put up for purposes of
delay, and that its makers will be
thoroughly Disguised with the senate's
action in taking them at their word
and ordering an investigation. There
has not, so far as he has been able to
discover, been any ground for sus-
pecting that the sugar trust has pur-
chased any considerable part Of the
Cuban sugar crop. If 1t has, it has
concealed it's tracks with marvellous
skill. All the indications have been
the other way. Official reports and
the testimony of competent and i'm
partial witnesses have confirmed the
belief that Cuban sugar is owned by
Cubans. 1t should have occurred to
these reckless makers Of extrayagant
charges that under our system of jur-
isprudence the onus OF proving rests
on the accuser. A man is assumed to
be innocent until he is proven to be
guilty. We have been bound to accept
in good faith the Cuban assurances of
Cuban ownership of Cuban sugar until
they We're proved false. And they
have not yet been proved false, nor
has the beet sugar ring produced a
scintilla Of evidence to that effect.
There are some other things about
this Cuban business. continues the
writer referred to, which might just
as well be investigated as this. 1t
would be interesting to know just
why there is such a discrepancy be-
tween what the beet sugar men say to
prospective investors and what they
say to congressional committees. 1t
would be interesting to know just
why tens Of millions Of Cuban trade
go to Europe each year instead of
to the United States. 1t would be
interesting to know If the opponents
of reciprocity would rather have the
farmers and manufacturers Of this
country lose s30,000,000 year than
have the sugar trust make $3,000,000.
For in the last analysis supposing the
worst to be true, that is what IT
amounts to! Suppose that the sugar
trust has secured all the Cuban sugar
tho it hasn't-and will thus be the
chief or sole beneficiary from reci-
procity-tho 1t won't-that after all
is, from the selfish point of view of
dollars and cents, a minor considera-
ton. Apart from the ethics of the
case, which the beet sugar people seem
unable or unwilling to take into con-
sideration, here is the major propo-
sition: Some s3O,OOO,OOO or more of
cuban trade goes to Europe every year
which ought to come to this country