The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-02-03
FREE CUBAN SUGAR
CONGRESSMAN TAWNEY EypT,sTNc
HIS POSITION ON THE
SUBJECT
CUBA DOES NOT NEED IT
Every LnbOrinG Man ON the
Island Is Now at
Work at Good
Wages.
CUBA DOES NOT NEED IT

Congressman James A. Tawnev has
written a lengthy letter to a friend in
regard to the free admission of Cuban
sugar, explaining his position. Among
other things he saws:
am as much in favor Of encoura ring
me closest possible trade relations with
Cuban that we can obtain, consistent with
cne DUTY which We owe to our own nco-
PIE, as onyone. l do not share however
TO any great extent the feelings of those
VINO claim that our obligations to Cuba
calls upon us to admit her sugar into fhe
United States free of duty
While We are interested in the welfare
o. OF CUBA, and have given abundant evil
t TTrte o. tnls, we owe duty to ourselves.
Inat is, always to safeguard the progress
OF our own domestic industry
For TWO days of this week the COM
nlltIee on ways and means have listened
70 the testimony OF many gentlemen who
spoke IN favor of the free admission Of
CUBAN sugar into our market and who,
are urging this with great deal of en-
ergy, and, by a systematic method with
which they are familiar, they have for
some time been endeaVoring to create a
sentiment along that line among the
people.
Let me give you a few facts, developed
IN the testimony Of these men In the
HrSt place only two of the many gentle
n en- who appeared before us were Gu
pans; IN fact, only one was a Cuban
ana only two of them resided in Cuba
Inc rest Of them were Americans inter
eSted either as stockholders in the Amer
lean Sugar Refining COMPANY or largo
sugar plantations On the island All Of
these gentlemen demanded the free adj
mission of sugar from Cuba. All Of these
admltted that until the present month
the sugar industry of Cuba has been a
prosperous as 1t was in any preceding
years prior to the war, or since 1895.
They all admitted, to, that every labor
ing man on the island, outside of Ha-
Tana, who wanted to work and would
work. is employed, at wages ranging
ranging from $50 to $50 month in Amer
lean money. They also conceded that any
try beyond its present development
could be accomplished only by the inn
portatiOn of labor from Spain, the Ca
nary islands, the South and Central
American labor could not be utilized in
the further development of this industry
They also testified that not to exceed
one-thlrd, or from one-fifth to third, of
the available sugar land on the island is
now under cultivation; that while they
will this year produce $4,000 tons of raw
sugar, they could, in ten years, produce
at least 2,S00000 tons annually or suffi-
Gent to supply the entire consumption
in the United States, thus entirely de-
stroying our own rapidly growing beet
sugar industry and cane sugar industry,
for they all tell lis that under normal
conditions Cuba can produce sugar
cheaper than any other country in the
world.
The condition which they seek to meet
by free sugar is one which they tell us
has been brought about by the oVer-pro-
duction of beet sugar in European COun-
tries by the payment of government
bountieS. None of them claim that tho
present low price of sugar was in any
way due to any act on the part of our
1t appears from the testimony that the
average sugar land in Cuba viii pro-
dUce two and one-half tons of raw sugar
per acre. The duty is about $34 per ton,
testimony as to the production per acre,
he was asked who would derive the ben
eft from the removal Of then duty, and
frankly admitted that the sugar planter
would be the only beneficiary, and that
this benefit would be in the nature Of
bounty amounting in the aggregate to at
least SIS per acre per annum.
1t appears, too, from their testimony,
that very large proportion of the plan
tationS under cultivation are owned by
Spaniards and Americans; that less than
10 per cent are owned by Cubans; that
many of these plantat1on have been
bought by Americans since the close of
| the war; and that this year there will
| be produced on the plantations owned ex-
| clusively by Americans at least 10000
! tons of raw sugar, or, in other words,
| that the product of their plantations
| owned in Cuba this year will equal or
| nearly equal the beet sugar product of
| the United States
So that in the last analysis we are JIp
| against this proposition: Can we afford
| for the small advantage which we an
| ticipate securing in the Cuban market
| for the sale of American products. to
vote bounty of at least SIS per annum
| on ever acre of available sugar land on
| the island of Cuba?
| 1t is my desire to do all for Cuba that
| can Te done, consistent with the interests
| Of our own people, and. in view of the
| fact that 80 per cent of the beneficiaries
| would be Spaniards, who never renounc-
| ed their allegiance to Spain, and Ameri-
cans, who, since the close of the war
| have gone down there to exploit sugar
| lands, and now own practically all of the
| available plantations we ought to have
some little consideration for our own peo-
| pie who are engaged in the production of
| sugar and in the development of that
| industry at home. Especially is this
| so in the light of the fact that every
| laboring man on the island of Cubar
who wants work is today employed, and
| the further development of the sugar in
| dustry in the island will involve the i'm
| portation of a race or races of people
| mere Objectionable than many of the
| people Of Cuba are themselves.