Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1902-01-10
AFTER THE SUGAR TRUST
The Beet Sugar Manufacturers
Met in Saginaw this Week.

L ne sugar men III tnt sldlt UtlNl u Ilttt-
ing in Saginaw Wednesday afternoon
and took action towards frustrating the
Llans o. the trust, which is trying TO
bring Cuban cane sugar into this country
free of duty, w. Il. Churchill, Of Bay
City, president of the association of
Michigan sugar manufacturers, which
was organized recently and which was
holding the meeting, was outspoken in
his denunciatlon of the methods Of the
trust in trying 10 down the beet sugar
men. He said: "The association was
organized for the purpose Of protecting
or defending our interests In Washing
ton as against the trusts; TO furnish
truthful statistics TO our representatives.
In congress and couuteract the misrepre
sentatlons generously circulated by the
trust. This trust has III New York
corps of skilled writers, busy turning
out literature designed to win the sym
pathies of the people in favor of Cuba
In order to do this they work all sorts of
lodges. Their aim, of course, is to low
er the duties on Cuban sugar. This is
done under the guise.of philanthropy, an
alleged desire to assist the poor Cuban
sugar growers. In reality il is in the
interest of the capitalistic owners of the
cane fields who dc not live in Cuba.
These people want TO control the output
of sugar in the United States SO that
when this is accomplished and the beet
sugar factories are out of the way they
can charge any price they may see fit
for their product. This proposed reduc-
ton of the tariff would be ruinous TO
one Of Michigan's greatest industries.
That is what we are fighting against and
we propose that the trust shall know we
cannot be defeated easily. Why, the
trust people are adopting all sorts of
schemes to carry their point. They are
sending out letters to ministers and
other people who are supposed 10 be
susceptible pleading for support in this
matter on account of the poor Cubans
That is all nonsense, as every thinking
person knows In the first place Cuba
elected 10 stay outside Of the fold and be
independent from Uncle Sam This
country has already expended millions
OF money for them and given many of
its citizens lives to place them in their
present prosperous condition and little is
al this appreciated In the second place
this plea Is a subterfuge Not only do
the Cubans not own the sugar planta
tions but they get little benefit from
them. The Oubans Will not work, and
almost all the labor is imported into the
island. This Is the kind OF proposition
the beet sugar manufacturers of the
country are confronted with Our asso-
citation is working in harmony with the
national organization and we will fight
the matter t. the end.
The meeting Wednesday was special.
Every one of the II factories I'm operation
aud projected was represented Presi-
dent w. l. Churchill, of Bay City, pre-
sided. A considerable amount of bust
ness was transacted, but that Of most
public Importance referred 10 this tariff
Iuatter Secretary r. X. Hathaway, Of
Alma, presented an exhaustive report
dealing with the subject and containing
statistics Of the industry IN the state,
which was adopted ana ali % which will
go before congress as an argument
against the proposed tariff reduction,
The report was presented in the name
of the committee on statistics, compris.
ing + Il. Hathaway, j. G.. Macpherson
and n. II. Stewart. The total invest.
ment of Michigan sugar companies is
given as e. ,600, 900 and the present daily
capacity, 6 1900 tons. Amount paid farm
ers for beets, So, lO7 ,52O. AS to the out.
look next year, the report estimates
total dairy capacity of 1900 tons, and a
total investment by Sept. /, 1902, of
$40 500. 900. Also thar there will be
grown in the state next summer, $50 $50
tons of beets. from which will be made
1916. .50l 600 pounds Of granulated sugar.
Four additional factories are contem
plated and will be built if the action OF