New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-03-21


crease the polarization from 81 degrees to 90
degrees. or 81 hundred pounds. Then. when
you nave sugar unrehned ct 90 degrees polari-
cation It costs 81 a hundred pounds to
Fehhe IT, SO that the cost Of refined sugar i'm
ported from the Philippines would make the
total as follows per hundred pounds:
Laid down at uoIlo. 25
Add to noleass to 81 roiaT-a,ian 90
ADD FOR refining .............. s.
o. hundred pounds .................. SO
The cost Of producing beet sugar in this
country was testified to by a number Of Wit
nesses before the two committees. They all
agreed that ic could be produced at So 80 a
hundred; that next year it would be produced
at So % a hundred. and the secretary Of the
sugar association, Mr.. Palmer, in a secret crcu-
lar sent around to the trade announced that in
the course OF q very few years they would re-
auce the cost Of the beet sugar to 81 a hundred.
Inc industrial commission reported that beet
sugar could be produced at SO 4 hundred. and
llat was at time when they had extracted
from beets less sugar BY about % per cent than
uey 90 to-day. In other words the beet sugar
ihdustry has nothing 20 fear from the importa-
- - oi Fhllpplne sugar in direct competition
Win mat sugar. But the two would not COM
pete Tor the reason that there is such an excess
oeHlahG unsausfed by domestic sugar. in
Guiding all importations from the Philippines
mere is absolutely nothing in the contention of
me Deet sugar people that their business would
Payne BILL
CONDITIONS IN THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY.
Now with respect to tobacco There are
raised in this country 600 100000 pounds Of to-
oacco. From the Philippine Islands there are
exported 100000 pounds. OF course the 6OO.-
VoV'VVV pounds we raise is not all cigar tobacco:
Oh the contrary, the amount of cigar tobacco Is
only about 100000 pounds. The Philippine
loOacco Is all cigar tobacco. A large part Of the
expectation is tobacco that could not be used in
ms country; it IS so inferior The cultivation
OF tobacco In the Philippines was carried on for
many years under a Spanish government
monopoly, and forced labor was used. but so
onerous became the exactions and so difficult the
use Of force TO compel labor that the govern
ment gave up the business and divided the land
among the workmen. The result has been 10
make the cultivation OF tobacco slack and the
character Of the product inferior. The number
u cigars produced in the United States is about
''oOU0oO'oOO, and the total is increasing annually
At the rate Of 100000. 600 The number Of cigars
exported from the Philippines. Of all sorts. many
OF which could not be sold in this country at all
so poor are they, is sO.OO0OoO, as compared with
r9Oo 100000 produced in this country. The total
LUMBER OF cigars produced in the Philippines is
only l50000.0O0. The proposition that that kind
OF cultivation and that amount OF production of
seems rterly absurd.
But il - said that Connecticut will suffer In
- CIC-t We raise an average Of 100 pounds
OL IoDdcco 10 the acre; in Pennsylvania they
raise 400 pounds to the acre: and in the Philip
pines tHey raise 395 pounds 70 the acre The
price OF wrapper tobacco in the Philippines IS
0V cents pound In the markets of Manila The
Philippine wrapper. in texture, color and utility
Is not TO be compared with the Connecticut
wrapper Two ana one-half pounds of Connect
cut wrapper Will wrap one thousand cigars II
takes eight pounds Of the Philippine wrapper TO
is worth, perhaps. 40 cents bound on an aver
age so that the Connecti,utl Wrapper is more
than three times as effectivs for wrapping cigars
and costs only one-third Rzore.
THE DUTCH COMPANY PERIL"
One pound Of sumafra tdbacao will wrap one
thousand cigars. It IS said C}lat If the markets
Of the United States are opened to the Philippine
tobacco Dutch companies Will come over into
the Philippines and raise SuInatra tobacco. This
peril is alluded 20 by Senator Brandegee. There
was introduced before the Philippines Commit
tee full description OF the method Of raising
the SUmatra tobacco. so famous now in the
tobacco markets Of the world. It also appeared
that at times II had been attempted to raise
shade grown" tobacco in the Philippines, and
that the attempts had utterly failed. The Suma-
ira tobacco is raised IN very limited territory in
Sunatra, which has now been practically ex-
hausted. The climate Of sumatra IS adapted to
its raising while that OF the Philippines is not.
due 10 the difference IN natural moisture.
The labor required 70 raise the SUmatra to-
bacco IS most exacting. and although the Javan-
csc and the Malays in the Dutch East Indies are
the best Malay and tropical laborers in the
world they cannot be used for the purpose, but
Cinnamon have TO be imported IN order to pro-
duce this very delicate product 1t is absolutely
impossible therefore, that the Philippines could
be used TO produce shade grown" tobacco like
Sumatras. The witnesses who advanced this
fear before the committee made themselves
laughing stock. They evidently thought that
Sumatra was Just across narrow straits from
the Philippines. although II IS two thousand
miles away: they did not know that Chinese
labor was essential to the cultivation of shade
that Chinese were excluded from the Philippines.
II was testified before the committee, though
obviously without foundation, that shade
grown" tobacco equal TO that or SuInatra was
raised IN Georgia and Florida. It IS not too
much say that the witnesses who teStlned
10 the Importance Of the shade grown" to-
bacco IN Georgia, Florida and Alabama made
themselves ridiculous so preposterous ana an
surd were their claims. When the statements
of the witnesses were compared with the
actual product shown by the agricultural
rerorrs II appeared that the profits from this
successful culture, in which IL was said that
not ten but thirty millions were invested. were
not, in the value OF tobacco raised tthat IS me
gross receipts Of the business), more than ~
rer cent on the capital invested. II an OTdl-
nary farmer in this country does not produce
tobacco crop each year which sells for 100 per
cent Of his investment he is not doing good
l,4sfress so great are his expenses The shade
crown" tobacco OF Florida and Georgia be
came q Joke before the committee. The IDEA
that a country that produces not more Lah
10 OOO 600 cigars and exports little more than
ba1F Of that 100000. and which exports OF
-,11I,a ctlred tobacco but 100000 pounds,
can destroy an industry IN me Co5ute e0 states
,,-bicb meets a demand for I.JOOOgOOpO cigars.
80 SIM, Al The rate OF jOOOOO0OO year, and