The Detroit times., 1908-11-21
BEET SUGAR. MEN
FIGHT AGAINST
GUT IN TARIFF
COMPETITION FROM GERMANY
WOULD RUIN IMPORTANT MICH
leAN INDUSTRY, SAYS r. r.
HATHAWAY.

Men interested In the future OF the
sugar beet industry in Michigan are
lighting TO their utmost to prevent the
wiping out of that industry by the re-
Zeal OF the tariff on sugar There are
q factories in the state, l6 In opera
ION AZ the present time. and they
represent an investment OF $4,000
900, While 10000 farmers are engaged
in raising sugar beets. Michigan coal.
limestone and other materials are also
USED In the refining of the sugar.
Beet sugar men maintain that the
competition Of their product has kept
down the price of sugar In this coun-
Try. They declare that the sugar trust
which devotes itself To refining prin-
cipally. would welcome cheap raw
sugar cane sugar from other coun
tries and has already acquired big
plantations In Cuba, In anticipation
uf remo,a. GO the duty.
The state OF Michigan, more near
is than any other portion of the Unit
I'd states, resembles the beet growing
sections of Germany" says +. X.
hathaway. OF the Michigan Sugar
Go. Germany produces 100000
tons OF sugar year, almost as much
000, 900 worth In round figures-al-
though there is not an acre OF irri
gated land in that country.
While German sugar costs much
less than ours on account Of the cheap.
ness OF labor there, II sells for more
10 the German consumer than we Am
orleans pay. We must have protection
to ike on account OF the difference in
, labor cost. A man who gets $3.50
month In one Of our plants would get
only s22 to $3.50 in Germany She'd
men, who get 20 cents an hour here,
get only five cents an hour in Germany
and seven cents in Austria. Compare
son OF all the kinds OF labor shows the
same ratio.
The German sugar is TO be had for
export at Hamburg at s2.3S per hun
dred and IL costs 10 cents TO bring IL
10 New York. We pay the farmer
$2i0 a hundred for the sugar In the
beets before they have even been wash
ed. Then We have all the manufac-
turing cost-and its costs us ten cents
freight from Saginaw 10 Detroit
No other necessity has shown so
slight percentage of increase as
sugar In the last decade or so. and only
because of the competition of the beet
sugar factories. In 1896, the price OF
sugar was s4.53 per hundred, with
tariff of only 40 per cent ad valorem.
The price of sugar today In New York
Is S4.65. only IL cents increase since
the Dingley law replaced the Wilson
law
The beet sugar manufacturers must
sell for IL cents per hundred less than
the cane sugar men In many places
because they have only one grade
granulated. while the trust has every
grade. The rush OF beet sugar into the
market in the winter months tends to
lepress prices. and the price Of raw
cane sugar falls at the same time. so
that the refiners buy IL up then and
the tendency is TO keep sugar prices
lower on the average all the year
I'VE are already going up against a
virtual reduction OF the tariff. While
the rate is supposed 10 be $l.62 IL per
hundred, the concessions TO Cuba,
Hawaii. Porto Rico and the Philip.
pines have been such that the actual
average duty collected was Sl.l4 l-2
for the last year
The beet sugar men will submit fur
thcr evidence and argument against
the removal of the tariff before the
subcommittee of congress, which is
now giving hearings, has finished de-
lberations.