The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-05-27
SENATE DISCUSSES
QUESTION OF
SUGAR
SUBJECT INVOLVED IN PENDING
TARIFF BILL.
Michigan Senator Declares the Sugar
Trust Tries to Establish Reputa.
ton by Pretended Alliance.


cussed sugar, as that subject Is In
volved In the pending tariff bill.
Senator Burrows OF Michigan, and
Senator Smoot Of Utah, both members
of the finance committee, also spoke
in support of the committees action.
Senator Smoot presented a carefully
prepared analysis Of the situation, and
Mr.. Burrows appealed more particn-
larly to popular sentiment The Mich
igan senator charged the sugar trust
with an attempt to establish a repu-
tation for fair dealing by pretending
to be in alliance with the best sugar
interests. which he said, was not the
case. He asserted a reduction OF du-
ties would destroy the beet industry
and thus render 1t necessary to send
$100.000,000 year out of the country
for sugar.
Mr.. Bristow. the new senator from
Kansas, was the only advocate Of re-
duced rnte. He presented an amend
ment eliminating all reference to the
Dutch standard in determining the
grade Of sugar.
Referring to the attitude OF OF the
so-called progressive" senator's, Mr..
Bristow declared that, instead OF
wanting to destory the sugar industry,
they were the best friends Of that In
terest as they were Of the protective.
Their desire, he said, was to prevent
graft and greed on the part OF the
trusts.
Reading from a letter, MI Bristow
endeavored to show that German re-
fined sugar cannot compete with
American sugar, even with an advant'
age OF 81 cents per hundred pounds
over the American price after the
duty has been paid. He declared that
the difference in the price at Ham
burg and New York was not sufficient
to make it possible for the German
sugar to compete, considering tne
higher quality of the American sugar.
Mr.. Smith Of Michigan, insisted
that the beet sugar grower needs en-
couragement and that anything threat
ening TO reduce the price of sugar
beets would destroy the industry.
Senator Burrows said that the sugar
trust, In order to injure the beet sugar
industry, had spread the report among
industry. MT. Burrows presented
communications from all the beet SUI
gar factories In Michigan denying that
the sugar trust had any interest In
any Of them.
| MI Smoot asserted that the proper
| ton Of interest Of the sugar trust In
the beet sugar industry was less than
| 30 per cent He proposed, he said, to
show that neither the dictatorship nor
| the profits Of the trust were as enor-
nous as has been claimed. From
| 1900 to 1904, he said, beet sugar fac
tories had increased in numbers, but
| the uncertainty of legislation prevent
ed a larger increase.
Mr.. Smoot declared that the mar
ket prices from which he quoted
showed conclusively that the AmeTi
can consumer gets an advantage of al
| least ! per cent of the 20 per cent
concessions on sugar coming into this
country from Cuba He insisted t1at
| the trust does not own any sugar land
in Hawaii, Porto Rico or Cuba, from
which free or concesslonary sugar is
| received
Under the English policy, he said
that country's refining industry had
been reduced from 81 per cent, to 45
per cent of the home consumption
Concerning the profits OF t1e sugar
| trust in refining, Mr. Smoot calculated
| that instead Of being SS,749 200 year
as reported by trust journal, they
were S1.957,54S less than that. He
quoted the price Of sugar for the last
nine years to show that under the
Dingley law they had been reduced
The best way, he said, to reduce fur
| ther the price, was to encourage the
building of beet sugar factories and
| the production Of sugar In this coun'
| try
Referring to the charge recently
made by Senator Clay that President
Smith Of the Mormon church. fixed
the price Of beets, Mr.. Smoot said that
! If this were so MT Smith might justly
be hailed as the farmers friend, since
! the farmers are so we'll satisfied with
| the conditions that tney seek to In
crease the beet yield. He said that
| instead OF 100000 annually. Mr.
| Smith receives annually as presl
dent Of the Utah Beet Sugar company,
not more than $2.400. Mr.. Smoot de-
| clared the sugar trust could be curb
ed by $50 to 400 beet sugar factories.
| These, ne said, could not be consoli-
| dated into a trust
He stated that the beet sugar In
dustry would perish unless it contin-
ued TO receive reasonable protection
until such time as through the prev
alence OF superior methods. 1t will be
able to stand alone He declared that
| neither the cane industry Of the south