Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-11-16
YOUR DOLLARS WORTH OF SUGAR.

The committee OF wholesale groceTS
whose ~letterhead that it
was formed in the early part of 1909
when the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill was
before congress for the purpose of OBJ
tanning cheaper sugar for consumers
thru reduction of duties on raw n
efine sugars has issued a bulletin Of
facts which become especially inter-
esting in connection with the high price
of sugar which in September was cost
ing more than at r time within
eighteen years and a advanced from
quotations of $500 per cwt. in January
to 1925 in September. 1t is pointed out
by this committee that the specific
tariff on sugar has not been changed
in many years so that the cost Of the
tariff to the has not changed
and places this specific cost at 2 cents
a pound whether the price is high or
low, supporting this assertion by the
figures Of the duty of 1856 cents actu-
ally paid at the ports of entry and a
quotation from the testimony of Claus.
A. Spreckels before the Hardwick COM
mittee where he testified that this tax
Increased the price to the consumer 2
cents a pound.
Some years ago. the committee re-
calls the ways and means committee
prepared an ad valorem table showing
that the full duty on raw sugar was
qua to an ad valorem rate Of 1887 per
cent. A comparison follows Of the ad
valorem rates on sugar and some other
import duties: Thus while sugar pays
the 1887 per cent, champagne pays 20
per cent; automobiles pay 40 per cent
against the S7.S7 Of sugar; furs pay 80
Der cent: wheat 80 per cent: rare
paintings and statuary l. per cent and
diamonds 10 per cent. The committee
suggests that the principle of imposing
taxes on those most able to pay them
was forgotten when these schedules
were instituted.
The duty collected on sugar imported
in 1910 was over II per cent Of the
entire customs revenue Of the United
States, and no single absolute necessity
of life should be called upon to bear
such a heavy proportion of the burden,
as 1t can only mean that the tax weighs
most heavily on the poorer classes. If
however, it is decided that sugar alone
must produce close to fifty million dol
lars revenue, then all the sugar which
we consume should share in producing
this revenue. This is the method fol-
lowed In Germany, one Of the largest
beet sugar producing countries in the
world, and where h duty is only Sc
per pound as compared with out rate
of 1856 per pound. There the beet
sugar factories are required to pay a
tax OF about 11ac per pound to help
defray the "opens Of the government.
Such a big tax would be entirely I'M
u-ecessarysin this country, as We do no
have the heavy military expense OF
Germany. 1t would, however, be per-
fect1y feasible to collect this revenue
by putting a duty Of. say. 75c a nun
dred on foreign sugars that are i'm
ported, and taxing the domestic pro-
6utsa: & 3 hundred Such q read
iiustment would reduce the price OF
SUGAR to consumers, give a very hand
some revenue to the government, ant
afford tho domestic industry a protec-
s.ou 01 81: . CO... . re-nd which
- the same protection afforded by Ger
many. Better still, however, would bt
the entire removal OF the duty or a ne
cessity like sugar, and the collection OF
fevenue in some way that would moi
Aear 10 heavily on b poorer classes