The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-20
THOMAS IGNORANT
 OF HIS ELECTION Never Participated in Sugar
 Refinery Deals TARIFF MAKES PRICE
Witness Admits Sugar Is Manufac- tured in United States as Cheap ly as in England But the
 Price Is Higher

l rectors of the American Sugar Refining
 company show that Washington B
 Thomas. the present chairman of the l board. was elected a member of special
 committee with H. O. Havemeyer and Mir | Senff to acquire beet sugar refneres, MT Thomas declared today to the special I congressional committee Investigating the .so-called Sugar. trust" that he knew
 nothing about it until he read of 1t in the
 government report at Washington few l days ago.
 l Didn't MT. Havemeyer notify you that you were a member of the committee tc
 purchase independent beet sugar interests I throughout the country?'' Chairman Hard wick asked him.
 | Not that l remember
 l ''As a member of such committee did you ever participate in the purchase of l such interests?,' ..... 'I don't think SO"
 But the records show that you. as a
 member of the committee, joined in the | s3o, ,0oo,00 purchase of independents" 1T have no recollection of 1t. MT Have l meyer always attended to these matters
  | MT. Thomas told today of his financial ! interest in the American Sugar Refining company. His stock. he said, amounted l to about 900 shares with book value of
 about $375,000, and the holdings of the
 members of his family. including his own.
 are between 15o00 and 20,00o shares, with
 8 value of between s1,6oo.o0o and E. GOO 0d0. Mir. Havemeyer when he died had only about 135 shares Of stock, but for many years had thoroughly dominated the com pany, the witness said.
 MT. Thomas said the soo,ooooo0 stock of the company was represented by real property with a book value of $132 for
 every s1oo share of stock.
 Will Appraise Property Chairman Hardwick said he would not accept the company's book value
 as correct. "Anybody can figure book
 value" he said, what I want is actual value by unprejudiced experts" and it was intimated that the committee would endeavor to arrive at such val uation by. the employment of experts to apTraise the value ofsthe property. Tomorrow the committee will ex- anime John E. Parsons, former gen eral counsel for the company. Several members of the committee were anxious to get further into the details of the conference between H. O. Havemeyer and John R. Arbuckle, which terminated the great sugar war. MT. Thomas testified yesterday that he was at the Havemeyer home at the time of the conference, but did not hear what was said. A ub-committec will go to Mohonk F to al ka To he is too i'll to appear here Chairman Hardwick announced the appointment of subcommittee, com- posed of Representatives Sulzer, Nal by, Jacoway and Hinds with author ity to examine and investigate all of the books, records and correspondence
 of the American Sugar Refining com pany.
 Mir. Sulzer got Mir. Thomas first to say that his company could manufac- lure sugar in this country as cheaply, or nearly so, as it could be made in any other country. It was owing to the tariff, he thought, that price of
 sugar here is higher than in Eng land.
 MT. Thomas said the American made less than 50 per cent of the sugar in this country, and it is. therefore, no monopoly.
 ] MT. Jacoway asked MT. Thomas it | the American was not in the habit of boycotting any Independent who went Into the Louisiana market to buy sugar. '.Absolutely no," was the reply. "Was not the object of the American I in acquiring independent and beet sugar I refineries absolutely to control the out put of sugar in this country?" Not that I know of
 | MT. Jacoway then asked the witness | f i,fc pt in ot pt pr9Y I fare with the raw sugar producers of
 Louisiana. fs
 e Only Competitors 1 ''Yes, we are competitors" l 'Is' that why you advertise in trade 1 papers that raw sugar is unhealthy and | has a bug in it?'
 l ''I know nothing about shis advertise
 ment," answered the witness. but he was instructed to get the information for the company.
 1 "The' directors of the American who
 favor selling that company's beet sugar l stock are for removing the tariff on sugar." asked MT. Malby. Yes"
 Certainly. because the low tariff on sugar would hurt beet sugar stock,'' cried MT. Malby. | Mir. Thomas said that any effort to | control the sugar business has been a |
 constantly increasing, and each year the Americans. share of this country's busi-
 ness is decreasing. N l At the afternoon session Representative Baker read from the minutes of the com pany in Apgpst. 1892. 8 mysterious en- ttry, saving .that the president having reported to the secretary for the present. | ing of injurious Litigation and other hurt | full actions. and. on April appeals from both parties. 1t was resolved" Here the | passage ended with cryptogram which l MT Baker wished to know about He
 wanted to know what was done with that l resolution. As MT. Thomas was unable | to explain the committee ordered the sec retary to produce the resolution. | In reply to. Representative Madison, MT. Thomas went into the formation of the original "trust." t .sDo you not think Congress should con- trol such a powerful organization" he was asked.
 "f think it would be good thing, D, re- piled the witness.
 Report Made to Western Federation Butte, Mont, July 19- President Charles Moyer's annual report to the Western | Federation of Miners, read today urged participation in politics as a body, favored the recall of judges, and citing the SUI preme court decisions in the Tobacco and standard Oil cases, declared that it is l only a question of time when the courts
 will bring labor unions under the sher- | man anti-trust get. He recommended con i'd ration of a plan to raise sigan- | fic fund and enter the mining operating