The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-03-30
MR. Kinds DELIVERS MASTERY
REVIEW OF THE SUGAR QUESTION
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENT ATIVES

speech of Hon. Asher G. Kinds of
Maine, in the House of Representa-
tives, March IA, on the Underwood
free sugar bill:
Mr. Hinds-Mr. Chairman, under or
binary circumstances l would not take
part in this debate on a subject which
belongs so exclusively to the Ways
and Means Committee, but this House
honored me last summer with a place
on the committee for investigating
the American Sugar Refining Co., and
l feel under obligations to lay before
the members such conclusions as /
may have reached in the course of
that inquiry and such facts as may be
pertinent to this discussion.
The Ways and Means Committee
have not given to us any testimony OF
any conclusions based on any investi-
cation of their own. But the conclu-
sions which they have given are
based on the investigation made by
our committee. Now, to the candor,
industry, and fairness of the gentle
man from Georgia (Mr Hardwick)
who presided over the investigation
then undertaken, and of the members
associated with him ! pay every trib-
ute of respect. But, in spite of that,
the fact still remains that our COM
mittee was not instructed or expected
to examine the question of the tariff
on sugar, and such examination as
was made by it on that subject was
wholly incidental, imperfect, and in
adequate. Perhaps the most striking
proof of that fact is that our deduc-
tions as to the cost of the beet sugar
in Germany and in the United States,
showing over cent difference in the
cost of production, are antagonized
by the distinguished chairman of the
Ways and Means Committee, who
:, gives reasonings of his own to indi.
cate that the difference can not be OF
such harmful extent as tn Ie figures
would indicate.
Tariff Board Inquiry Needed.
There is only one inquiry adequate
to subject so vast as this, and that
would have to be made either by an
examination longer than any commit.
, tee of this House would be able to
give or by an examination by a tariff
board unencumbered by the general
legislative duties resting upon mem
bers of committees here [applausel
an examination that could be conduct
ed with business thoroughness into
the books of the companies and into
the cost of production. That alone
can give us the definite information
needed for subject SO vast as this
Do gentlemen realize how extensive
this subject is and what a wide range
it covers? The labor question alone
concerns the toll of brown men under
the suns of Ceylon, of black men il
the canebrakes Of Louisiana, of white
farmers in Michigan and Utah, o.
light-haired Norsemen who till the
beet fields of Sweden on the extreme
northern frontier of the temperate
zone. Any determination of what may
- be done by this country must go into
that great question of labor.
l The European Syndicate.
Any determination of what must be-
done by this country must also &c
into the question of the control of su
gar production in Europe. Sugar on tn,
continent of Europe is not produced
under the laws of trade as we under
stand them as to other commodities
: and as We understand them as to gu
gar on this continent There exists {
t great international syndicate which
presides over the sugar industry AZ
) a board Of directors might preside ovel
a corporation with a minuteness tha
r often goes to the control of the sup
! ply of sugar that may come upon the
. European market That great inter
D national combination grew up not OF
D the initiative of the protecuonist coun
r tries of the continent, but on the sug
= gestion of the one great free-trade ma
t ton Of the world-EngIand 1t grew
a up at her suggestion, and is main
tanned with her concurrence, becaus,
;, the conditions of the sugar marke
0 are so abnormal that even she coul,
!, not stand, with all her free-trad,
e ideas, the cheapness Of the sugar tina
r was forced on her until 1t disarrange,
n her industrial system.
e Go beyond the syndicated nation
of the continent of Europe, and yol
e come to Russia, which is outside tn
). circle of the Brussels conference. w
y have made no investigation of the ca
S pacity of Russia or what she may dc
+ And yet this bill before us today, b.
l. repeating, or, perhaps, a better worl
would be avoiding, the counteryailin
duty established in section Of tn