The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-07
REPUBLICAN ATTACK
 ON FREE SUGAR BILL

Washington, March 6.-Proposing to re- name the democratic free sugar bill 'an act to surrender revenue, destroy comp.- tition, and create monopoly" the republi- cans of the ways and means committee of the House today submitted minority report on the Underwood bill, which will be the next of the tariff bills to be con sidered by the House.
 The report was submitted by Repre- sentative Fordney of Michigan. It charg- ed that there is union between the sugar trust and the democratic party, and that the free sugar measure is designed to catch the votes of the consumer, and will, In time, deliver the consumer to the mercy of the sugar trust
 The report reviews in the main the dis senting views of the republican members of the Hardwick sugar trust investigat- ing committee. It gives credit to the beet sugar industry for holding down the price of sugar during the advance of last year and predicts that such a safeguard would be destroyed if the beet sugar men were driven out of business.
 The report asserts that the Underwood free sugar bill is "the bodest attempt in the history of our republic to surrender a growing industry to foreign importers, !" and that it is against the domestic su- gar producers and solely in the interest of the refiners of imported raw sugar. commonly known as the sugar trust"
 The report asserts that the sugar beet growing industry would be killed if ;he 1s1 r,x- tariff lgislation. There are 112,0O0 farm CTS engaged in growing sugar beets, the report declares, and it comments that ''the democratic party says to these farm CTS, we propose to make you pay TOT this reduction in the tariff on sugar.
 Predicting dire days for the sugar con- sumner, the report says:
 Not in the palmiest days of the trust. when MT. Havemeyer ruled it's fortunes with a rod of iron, and an ambition bounded only by the confines of this country, did the American sugar refin- ing companies ever monopolize such a portion of the sugar consumed in the United States as this bill would deliver into its keeping"
 The assertion that the Underwood bill will help the sugar refiners and destroy the beet industry is followed by the ir- situation that there has been collision between the democratic majority and the sugar trust. In charging that the bene- ficiaries of the tariff removal will be the sugar refiners, the report makes this specuation:
 Another evidence of the closeness of the union. between the democratic party and the sugar trust is found in the chem cal schedule recently passed by the uD- animous vote of the democratic represent atives and opposed by the vote of the republicans.
 ''The Paync-Aldrich bill places an ad valorem duty of 9 per cent on bone black. Tn the democratic chemical scned- ule the duty on all items in this section, except bone black, is reduced from 25 per cent to 15 per cent Bone black is taken out of the section and placed on the free list. Who uses bone black? Practically no one except the sugar re- fneries. It is one of the principal items of expense in refining sugar.
 Mot pound is used in the domestic sugar industry.
 'The man who uses lamp black in paint ing his barn must pay a 15 per cent duty on the same, but the sugar trust, that uses millions of pounds of bone black shall have the duty removed entirely, so that it can import the most expensive material used in its business, without pay ing any revenue into the national treas ury
 Now, less than a month after the pas sage of the chemical schedule. the same democratic party introduces bill placing suuar on the free list, relieving these same refiners of the burden of $o2,0OO0oo duty on their raw sugar. Thus the union has been consummated.'