The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1912-08-03
n UNI .B:.ER. 81

STRONG PLEA FOR SUGAR TARIFF
Economic Value Of the Home IN
dustry and the TAFT Tariff
Board.
Golfers Weekly, a vigorous sun.
porter of Col. Roosevelt, and there
fore not to be suspected of any
partisan partiaIity or bias toward
| PRESIDENT Taft and the policies af
his administration, recently printed
| .he Following forcible article, show,
ing tnat the sugar question Is one
OF economics, not politics:
The misfortune will be serious il
President Taft's tariff board goes
out Of existence. Instead of being
abolished, it should be strengthened
and made permanent. We have in
mind now another illustration OF the
need of such a commission. Mr..
Sheridan is studying for the board
the sugar situation. His report viii
enable the public to come nearer
reaching a confident decision, The
government is now investigating the
sugar trust on the side of legality.
The whole question of control Of
beet and cane sugar by the refiners
is an economic question as well as
a political and legal question. If we
are going to have the protective
principle IN in existence at all, il de-
serves to be enforced where the
country, rather than the city, will
gain. DR.. Wiley, being examined on
the subject, said.
T believe it to be one Of the
best things for the agriculture Of this
country that could possibly exist, be-
cause il one raises beets he must
use scientific methods. Every beet
sugar field is practically an expert
mental station, which teaches every
farmer in the neighborhood. Il am
in favor Of protecting the sugar crop
in Louisiana and all along the coast.
! am not making a plea for taking
tke tariff off Of sugar at all. ..
want the farmers to have a fair
chance in the markets, governed by
supply and demand as to rise and
fall, and not have everything they
grow and everything they buy inanip-
lated as to price by somebody that
has nobody's interests at heart but
their own.
"a DIR. Wiley also stated that when
ever Louisiana sugar or beet sugar
comes in, the price Of sugar drops.
He added:
s hen I consider the beneficial
effect of this sugar Industry on
other nd its would
go ais far as it would Be profitable to
the farmers of the United States
to maintain that industry
Other experts supported the same
contention. Members Of the sugar
trust went q long distance In adj
mitting the competitive force of beet
sugar and its increasing Influence
In the price of the product east as
we'll as west. Among the men maxi
ing this admission were: Mr.Atkins,
vice president and acting president
of the American Sugar Refining CO.;
Mr.. Thomas, chairman OF tho board
Of directors in the same company;
Mr.. Claus A. Spreckels, president Of
the Federal Sugar Refining Com
pany; Mr.. Gilmore, a partner Lii Ar
buckle Brothers.; Mr.. Jamison, d part
ner in the same concern; Mr.. Park
sr, president Of the Brooklyn Coop
srage Company.
Louisiana producers argue that
they are making tremendous strides,
along with the cane producers OF
Texas, Porto Rico, Hawaii, and the
and with the states
which are interested in beet culture;
that the issue is not between the
buyer of grocery sugars and the pro-
dueers, but between the refiner,
who only Whitens the sugar, and the
at the fields, who re-
duces cane or beet into sugar crys-
tails; that sugar is the only article Of B
fiet which becomes steadily cheaper
n successive decades; that the rea-
son the refiners desire to lower or
abolish the duty IS to stop the
growth Of the competing industries:
hat the movement in CONGRESS is be-
ng dominated by the reffners, work
ng largely under the pretense Of be-
ng a fictitious committee of wholesale
srocers;; that the reason bone back.
vas taken out Of the chemical bin
ind put on the free list was that IL. 81
vas the only commodity on the free
ist which the sugar trust uses; that
o put beet sugar on the free list
will cheaper the price at first. but
almost Immediately the domestic
supply will be reduced about nine
hundred thousand tons IN cont
FETAL United States. while Porto
aieo, Hawaii, and the Philippines
viii suffer a severe reduction, possi-
,ly fifty per cent, which would mean
lbout one million five hundred thou-
and tons: that before this shortage
an be met by increased production
elsewhere, the worlds price viii IN
.rease and ali sugar consumed by
Americans will pass through the
lands OF the refiners and the price
% up. As these are all difficult
luestions, some OF theory and some