The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1912-07-29

terest struggles in industrial history
In the United States the progress O
| the sugar industry has been as mark
ed by conflict Ks it has abroad. The
sugar wars have been among tht
most dramatic and yengeful ofs oul
industrial yendettas and the meth
DDS employed 70 destroy competition
have not baked at the barriers o
either the civil or criminal law.
Out OF this confusion and conflict
arose in 1887 the figure of the mar
who for the next twenty years wa:
to dominate the sugar industry witt
eZar-like authority, to crush out
competition relentlessly, to sway
-, Congress, defy the Courts and there
/ by build up one of the greatest ant
most profitable of industrial com
binations. The mans name was
Henry O. Havemeyer. He had beer
! brought up in the sugar business
from boy aud was then at the
head Of one OF the big, strong New
/ York refineres. Henry 0, Have
never brought together seventeen OF
| the strongest refineries into com
bination that was the forerunner OF
tho present Sugar Trust, BY 1891
| the combination had developed en-
ough strength to force four of the
Philadelphia refineries that preyd-
ously had held ont to come in. 1t
was then that the American Sugar
Refining Company was formed with
capital of $g0,000.000 and with
HaVenmeyer as its president. He
was much more than an ordinary
president for ne ran the business as
a captain does his ship. He com
mitted the company to big under
takings without consulting the
directors. They were permitted to
ratify what had been done after
the accomplishment was completed
Stockholders who sought informa-
ton as to the affairs Of the trust
got small satisfaction and the in
quisitive public got none. The
company paid good dividends and
paid them regularly, That was
enough from the Hayenmeyer point
of view. The next ten years was a
highly profitable period for the
Trust The men who PIT their prop
critics in it all emerged with fortunes
Competition never was entirely
crushed out but it was reduced to
infinitesimal proportions
In the heydey of his power. fol-
lowing the establishment of the
Trust, the Hayemeyer Influence
was always felt at Washington
when the tariff was being recast.
The differential, that is the surplus
added to the duty on refined sugar
above the amount which would be
necessary to equalize it with the
duty on the raw product, was the
especial care of the Trusts represen-
tatiyes As long as it was main
tanned no foreign refined sugar
could get into the American market
and their position was secure.
Since then the refiners have chang
ed their attitude They are willing
to sacrifice the advantages of the
differentia if they can get fires
sugar. The reason is that a new
factor has made it's appearance in
the situation that threatens them
all alike and it is this new factor
which has brought on the present
sugar war, beside which all these
earlier conflicts pale into insignifi-
canoe.
This new factor is the sugar beet.
While the best sugar industry was
advancing by leaps and bounds in
Europe turing the eighties and
early nineties, it made small head
way in the United States. Follow
ing the passage of the Dingey tariff
bill in 1897, however, the industry
began to take hold in earnest
Trained men were brought from
Europe to direct it. New methods
and machinery were introduced
in 1899 the production of beet sugar
in the United States was 72,000.0 900
pounds. In the following year 1T
was t63,000,00O more than double
the output Of the previous season,
BY 1902 it had more than doubled
again and amounted to 1863, 200, 900
pounds, This rapid growth attract
ed tn attention Of Henry 0. Haven
meyer who with his thorough
know edge of sugar conditions
throughout the world, did not fail
to grasp its significance.
Hayemeyer followed his regular
practice in dealing with this eompe-
tition 1t was not feasible to destroy
1t so he sought to control it, lit in
vested Trust millions and and Have
meyer millions in the stocks of the