Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-05-15
BILL
IS SCORED BY
MORGAN

In one or the last congressional re-
cords to reach here, the fiery speech
of Representative Morgan of Louisi-
ana against free sugar is printed The
following is an excerpt from his adj
dress in which he holly denounced the
Underwood bill, declaring that it is
directly against the principles of the
Democratic party as enunciated in the
1912 platform:
Foreign competition will not affect
to any perceptible extent the sugar
trade, because of the proximity of the
Cuban sugar plantations, in which the
refiners are so deeply interested. Eu-
ropean competition, on account of the
ocean freight, will be a negligible
quantity, unless it is bolstered up by
bounties, and this is unlikely, nay
impossible, in the face of the Brussels
agreement. In other words, we are
going to be left to the tender mercies
of the American Sugar Refining Co.,
the Federal Sugar Refining Co., and
the Arbuckle Bros.
I'VE are clamoring for free sugar,
which We candidly admit will destroy
the industry. yet we write into the
platform of the Baltimore convention
that We will enact no legislation that
will injure or destroy any legitimate
industry" Why did you embody that
declaration in the Democratic plat
form? That sentence is as clear and
as lucid as the English language is
capable of making any sentence There
is nothing ambiguous eQuivocal, OF
uncertain about 1t. No one can intel
| ligently distort its meaning or justify
any misinterpretation thereof. We
are told today that it does no mean
what it clearly enunciates. We are
politely and graciously informed that
We are laboring under delusion. 1t
seems to me that it is inadvisable
for us to go on equivocating, quib-
bling, or hair splitting in our dealings
with the American people. That sig
nificant sentence was incorporated
into our platform for a purpose, and
well indeed has it served it's purpose.
That plank in our platform, more
than any other one, assisted in re-
turning, after decades, a Democratic
president and a Democratic senate.
1T is charged that We are engaged
in an economically illegitimate indus
try. However, those who undertake
to denoufce our industry and brand it
as illegitimate, tactfully concede that
the manufacturers of wooden goods are
unable to subsist without little incl
dental protection.
Those of you who believe in free
trade may extract and CLEAN from de-
carnations of this character satisfac-
tion enough to justify your own judg-
ment in voting for free sugar. How
ever, let me tarry you on your mad
and reckless rush to destroy this great
industry just long enough to say TO
you that the people who are engaged
in this alleged dollhouse industry are
directly responsible for the cheap SUI
gar that the American people consume
today, and this you can not success
fully gainsay The most modern ma.
chinery in the world has .haen devised
for the manufacture OF ar. 1t is
alone this machinery l. q has en-
abled the producers of sugar to
cheaper it, and now you satir-
ically say to him that yop must
abandon your dollhouse industry;
hurl to the four winds of the earth
a hundred and fifty million dollars
therein invested; and throw out of
employment thousands of men, wo-
men and children depending thereon
for their livelihood, and then you will
go before the American people and
appear in the role OF philanthropist.
Firmly do believe that Barnum knew
whereof he spoke when he said the
American peopletwish to be fooled"