Gilpin observer., 1913-05-22

the selling Price Of an article Of gem
enal use. The law Of supply and de-
Imand ts the most potential influence.
Let us take another familiar ex-
ample; the cost OF producing bush
ell of wheat In tlhe great wheat fields
Of North Dakota and Minnesota rs
scarcely more than half what 1t Is
In less favored sections OF the coun-
try. But the wheat raiser in Mime
scta and the Dakotas does not drive
the nlionis farmer cut CT the wheat
bueiress Both men sell their wheat
in the same market at the same
price.
THIS price is fixed, net in Minnie
sofa, the Dakotas or Illinois but in
Liverpool, the worlds market, where
the U. S., hike the rest of the world,
d.sposes of its surplus stock of
wheat.
And men stay In the wheat hisd-
ness juet so lcpg as they can raise
wheat and make money out of it
by selling it at this world price.
e. Now, there is world price for su-
gar, Like there is for wheat, and the
price is determined by the English
market, just as is the price of wheat.
The countries of the world dump
their surplus sugar stocks on England
and the price of sugar there is less
than anywhere else on the globe.
The price of sugar in other coun
tries is approximately the English
price, plus the cost of transporta-
ton, plus the tariff and impost du-
ties levied by those countries.
Worlds Price
of Sugar.
1t stands to reason therefore that
any country which can produce sugar
and sell it with profit at the Eng Msh
price can successfully meet the COM
petition of the sugar-mak.ng world.
Now, what is that English or world
price?
The price fer a period of ten years
has fluctuated between 1920 and
$500 per 100 pounds.
OF course, Senator Patterson is not
gsng to contend that the Cuban will
sell his sugar in New York for $1.66
when he can get 1920 or $3.50 for
1T in England.
The German beet sugar maker does
not hesitate to enter the English
market and meet the competition OF
the Cuban and the East Indian, in
fact, the latter plead for protection"
against the aggressive German
Germany had abolished its bounties
1t has a tariff for revenue only of
SO cents, and 1t exports vast guam
titles of sugar.
In 1911, the latest figures have,
this German beet sugar was offered
for export at Hamburg for 1920 per
100 pounds, and the world bought ait
that price Why didn't the Cuban
with htis $l.66 sugar, ship in and cap
ture the Germans customers?
The answer is very simple: be-
canse the Cuban cannot sell refined
sugar at $1.66, never has sold refiu-
ed sugar at that price and in all hui
man probability never will.
With all due respect to Senator
Patterson, the story about refined
Cuban sugar selling la New York
for $1.66 ds a sugar trust myth. pure
and simple.
Can We
Compete?
II Germany can compete with the
cane sugar Of the world. what Is to
prevent the United States from do
ing the same ching?
Absolutely nothing. SO far as 1 can
discover from an exhaustive study
OF all facts submitted by the authori-
ties ON both sides OF the sugar de-
bate.
The German factories pay as much
for the beets as does the American
factory. and an addition 1T gives the
German farmer free seed and forty
to sixty per cent OF the pulp.
The German factory pays more for
Its power OF fuel, than does the Amer
lean factory, especially in the west?
The American cost OF labor ex-
ceeds the German. but that is a very
small item, for according to the su-
gar men the labor cost Of producing
100 pounds Of sugar in this country
does not exceed fourteen cents. The
German cost rs less, but the differ
ence is only trifAng- perhaps five
or six cents per 100 pounds-and is
more than made up by the advan-
tages enjoyed by the American fac
tories.
The fact ds. that up-to-date Amer
lean factories, economically managed,
should be able to produce refined su-