Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-10-26
Uncle Samn's Great Sugar Bowl

I prize in the eastern portion of the coun-
7 try during portion Of the present year.
| The price of refined sugar in the
| United States is set arbitrarily by the
sugar reiners. but it is determined to
some extent by the supply of raw
sugar available and the competition
existing between the refining monopoly
and the producers of beet sugar The
wholesale Srocers of Chicago and other
distributing centers of the middle west
have had control of the sugar mar.
ket between the Rocky mountains ana
the western boundary of pennsylvania
during the greater part OF TINS s .sa.
made the shipping of refined cane
sugar into that territory losing
! proposition
Sugar, because of it's almost uni
versal use. has been seized upon by
the governments of almost every coun-
try as revenue producer in Its tarln
regulations. America is the prlnclpai
nation among the great powers that
has seriously considered the question:
of free sugar. For many years the
production of beet sugar was stimu-
lated by a liberal bounty in Euro
pean countries. while they continued 10
levy duty upon the Imported article at
no bounty has been paid and the beet
sugar industry has developed under
the stimulus of the increasing demand
for the product. with such incidental
protection as has been given in our
tariff laws. Under these circumstances
the growth of beets and their CONVEX
sion into sugar has developed in the
United States at a remarkable rate
within the past fifteen years. With this
growth continued it will be only a lit
. 10 HI 1.af he xnyslI
longer be dependent upon outside coun-
tries for its sugar. This industry at
home. with the increase OF the cane
fields in Louisiana and Texas. and the
effects OF. the countervailins duty on
imports from Cuba. has made the
United States independent of Europe
on the sugar question. 1t is fair to
, assume that the nation will increase
its sugar output until importations
from any source. other than the island
possessions. will vanish
| In this view of the subject duty on
| imported sugar is not so important a
| matter as many believe. II beet sugar
| production continues. as it probably
| WILL it can be but few years be-
| fore the nation will be actually free
! from imports of the raw product.
4
| from this source would vanish in exact
| proportion to the advance of the home
| industry. Accordingly President Will
| son and his helpers in Congress have
/ simply foreseen the inevitable and put
| into the tariff law what in all prob
ability will be commercial fact at a
| period probably seven years hence.
] The effect of diminished duty on
| Imported sugar. eliminating In free
sugar at a specified time in the future.
| is not likely to affect perceptibly
! either the cost of living or the sta
| bility of the domestic sugar industry.
| The price of granulated sugar is fixed
| by agencies which will not be affected
by the change in the tariff law. Beet
sugar raising and cane raising are
both well established Industries. They
! are not likely to be destroyed. though
/, they may. be temporarily interrupted
by the changes going into effect in
the tarin law 1t will be found that
so long as the demand for sugar is SO
| insistent, and so long as the addition
OF half cent pound to the whole
sale price of refined sugar means the
\ increase of revenue to the producers OF
nearly $l2,000.0OO year, neither OF
| these Industries will be abandoned.