Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-08-01

1 was an absolute certainty that the
duty on sugar would be reduced, and
materially reduced.
' Mr. Fordney-Oh, yes; and you
know that all the fools are not dead
yet.
Mr.. AnsbeFry-Am | TO understand
the gentleman from Michigan 10 say
that these men who put $2,00O.00t
into a beet-sugar factory are fools?
! Mr. Fordney-They were: or else
they were sadly mistaken. The gen
tleman would not, If he understood
the situation, nor would any sensible
man who has sense enough TO aCcu
mulate property, put money into such
an investment knowing the facts. Per
haps they placed too much faith in
Democratic election promises.
Mr.. Ansberry-Let US have facts.
| Mr.! FoTdney-No sane man could
D., be induced to put his money into a
beet-sugar factory, nor into a cane
sugar factory, in Louisiana, where
have a list of AZ plantations and fac
| tories that have gone out of business
since the 1st of January. 1914.
! Mr.. Ansberry- am trying to talk
about something ! know about. This
| sugar-beet business l know some
| thing about, and the gentleman from
Michigan knows a good deal about it.
But the fact remains that that fac
tory was started in Toledo, Ohio,
| within 80 miles of Fremont, where
you say the factory is closed, and for
far different reason than the gentle
man states.
Mr.. Fordney-What was the reason
that it closed?
Mr.. Ansberry-Becaus they could
| not get the farmers to raise sugar
beets in that good corn country.
Mr.. Fordney-Yes; at a reduced
price.
Mr.. Ansberry-Oh, no.
Mr.. Fordney-I want to say to the
gentleman that the price Of sugar
beets is 80 cents a ton below last
years prices, and there are any num-
Der of farmers who will not raise
them because that means So to N.5o
an acre less for crop than they have
been receiving.
Mr.. Ansberry-The gentleman is
mistaken; they could not get the far.
mers to raise the beets unless they
paid them so cents ton more than
they paid two years ago, and that Is
the reason that the Fremont factory
has closed.
Mr.. Fordney--H that is the reason,
and that factory at Toledo has. been
built and they are paying so cents
more a ton for beets than was paid
two years ago, you watch that concern
go into bankruptcy inside of l.
months.
|, Mr.. Ansberry-The reason that the
factory at Toledo can expend $2.000.-
600 in this investment and make SUI
gar is because they do not intend to
run only 80 days in a year.
/ Mr.. Fordney-Th is all any oil
them run.
/ Mr.. Ansberry-There is no manu-,
featuring business that can make
return for the year and run only 80
DAYS in the year unless they are hot
housed by a tariff or bounty.
Mr.. Fordney-Oh, wait a minute,
Mr.. Ansberry-Furtherm - and
here is the statement-the Toledo fac
tory is going=to grind up sugar beets
and make sugar, and they are also
going to grind something they get
from Cuba, so that they will be IN
the business of making sugar not w
DAYS but for more than 6 months IN
each year.
Mr.. Fordney-What they have done
and what they are going to do are
two different things. Just wait and
see the outcome.
Mr.. Ansberry-I can see that.
Mr.. Fordney-I will tell the gentle
man that there is no money in the
business at the present rate of duty,
and when sugar goes upon the free
list they must all go out of business.
There is no question about that, and
i will tell you why.
Mr.. Ansberry-But' the gentleman
is going into the field of speculation.
Mr.. Fordney-Oh, decline to yield
further.
Mr.. Ansberry-The gentleman OBJ
jected to my doing that.
Mr.. FordneS-Cuban sugar can be
purchased for cents pound. The
freight on Cuban sugar is 10 cents
per 100 pouEAs to New York, and the
cost of refining is three-eighths of a
cent to four-tenths of cent. That
is 2 IL cents a pound for refined su
gar laid down in New York City un'
der free trade. The beet-sugar manu-
facturers in this country pay that sum
for the sugar in the beets at the fac"
tory, no matter in what state the fac
tory 4 located. That is the testl'
mony before the Hardwick sugar In.
vestigating committee. How can we
expend a cent a pound in extraction
and manufacture of sugar, making ii
cost 1-2 cents, when Cuban sugar
today under free trade can be produc.
ed for 2 IL cents per pound? 1t is
impossible.
There is one point about this mat
ter to which | desire to call atten'
ton, without being sarcastic, and
do not accuse anyone of dishonesty.
Either under the Roosevelt admins
tration or the Taft administration pro-
secutions, we're begun. against the re-
timing companies of New York for
fraud in underweighing and under
valuations of sugar. The American
Sugar Refining Co. and the Arbuckle