The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1915-11-04
Current Comments
on Sugar Tariff
Press Endorses the Proosal Of Sec
rotary Of the Treasury to Retain
Customs Duty

III unduiiiity tbdt ID tACtp
tional, the newspapers of the coun
try are expressing their hearty ap
proval Of the recommendation pu
forward by Secretary of the Treas
ury McAdoo for the revocation o
the free sugar clause of the Under
wood tariff law. 1t is generally as
sumed that the secretary, in making
his announcement, was speaking with
the knowledge and approval of the
president, and the leading journals
of the country without regard to pol.
itics support the administration in its
proposed course.
1.-THE announcement OF Secretary
McAdoo that ne will recommend the
retention of the duty on sugar Is in
line with good business methods, "
says the Washington Post.
an their conclusion to ask Con-
gress for q renewal of the war tax.
es and the repeal of the free sugar
and molasses clause of the tariff, the
President and the Secretary of the
Treasury are fully justified by facts"
coments the New York World.
The New York Times, consistent
advocate Of tariff reduction in gen
eral, in recent leader opposing fur
Their revision OF the tariff at this time
makes an exception of the free SUI
gar clause. 1t says on this subject;
"One of the disappointments of
the present tariff is the treatment of
the duty on sugar. Sugar will be
cheapened to the trust rather than
to the consumer and the revenue is
sore!y needed by a Treasury which
is exhausting itself in disbursing
cash which the money market does
not need. There is no way of re-
ducing the deficit comparable to the
restoration Of the sugar duty in sim
plicity, certainty, and freedom from
disturbance of the body of the tariff
structure"
In subsequent discussion of The
Federal Finances, tie Times adds:
I'VE may confidently expect that
Congress will correct the blunder Of
the Underwood tariff in dropping the
sugar duties. The sugar schedule
Of that tariff making a moderate re-
duction took effect on March |, 1914,
Sugar has not been made any cheap
er to the consumer. The govern
ment has simply thrown away the
revenue. After May l, 1916, sugar
will be admitted free of duty unless
Congress amends the Underwood act
The restoration OF the sugar duty
I'D be an act of the plainest fiscal
common sense, and it is made al
most imperative upon Congress by
the condition of the Federal finances.
1t is impossible to make success
ful argument for the surrender Of
5000 900 of revenue without
particle of benefit to the consumers
Of sugar"
The failure of tariff reduction to
bring down the price of sugar to
consumers and the advantage to the
latter of a rate of duty that will en-
courage home production is present
ed by the Chicago Herald, one of
the leading independent newspapers
of the country, in the following
words:
The practical argument for tar
if tax on sugar is that it is easy
10 collect yields large revenue and
is a burden of only few cents a
year on each consumer. Moreover,
many students affirm that the world
has never yet produced as much SUI
gar as its people would like to eat
at prices they could AFFORD TO pay
and that the only way to change this
condition for nations which can pro.
duce sugar is to encourage its pro-
duction within their own boundaries.
From that viewpoint a properly
adjusted sugar tariff would be one
that not only brings in revenue but
also encourages production and thus
increases supply. Whether the for
mer sugar tariff was properly adjust
ed the Herald does not undertake to
say. Under it production was GER
tainly increasing, and just before 1t
was partly removed prices were low
err than for many years before. Re-
tiners' prices must always be under
stood; retail prices vary so much and
for so many reasons that no gener-
al conclusions can be based on them.
"The partial removal of the tax
on March /. 1914, was followed tenn.
porarily by lower prices. But they
lasted for only nine weeks, Then
prices went up again, higher than
before. Why? Some believe It was
because American producers were
discouraged and were falling, notab'
ly in Louisiana and Porto Rico, and
that the certainty OF diminished sup
Il. IL