New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1915-10-09
DEMOCRATS WILL KEEP
DUTY ON SUGAR

:" Readers of The States will not b
surprised at the announcement
4. that the Washington administra
: ton has decided to suspend tn
free sugar schedule. We hav
long foreshadowed that, conse
quent upon the European war, tn
administration would retain tn,
q duty for revenue purposes, with
out surrender OF principle, since
until the Underwood bill. sugar
always had been held an ideal arti
:, Gle to which to apply the Demo
cratic policy of a tariff for rev.
enue only.
Nevertheless, the formal an
nouncement will be especially
heartening at this time, when the
city and the surrounding country
are trying to pull themselves to-
gether after the worst storm in
their history. Mr.. McAdoos no.
tice that the duty is to stay on
for several years will enable, the
planters Immediately to go for
ward with their crops; and not
only will there be great revival
Of hope and employment in the
sugar district, but the financial
tension created by the uncertain
ty Of the administration s inten-
tons Will be relieved and New OF
leans may look forward to a fall
and winter Of unusual business ac-
tivity.
Washington believes the action
Of the administration sounds the
death-k nell Of free sugar and that
the industry hereafter always viii !
be included In the Democratic /
revenue scheme. Washington 8
view may be correct. The Euro
pean war has brought the coun- /
try face to face with the necessity
for permanent national prepared
ness for defense, and adequate
preparedness, of course, calls for
much larger expenditure, and
therefore for increased revenues.
But without regard to what is go
ing to happen in the distant fu- .
ture, the extension of the duty
for several years will give the ST.
gar district abundant opportun-
ity to adjust itself to changes in
agricultural and industrial condi-
tons.
1t has long seemed to us that
one Of the fundamental faults Of
our economic system was in de-
voting so large an area to so pre-
carious crop as sugar. The boil
weevil taught Louisiana, in COM
mon with the rest of the South,
that to plant cotton alone was an
evil and diversification a blessing.
In our judgment the fortunes of
the people of the sugar district
will continue to run up and down
the scale just as long as they con-
tinue to put all their eggs into the
same basket.
They no longer can claim that
the policy Of the government de-
MES them reasonable time in
which to adjust themselves to new
conditions. Their grace( extend
ed beyond the three years at first
granted, now is ample in which
to decide whether it is better to
stick solely to. sugar or find more
permanent security in a different
exploitation OF their wonderfully
fertile lands.
Mr.. McAdoo's announcement is
especially gratifying to The States
and its publisher, not only from
the fact that it is recognition Of
policy consistently advocated by
The States for twenty-five or more
years, but because the relief which
has come to the industry is made
possible as a direct result of the
lntercession Of the publisher of
The States with the President.
whereby the Underwood Simmons
bill as originally prepared was .
amended in order to allow the
planters three years grace to
meet the new conditions. But for
that concession sugar would have
gone at once on the free list and s
the administration would not now
be In position, by mere indef- s
mite suspension of the schedule.
to extend the duty and save the |
industry from extinction, with