The Hawaiian gazette., 1918-05-14
THE HAWAIIAN GAZETTE
MsO nn 7Urs M%Y mo 3s The ADVERTISERS aw7
KODERICx 0, MATHBsON. EDITOR
SUGAR Prices
TUESDAY MORNING,
MAY IA, 1918.

w dear in price wesafe thinking OF an feia-
4 i've terms. says Facts About Sugar An ARTICLE
seems TO MS expensive If we are asked to pay more
for it than we have been accustomed to pay in the
past or il it has advanced in price more rapidly
than other commodities Of general Potatoes
at three dollars bushe are costly in estma-
( ton because we have been accustomed to obtain
ing the same quantity for half this amount of
money If we had been in the habit of paying
four or FIVE dollars bnshel for series of years
. three-dollar potatoes would be considered cheap.
II the butcher doubles his charge for bacon while
ether meats advanced only ten or fifteen per
cent we hold that the cost of bacon is unduly high
because its customary relationship to other prices
has been disturbed.
In considering the price of sugar is instructive
therefore to take note of the extent to which its
tost to the consumer has been enhanced in an era
when the prices OF practically all foodstuffs have
advanced rapidly.
From 1911 to the beginning of the present year
the price Of sugar had increased approximately
forty-eight percent During the same period the
price Of wheat advanced $50 percent, OF corn,
beans and various other farm crops 200 percent
and OF cotton nearly 800 percent. Throughout
the whole list OF farm crops and food products
price increases from 100 to 800 percent have been
the rule
1t is evident that with these advances ranging
from two to six times as great that which has
taken place in sugar the latter is selling out Of line
with other products of the soil and cannot hold
its own in competition with them for the cultiva-
tors attention In 1914 bushe Of wheat would
purchase twenty pounds Of raw sugar sixteen
pounds of refined. Today it will pay for thirty
seven pounds Of raw sugar or thirty pounds of
refined. -Four years ago a bale OF cotton sold for
4 only enough to buy half ton OF raw sugar. Now
rhe sugar planter must offer full ton Of his prod
uct in exchange for a single bale Of cotton
l Such illustrations could be multiplied Indefinite
ly. They serve to show that sugar has been left
far behind by its competitors for the farmers CON
sideration in the to higher price levels. AS
was pointed out in recent article in these col
umns sugar is today almost the cheapest of essen
tial food commodities, whether we measure it by
its relation to the price advances that have taken
place in all these products or by the number OF
units Of energy that given will purchase in
the form OF these various foods
N"r Comparisons showing that one or even three or
four food commodities of ordinary use have adj
vanced more rapidly than sugar not in them
selves convincing evidence that the latter is too
cheap But when find, as is the case that the
general average OF food prices well'as the cost
of individual products has risen much further pro
portionatey than has sugar it affords clear indi-
cation that zone of four possible conditions pre-
walls tlD that the cost Of producing sugar has
not increased proportlOnately with the cost of
these other articles (2l that sugar was selling at
too high price at the beginning of the period
selected for comparison, ~ that oversupply
prevails in the of sugar, ~ that the pres
ent price of sugar is unduly low.
1t may be said, however that in none of these
explanations is the true answer to be found. The
, present low price is due entirely to the agree
ments formulated under the direction of the food
administration and subscribed to by the various
producers which impose an arbitrary limitation at
level far below that which would prevail under
the unrestricted operation OF the law Of supply
and demand. What the price would be today I'm
der the untrammeled working of this economic
princi pie it is impossible estimate with any ex
actness but it is perfectly clear to those who are
familiar with actual conditions in the sugar trade
that it would be very much above the present cs
tabshed price level
l hat some restriction upon prices and profits IS
justified under the abnormal conditions now pre-
vailing prepared to admit. But it is evi-
cent that in the OF product of general use
and necessity such restrictions should not depress
the price below the figure necessary for the main
tenance of full normal output In other words,
the price established must be sufficient to en-
able the producer to operate at reasonable profit
taking into account the great advance in cost of
production, Not only that, but it must be stuff
Gent to compare not altogether unfavOrably with
the inducements offered by other crops to which
the producers lands and location are equally well
adapted. BY any of these tests it is evident that
a material advance should be allowed in the price
established to govern the sale Of sugar.
VS.. S. 49, HU$