The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1918-02-07

7ay no more than cents e pound for
sugar
Control o. Cane Refners' Profits.
Immediately upon the establish
aent Of the food administration Mr..
Hoover said. an examination was
made of the costs and profits OF REIN
ing and 1t was finally determined tina.
the spread between the cost Of raw
and the sale Of refined cane sugar
should be limited TO $50 per hundred
pounds. The pre-wsr differential had
averaged about IS cents and increased
costs were found to have been tmpos-
ed by the war In increased cost OF re-
aning. losses, cost Of bags, labor, insur-
snce. interest and ether things, rather
more than cover the difference. After
prolonged negotiations the refners
were placed under agreement estso-
fishing these limits on October !, and
anything over this amount 10 be agreed
extortionate under the law.
in the course Of these investiga-
tons II was found by canvass OF the
Cuban producers that their sugar had
during the frs. nine months OF the
past year. sold for an average OF about
S4o4 per hundred T. o. b. Cuba, TO
which duty and freight added to the
refners' cost amount to about s5.65
per hundred. The average sale price
of granulated by various refneries, ac-
eoriIng 10 our investigation. was about
$50 per hundred, or a differential OF
s1S4
IN reducing the direrential to $50
there was q saving 70 the public OF "a
cents per hundred Had such diff
ferential been in use from the 1st OF
January. 1917. the public would have
saved in the first nine months OF the
year about e24 10000"
Next Year.
With a view TO more efficient organ
ization of the trade In imported sugars
next year two committees have been
formed by the food administration:
l. A committee comprising repre-
sentatives of all Of the elements OF
American cane refining groups. The
principal duty Of this committee Is TO
divide the sugar imports pro rata 10
their various capacities and see that
absolute justice is done TO every re-
finer.
. A committee comprising three rep
resenta;iyes Of the English, French
and Italian governments; two repre-
sentatiyes of the American refiners,
with q member OF the food administra-
ton. Only two of the committee have
arrived from Europe, but they repre-
sent the allied governments. The du-
F ties of this committee are 10 determine
the most economical sources from a
+ transport point OF view Of all the al
T lies 10 arrange transport at uniform
rates, TO distribute the foreign sugar
between the United States and allies,
subject TO the approval Of the Ameri-
can, English, French and Italian gov
ernments.
This committee, while holding strong
views as 10 the price TO be paid for
Cuban sugar, has not had the final
voice This voice has Rested in the
governments concerned, together with
the Cuban government. and | wish TO
state emphatlcally that all of the gen
tlemen concerned as good commercial
men have endeavored with the utmost
patience and skill to secure a lower
price. and their persistence has re-
duced Cuban demands by Is cents per
hundred. The price agreed upon is
about S4.60 per hundred pounds, (. o. b.
Cuba, or equal to about So duty paid
New York.
"This price should eventuate,"
MIR. Hoover said, ITO about $3.50
per hundred for refined sugar from
the refinere a. seaboard points or
should place sugar in the hands ct
the consumer at from sI2 to
cents per pound, depending upon
locality and conditions Of trade, or
at from TO 2 cents below the
prices of August last and from one
half to a cent per pound cheaper
than today.
There is now an elimination of
speculation, extortionate profits. and
in the refining alone the American
people will save over S25.oO0.Oc0 of
the refining charges last year a part
of these savings goes 10 the Cuban,
Hawaiian. Porto Rican and Lousianian
producer and part to the consumer.
Appeals 10 prejudice against the
food administration have been made
because the Cuban price is 81 cents
above that OF 1917. II is said in effect
that the Cubans are at our mercy;
that We could get sugar a cent lower.
We made exhaustive study of the cost
of producing sugar in Cuba last year
through our own agents in Cuba. and
we find it averages $3.50. while many
producers are at higher level. We
found that an average profit of at
least a cent per pound was necessary
In order to maintain and stimulate
production or that a minimum price of
s437 was necessary, and even this
would stifle some producers.
THE price ultimately agreed was 81
cents above these figures, or about one
fifth of cent per pound TO the Ameri-
can consumer, and more than this
amount has been saved by our reduc-
ton in refiners' profits If we wish 10