Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-12-19

It 10 as a result of this situation that con-
gress 10 asked to authorize the sugar board to
buy WHIST Is left Of the Cuban sugar crop before
it il all gone. and to continue the life Of the
board for another year. 1t seems As II this is
the only thing that can save Us from an even
greater scarcity Of sugar than We now face.
OF course. there are other causes for 'th6
sugar shortage besides our failure to buy the
Cuban crop. For one thing we are eating more
sugar than ever before Our average per cap
ita consumption Of sugar used to be about IS
pounds During the war this was whitfield
down to Is pounds by Mr.. Hoover with his
gospel Of conservation In the name Of patriot
about ninety three pounds. Senator McNary
attributes this rise in sugar consumption to
prohibition and prosperity.
Then. too, the world is about three million
pounds short Of its normal sugar supply. Since
We are eating more sugar than ever before,
and there is less sugar in existence than ever
before, it would seem easy enough to explain
the shortage without trying to put the blame on
anyone. But the indisputable fact remains
that II the sugar equalization board had bought
the Cuban sugar crop this year. you and I
would be enjoying the boon Of . full sugar
bowl right now. Failure to secure the Cuban
sugar has caused both scarcity and boarding
OF sugar.
For Cuba was willing to sell US the sugar
a. = IS6SOuhUl0 YIlCc. Luz NUU0u Su8oA YAO-
ducers wrote letter to the board last July
urging it again to buy the sugar crop in q
lump. It may seem strange to you that Cuban
producers should prefer to sell all Of their
crop to the United States government at q prizes
| somewhere between and cents pound
when they are getting in some instances as
E,uch as 1914 cents pound. But it is really
not strange At all. Any producer would rather
sell his whole product for the year at one sale
and at a fair profit than to sell It slowly to
many different purchasers at different prices
with all the expense and risk which such a
procedure involves. The principal of the com
munity store again comes in. The American
people by communal effort can get their sugar
! for less for the same reason that the citizens
Of any community can buy foodstuffs for less
il they buy them in quantity. In both cases
the producers can afford to sell for less be
cause they do not have to bear the expense OIL
retailing, and the risks OF many different cred
its and Of f1uctuating market.
! Besides Cuba would rather have the Ameri
can dollar and American credit than any othel
coinage or credit in the world and Cuba il
anxious to stand in with the United States. Fol
all Of these reasons the Cuban producers wer'
not only willing but anxious to sell to TIL
sugar board This is proved by their letter Il
| the board which Senator McNary caused to b
printed in the Congressional Record.
Just who is to blame for the fact that thu
sugar crop was not bought is a moot question
The buck is being passed with great zeal
Some senator's blame the president and SOM
blame the board. and the board blames con
gress. The president. so far has kept mum.
You should be reminded that the suga
equalization board is a committee Of eigh
wise men appointed by the president in 1917
and equipped with $5000000 from the presi
dents special fund. After it had been ap
pointed the board had itself made q corpora
ton under the laws Of Delaware. The presi
dent was the sole stakeholder of the corpora
ton with the five million which he put uI
Just why the board was thus incorporated 1
not clear-presumably for its own protection
hut the fact OF its Incorporation is not i'm
portant. 1t is nonetheless a governmental
agency, acting for the American people. an
spending the peoples money.
When the board got the letter from tn
Cuban producers, offering to sell it the Cuba
crop again, it gave the matter long and earnes
consideration. It then wrote letter to tn
president, which Senator McNary has place
in the record. advising that the Cuban suga
crop be again purchased. This letter wa
signed by seven of the eight members OF tn
board. According to Senator McNary DR.. Taus
sig Is the only member of the board who di
not advise the purchase Of the crop. DR.. Taus
sig is college economist. He believes in til
1 law of supply and demand. True to his faitl
no expressed the opinion that this law coul
be relied upon to bring an adequate suga
supply at fair price to the United State
and that therefore 1t would be unnecessary t
buy the crop. Apparently President Wilson az
copied this view. There is no reply from hi
in the record, but only letter from one {
his secretaries saying that the matter woul
be brought to his attention "at the first favol
able opportunity"
| The evident fact Is that the sugar equa
ization board. although seven of its eight men
bers saw that there would be sugar famiu
unless the Cuban crop was bought, would NJ
take the responsibility OF making this purchas
unless 1t was authorized to do SO either by til
president or by congress. And neither tt
president nor congress did anything. Hent
DR.. Taussig, and the law Of supply and d.
mand prevailed, and 30 did the sugar famin