The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1920-11-23
THE CAUSE OF
MARKET CONGESTION

MANhEl SolNSGS ! IS1>
In the period Of great industrial
promotions at the close Of the last
century the late j. P. Morgan invent
ed the phrase, 'sUndigested securl-
ties" to describe condition in which
the output of stocks and bonds issued
by newly organized companies was
greater temporarily than the public
could absorb. Examination Of crop
movement statistics for the past sew
eral months indicates that the sugar
market is suffering from a similar at
tack of indigestion due to similar
cause, that is, temporary oversup-
ply of sugar which the public has
been unable to absorb at the prices
that have prevailed. >;
:. That the markets Of the United
States have been inundated. by ship
ments Of sugar from parts Of the
world outside it's own territorial lin
it's and Cuba in far greater volume
than was deemed possible in esti-
mates of available supplies made ear
ly in the year is shown by official fig
ures Of imports published by Facts
About Sugar last week.
These statistics show that for the
nine months ending with September
the receipts of sugar from foreign
countries and the Philippines amount
ed to roundly 3,5O0.o00 tons (of q
600 pounds each) as compared with
2,912,0O0 tons in the corresponding
period of 1919 and 2,2s5,000 tons in
the same months of 1918. Deducting
exports in each, case, we have net
receipts Of over 100000 tons for
the first nine months of 1920 against
2,347, 900 tons in 1919 and 2,136,0Oo
tons i'm 1918. In other words the
supply has been $4,000 tons greater
greater than for the first three
quarters of 1919 and over 100000
tons more than in 1913. This is; an
amount sufficient to supply 16 pounds
per capita more than in 1919 and 20
pounds more than in 1918. Taking
into account net imports plus the re-
ceipts from Hawaii and Porto Rico
and the portion of the 1919-20 beet
crop remaining for distribution after
January I, we have over 4,000,0oo
ordinary tons of sugar offered Tor
consumption in the United States in
the first nine months of the present
year. or an average of over IS
pounds for each man, woman and
child in the country.
Allowing the same rate Of supply
for the full year, we would have over
100 pounds of sugar available for
each person. This is not only far in
excess of the highest per capita con-
sumption heretofore contained, but
also is obviously more than the buy
| ing public is prepared to consume,
taking into account the fact that
sugar prices have been uniformly
higher than in preceding years and
have been as high as 80 cents
pound in some parts of the country
for considerable period in the early
part of the year. The highest esti-
mate of probable per, capita con-
sumption for the full year, made be-
fore the sharp upswing of prices,
was 95 pounds. Applying this rate
F.! for the nine months prior to October
would show an oversupply for this
period of 100000 ordinary tons.
This amount is greater enough to
explain a severe temporary attack of
sugar indigestion.
F., Bearing in mind that virtually all
the sugar sold in the United States
for several years past has been
drawn from domestic and Cuban
production, it is illuminating to note
that during the first three-quarters of
the present year Cuba shipped to the
United States less sugar than during
the corresponding per;pd of 1919,
while the receipts from the domestic
industry also have been slightly less.
Exports of refined sugar from the
; United States decreased 100000
lions Sugars arriving from other