New Britain herald., 1920-03-10
BOO MILLION DOLLAR
 BUSINESS IN YEAR
Such Is Report Of American
 Sugar Refining Co.

NeW OTh, MdfCn 1U.-E1rt U. Babst in his annual report for the ! calendar year 1919 as president of ! the American Sugar Refining com- ]! pany which was made public today l shows an increase in volume of busi- 1 ness done from s200, 0,000,0OO to S3OO,- l OO0,O00 compared with 1918. The profits from operation were $1o,2S3,- 0S1.92. The operating profit on the $300,O00,000 volume is about 8 cents on each dollar of turnover and is de- scribed as a margin so narrow as to be very near an even break.
 The company's share of the sugar business of the United States has de- creased from 60 per cent. in 1900 to 27 per cent. in 1919 and the business of it's competitors has increased cor respOndingly. To put the company in position to share with competitors the general growth of business it is in- creasing it's capacity at Boston, mak- ing ready to build a new refinery at Baltimore, and has purchased a raw sugar plantation, Central Cunagua, in Cuba The company owns but six of the 22 cane sugar refneries of the country.
 Increase in Consumption.
 Consum ption in the United States exceeded 100000 tons for the first time. This is 500,0O0 tons more than 1918 and 100000 more than 1915, the highest previous year.
 The production of Cuba and the | United States field is shown to have l increased from 1,156,347 tons at the 1 close of the Spanish Am erican war in 1 1898 to 4,290,533 in 1913, the last 1 pre-war year, and to 6,173,2O4 in 1 1919. Cuba,'s increase alone is more 1 than 1000 per cent. since 1898 "If," l says the report, "the industry of the 1 United States and of Cuba has the continued support of the respective 1 governments, there are many reasons { to expect that it will hold a large l part of the business which has come l so unexpectedly during the course of 1 the war"
 l Shipn ents to Europe.
 | The report explains the shipments 1 of refined sugar to the royal commis- l sion on the sugar supply represent 1 ing Great Britain, France and Italy, which created ''considerable confu- sion in the public mind The sugar, it says, was the property of the royal commission and was merely refined here for it's account, forming no part of the supply allocated to the United States This business benefited do- mestic consumers, the report points out, in that the increased volume helped to overcome rising costs of refining. The company maintained for more than sixteen months up to January 13, 1920. a wholesale price on domestic business of 9 cents less ? per cent. cash discount All sugar refined by the com pany regardless of destination was handled on the mar gin agreed upon with the equalization board for domestic business. The real exports of refined sugar from the United States to foreign countries were 1S2,539 tons in 1919 compared l to 15O,556 in 1918. 451,221 in 1917 and 703,S62 in 1916.
 Government Control Continued.
 The joint purchase of Cuban sugar by the governments of the United States Great Britain. France, Italy and Canada expired December a1. 1919. ''yet the legal power of control over the domestic situation," says the report, continues in the president of the United States under special act of congress-"
 The destruction of beet sugar fac tories in Europe during the war shows that four in Belgium, q in Poland, and about 150 in France were apparently put out of commis- sion. The Russian industry is de- moralzed.
 Charts and diagrams appended to the report show that the company maintained a wholesale price on do- meStic business of nine cents less two per cent cash discount from Septem- Der 9, 1918, to January 13, 1920, a period of more than sixteen months. The price of sugar in the United States has remained consistently low CT than in other countries.
 ZOning Restrictions.
 From October 1 5 to the end of the year the North Atlantic coast ref1n- cries were restricted to the territory east of Buffalo and Pittsburgh.
 Half of the sugar consumed in the United States in 1919 came from Cuba. about re-fourth from domes- tic cane and beet and the other fourth from Hawaii Porto Rico, Philippines and various other regions. Cuba's entire production was one fourth Of the worlds production, Flu ropean beet one-fourth, India one- seventh, Java one-tenth and United States beet and cane one twentieth.
 The company has 20,665 Stockhold- CTS, with average holdings of A shares each. l
 Industrial Relations.