Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-06-02
Peregrinations Of
a Carload Of Sugar

Council Bluffs, June when q
car load Of sugar the refineries It 10
recorded as consumed and. fgura-
lively it disappears from the worlds
visible supply. But it may see . lot
OF the world and be the means Of
bringing fat profits to various end
sundry scalpers and SPECTATORS be-.
fore the ultimate consumer gets Q
chance to convert a figurative situa-
ton into one Of fact.
A federal agent WAS IN Council
Bluffs recently investigating tho pur-
chase of a car Of sugar by 4 local
concern. 1t was not bought for re-
sale here. 80 no question OF the good
faith Of the local buyer was raised,
IN fact, his firm was the ultimate
consumer and he had to pay q high
price. The car had reached It's final
destination here. But the agent had
succeeded in tracing the car In its
travels about the country from the
refinery to Council Bluffs.
The sugar in question seems to
have had its genesis in beets that
found their way to the rehneries ID
Utah, for 1t left the reineries 1t Salt
Lake. consigned to purchaser at
Denver, and Of course was thereafter
numbered with the Consumed" %
far as the visible supply OF sugar In
the country issconcerned.
Apparently Denver had more sugar
than she could possibly use. for 1t
was rebilled to a party In Kansas
City. OF course tho Denver mon
didn't lose anything on the trans
ASTON.
Kansas City may have needed
sugar, but she didn't get this partic-
ular car load. at least she didn't keep
it, for a Cincinnati man seems to
rave been the next highest bidder;
and the sugar travelled down to the
Ohio metropolis. It may be pre-
sumner that the Kansas City specu-
lator did not lose on the Transaction
either.
Cincinnati did not keep the sugar
either. A Chicago man appears to
have taken chance and 1t was re-
billed to Chicago. Did tho price go
up or down? BY this time freight
charges were counting and price was
near the limit, so the ultimate con
sumner must be reached.
One day a local concern got q tele-s
NJ a,n ,nolrf~or 70 <fnv. IN
a car load Of sugar, accepted and
was told to have its bank wire q GER
tain bank that the money was there
and would be forwarded on receipt
OF bill Of fading. In due time the
sugar billed to Omaha and transr
ferred back to the Bluffs reached the
buyer and was actually Consumer,
here. Many OF the sacks were worn
full of holes by the long journey in
jolting freight car.
When 1t left the refinery the sugar
brought SO per hundred weight the
price paid hero was SO, plus freight
The sugar had been on the road
many months. There is q great car
shortage In the country. The federal.
agent told the manager OF the con s.
Germ which bought the sugar that he
had succeeded In tracing CAFE from
Salt Lake to Boston and then nearly
across the continent again: also that,
in many cases the rebiiling process
had been accomplished so many
times that the records become corr
fused to such an extent that the cars
are sometimes billed as empties and
It Is impossible to find the ultimate
consumer. d
Asked why not buy direct from tbs
refineries, the local man said that
was not practical. since the refineries
contract their sales a year in adj
vance. They can approximate tn =
supply for the coming year and M s.. IS
a system Of distributor that makes
it difficult for the small consumer.
He advocated q system, by which
the government would license dealers
in sugar, making It a crime for ons
not so licensed to sell. There is 4;
law, he said, against the profiteer,
but It Is doubtful whether any OF tn 4
spectators in the particular car
mentioned received q margin that
could be called profiteering.