Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-04-30
AYERS WILSON HAD
TWO SUGAR LAWS
McNary Answers PaImer's Plea
That President Was
Handicapped
.PHILA. SITUATION IS CITED


torney General Palmer. addressing the
House sugar investigating committee,
declared Congress neglected to pass
laws empowering President Wilson to
take such action.
In answer to this statement Sena-
tor McNary, of Oregon, explained last
night that the measure bearing his name
and which became a law in December
had been designed to meet just that
situation.
He also pointed out that the Lever
act contained a provision that it should
remain in force during ninety days fol-
lowing the conclusion Of peace and
peace has not yet been concluded.
Therefore, according to Mr.. McNary,
there are on the statute books at pres.
eDt two laws under which the Cuban
crop could have been bought with safety.
Suggested Purchase August IL, 1919
There was no mention of the failure
Of Congress to act when on August Ia,
1919, the Sugar Equalization Board
first suggested to the President that the
Cuban crop be purchased.
There was none following the virtual
demand upon the President for action
when the Equalization Board again ap-
pealed to the White House on Septem
Der 20. 1919, telling the President at
that time that there was urgent need
for some immediate decision If the Amer
ican people were to obtain Cuban sugar
at six and one half to seven cents a
pound
The Lever act was on the statute
books during all of that time. The
McNory h;ll anootad ou nonap,hov on
and approved on January 1 simply was
specific extension of the sugar con-
troll provisions Of the Lever act to pre-
vail in the event that the peace treaty
was ratified and wartime legislation sus-
pended.
Eastern sugar refiners virtually have
agreed to revive their wartime co -oper-
alton with the government in order to
cope with the situation alleged to have
aisen out Of the policy Of the admin
istration regarding sugar.
Refners Offered operation
Among the agreements the refners
offered to enter into with the approval
of the government was one of co -oper-
alton to prevent resales on the part of
those within the trade that would tend
to allow the sugar to take any but n
direct course to the legitimate manu-
facturer and ultimate consumer.
They also reappointed the commit
tee functioning during the war with
the food administration to confer from
time to time with department repre-
sentatives with view to determining
reasonable margins of profit to be al
lowed the refiners. wholesalers and re-
tailers, respectively.
1t was considered possible that ne
gotiation of the license system by the
Department of Justice with the rcfiners
might be an effective way Of controlling
distribution. The reflners admitted they
had taken no steps to date to check
orders and prevent duplication, but de-
house system of checking orders before
shipments, thus preventing excessive
purchases from the same sources en-
abling some buyers to obtain more than
their requirement Of sugar.
Democrat Asks for Investigation
Scott Ferris, of Oklahoma. Demo
crat, introduced in the House yester-
day resolution calling upon the Fed
eral Trade Commission to investigate
all phases Of the sugar situation and
report to the House not later than June
10.
JnltPu otdttS
attorney at New Orleans, and repre-
sentatives Of the Louisiana sugar
growers will appear before the House
investigating committee today.
1t was through Mr.. Mooney that
the attorney general negotiated his con-
currence in the price of Louisiana sugar.
When il was pointed out by mem
Der of the committee at the hearing
yesterday that the Lever act was still in
force by reason of the continuation of
the technical state of war with Ger
many, Mr.. Palmer retorted that 1t was
highly probable in August of last year
that the President could not conceive
Of the utter failure of the treaty in
the Senate"
'If that bill had been passed by Con-
gress," he said in reference to the legis-
lation urged by the President, ''been
signed by the President and become a
law, the Cuban crop would have been
purchased.
SIN Philadelphia" he said, in illus
trating the operation of his policy,
there was a great furore about the
price of wearing apparel, and the fair
price commission of that community
made an investigation Of the wholesale
price, the dealers price and the margin
of profit. AS n result of the investiga-
tion they went to the stores and said
that in their judgment certain prices
should be charged and that their prices
were unjust and unreasonable"
Mr.. Palmer's inference was that in
consequence the price of clothes in Phil
adelphia had been kept down, il not re-
duced, by reason Of that activity. Citing
that case, he said:
did the attorney general fix the
NhaN hA Il L.
discretion as to what price should be
the basis for prosecution and warned
the dealers that if it were exceeded
prosecutions would follow"
That method he characterized as the1
only honest, fair, practicable; Ameri-
can way for meeting the present situ-
alton.
Reviewing the departments treat
ment of the sugar situation, Mr.. Palmer
told how the price of beet sugar had
been fixed.
"We discovered that the beet sugar
people were holding their stocks chiefly
because they had no way of knowing at
what price they could sell their crop
without violating the law" he said.
Action by the Department of Justice
was imperative, he explained, because
the beet sugar producers were between
the devil and the deep blue sea" in not
knowing at what price they could le-
gally sell their sugar and at the same
time subject themselves to prosecution
for boarding by reason of their failure
to put it Immediately on the market.
Mr.. Palmer then asked the Sugar
Equalization Board to indicate fair
price. which, he said, they did in plac-
ing it at ten and one-half cents
pound f. o. b at plant. In that case