The Washington times., 1920-01-04
.By lean kNUrr.

! sold overseas and to American re-
flners. One OF the elements which
helped materially TO make the board $
! action for the 1919 crop effective no
longer exists. The board was able
to deal with the unified Cuban selling
agency for the, 1919 crop and to Sc
cure and control the entire crop.
No Authority to Sell.
Now there Is no person or COM
mittee authorized to sell the balance
of the 1920 Cuban crop. Therefore, IL
the Government of the United States
through the board should hppear in
the Cuban market as a purchaser of
the sugar it would have to buy in in
dividual lots, to comepte with private
buyers. and the tendency would be to
strengthen the market and further in
| crease the price. -
Furthermore, It would be COM
PEELED to buy sugar at the time of the
most adverse market conditions and
| maximum prices and to seek to sta
| bilize the price on the basis of this
maximum or risk a very considerable
| financial loss.
"Furthermorc, the act Of Congress
limits the control Of the board over
, domestic sugar to July so, 1920, and
| should the board succeed in purchass-
| ing a large quantity of Cuban sugar
| for delivery throughout the year 1920
| the board would find itself in the po-
stion Of trying to maintain a uni
| form, reasonable price over the
whole country, with no control what
soever over the large quantities Of
| sugar from Hawaii and Porto Rico,
1T H.
and over the new Louisiana and
Western beet sugars, and this, too, at
the time of the year when, II at all.
absolute control of all sugars by the
board would be essential.
"In addition the act forbids the
board from putting into effect it's
present system of zone distribution,
under which consumers get their sup
ply from the nearest and most con-
venient points of production. This
system was most useful during the
year 1919 in effecting a fair distri-
button Of available sugar.
Little Chance For Price Cat.
'"The conditions in the United
States in respect to sugar are such
for January, February, and March
that there would be little hope of the
boards being able to reduce the price
of sugar by purchasing the Cuban
crop and attempting to re-establish
control of the industry. 1t is possible
that when the flow of raw sugars
from the large crops Of Cuba and
Porto Rico reaches its peak in March
and April. prices may be somewhat
reduced.
cents per pound wholesale, which is
ed t1A yndv
first offerings of sugar refined from
new cane sugars. Tho offerings Of
refined sugars for February deliver
les are at 1880 cents per pound
Wholesale, and still further reduc-
tions for March, which indicates a
tendency in the industry. toward set
tling down to normal conditions.
"The recent act keeps alive the
licensing power of the board, provid-
ing that whenever the President
shall find that any storage charge,
| commission, profit or practice OF any
llcensee Is unjust or unreasonable or
discriminatory or unfair, he may or
der the discontinuance of the same,
and, IL necessary, find what is just
and fair charge, profit or practice.
This power will be invoked IL neces-
sary, and, exercised in cooperation
with the Department Of Justice, will
be OF. assistance in preventing prof.
teering.
Consumpti Too High.
apparently the supply Of sugar
available for consumption in the
United States will be sufficient to
meet the demands OF the consumers.
even on the present unnecessarily
large basis of consumption. The
United States, It is estimated, con-
sumed in 1910 about ninety-two
pounds for each person, as against a
normal consumption of eighty-hvc
pounds. II consumed 100000 tons OF
sugar more than in 1918 and 100000
Ntons more than were ever used in the
history of the country. IL consumed,
therefore, over 9000,0 100000 pounds
Of sugar, or slightly more than A.
300. 900 tons.
"The crops for Louisiana, Porto
Rico and Hawaii will aggregate ap-
proximatcly 1000 900 tons. OF the
Cuban crop II is estimated that the
allies will take approximately 1885,
600 tons. They might take more but
for the fact that their aggregate pur-
chasing power is limited and they
must use ~ not only for sugar but
for many other foodstufIs and many
raw materials and manufactured
commodities. y is apparent. there
fpr, that Tho Emouni of sugar frnr,