San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-04-22
FIGHT ON SUGAR
EXCHANGE DOES
NOT GUT PRICE
r. =
sRefiners Defiant Say Fu-
lures Not Related
to Prices.
CUBA IN CONTROL
b.
No Way to Touch Men
Who Hold Raw
Product. s.5s&
CUBA IN CONTROL
By ROBERT T. SMALL.

the Department of Justice today
that it has only just begun to fight
evidence rapidly is accommodating tc
show that if the governments injunc
ton against the New York sugar ex-
change was intended radically to re-
duce the price of sugar to the con.
sumer, the move is doomed to dismal
failure.
Frank defiance of the government
comes from the big eastern refiners-
the men who at this time control the
sugar supply of the country. They
say that, the price of sugar futures
on the exchange has nothing whatso-
ever to do with the price of actual
sugar delivered in New York, and they
further add that they have nothing to
DO with the exchange and don't care
a boot what the outcome of the gov
ernment's suit may be. g.
The governments suit caused a
drop of something like 20 points in
sugar futures when it was first an
nounced, but in as much as the govern
ment itself contends that trading on
the sugar exchange represents nothing
inthe world but paper" transactions
lin other words, gambling-it would
seem that the refiners are. right in
their contention that reducing the
price of "sugar futures" has nothing
TO do with reducing the price of gran
ulated sugar TO the housewife.
Price Going Mp.
THE government is face to face
with the fact that ever since its in
vestigation of the sugar situation was
begun some weeks ago into the price
Ief sugars it. has been steadily going
30. This consistent rise in the face
of the dire government threats indi-
Gates very plainly that the refiners
feel they are not only in a strong,
but a safe position. $500. - '-.
They simply say that the price of
Cuban raw sugar, upon which the
limited States is dependent, is going
up, and they frankly ask how is the
Government going to prevent the Gu.
ban producers from raising their
|prices? Even if it could be proved
that a conspiracy existed among the
Cuban producers to hold their crops
Tor higher and still higher prices
and there is plenty of evidence of a
determination to do this-there is no
way that the American government
can punish a Cuban conspiracy.
g. u. Warner, or the Warner
Sugar Refining Company. just back
from Cuba. says:
Il have been down to Cuba and ]
know that those who hold the sugar
down there are going to get their
price"
In Strong Hands.
1t has been known by the govern
ment for some time that the Cutan
crop this year was in what the trade
talls 'strong hands," meaning that ii
was SO well financed, that the pro-
lucers could withhold their sugar from
he market until it compounded the
price they desired.
Word has reached the Department
bf Justice that there is disposition
b: New York to flaunt the govern
nents action of Thursday: with pre-
lotions freely being made in the
ugar trade that the suit will result
n fiaSco.
Obviously this attitude is not we'll
eceived here and it may bring re-
uits of an unexpected nature. The
Department of Justice and the Dc
bartment of Commerce have before
hem definite charges that there is an
knt ha rnfi,-
~ the Atlatnic coast and the Gu
an producers.
The formal charge is made that the
astern refiners of this country, and
be money interests back of them, ac-
ually control more than 40 per cent
L the Cuban sugar plantations. The
Legation is further made that when
be refiners say they are forced into
the open market" and have 20 IBID
br Cuban raw sugar." they are tol
II intents and purposes bidding
gainst themselves TO buy their own
roduct.
Beyond Tariff Relation.
Having carried the price, of sugar
ar above any possible relation to the
rotective tariff placed upon 1t by
be last Congress, the interests ili
pntrol fthe market are falling back
ow upon the excuse of supply and
emand. They insist that the world
rop is very much short of the est
ates made by the Department Oi
commerce here in Washington and
bat mill after mill in Cuba is clos
z down without attaining an output
hual to their earlier estimates.
Officers of the government admitted /
this correspondent today that it is |
ktremely difficult TO get at the in
RESTS in control of the market. Ger
inly there is no law against Amer
Ian capital being invested in Cuba. |
hid in order to boost the price of
gar to the American consumer it is
b necessary TO form a conspiracy /
this country.
Cuban Interests Dominant.
The sugar prices of the world to-
n are fixed by the price of the raw
,ban product at New York. The
knerican tariff has no relation to this
brld price. The high price OF sugar
Nav is felt in Great Britain and
Rough all the rest of the world The
ason for this is that the Cuban
pp is dominant at. This time and the
s->st<in control Of that crop are
parenNyi out 20 get all that the trail
will bear.