Evening star., 1924-03-30
SUGAR COST,RA|SEO
BY grower PROFIT
Tariff Hearing Develops First
New Statistical Idea on
Subject in Years.
BY HARDEN COLFAN.

Among WaShington'S forgotten in
vestigations, gone dark in the blaze
OF oil and allied inquiries, is one
which tfared TO momentary light this
week with "A general appeal to the
housewife and the average man-an
inquiry by the tariff commission into
the relative costs of producing sugar
under the American flag and in Cuba,
one source of our supply.
The inquiry was directed into the
costs of sugar during the period a
year ago, when the rising price of
the Cuban product, dominating do
mestic markets, shot to such heights
that the government took legal action
designed to end the alleged profiteer-
ing.
When numerous factors. including
"A generous yield of domestic cane and
beet sugar, plus supplies from Porto
Rico and Hawaii, toned down the
price to average reach, public inter
est waned. 1t is an unusual testi-
monial to public memory that the
present inquiry, touching prices then
under hot fire, has received virtually
no mention whatever.
For that reason, perhaps. there has
been overlooked thus far the injec-
tion into the inquiry of factor that
tends to upset all the commissions :
estimates of Cuban costs and may es-
tabliSh an entirely new method OF
procedure III figuring future costs,
with profound effect on the future Of
the American sugar industry.
"Loaded With Profits
Briefly, the contention is made that
the reputed costs gathered by the
commiSs so far as Cuba is con-
cerned, are not costs at all, but are
loaded with heavy profits to the
Cuban growers and. for that reason,
should not be considered. Ii the con-
tention prevails, the commission will
have to compile new figures on an
entirely different basis.
The commission gathers its figures
in the United States, Hawaii. Porto
Rico and Cuba for the purpose Of de-
termining cost difference. Cuban
producers, on account of the fertility
of their fields, the climate, cheap Ia
Dor and other factors, produce sugar
more cheaply than it can be produced
in the United States and its posses
sions. A tariff duty of f.I6 cents a
pound, imposed under the Fordney-
McCumber act, is designed to enable
producers under the American flag to
meet Cuban competition, which they
claim they could not do otherwise.
What the tariff commission wants
o learn is whether the 1.16-cent pro-
lection is too great Upon its findings
it will make recommendations to the
President. who is authorized, under
the flexible provisions of the tariff
law, to readjuSt the tariff up or down
by maximum OF 80 per cent. If the
protection is too great-that is. if the
cost of production in Cuba is not
1.T6 cents a pound less than il is in
the United States, Porto Rico and
Hawaii-the tariff could be lowered
to a minimum Of about seven-eights
of a cent a pound. The President,
not the commission. however, would
be the final determining authority.
Figures introduced by refiners of
Cuban sugar before the commission
this week show the cost" of produc-
tion to have Increased in Cuba by al
most 100 per cent between December.
1922, and May, 1923. These figures
cannot be compared with similar fig
ares from any American field. it is
claimed, because such data have not
been obtaiped 1t is charged also