Evening star., 1924-10-28
Utah Senator Offers Sugar
Shares at $3-Denies
Coercion of CuIbertson.
REAL FIGHT DECLARED
GROWERS VS.: REFINERS
U. s. Producers Battling Foreign
Sources for Life, Says Re-
publican Leader.


Senator La Toilette. in connection
with the sugar controversy, Senator
Reed Smoot of Utah today offered to
sell TO Mr.. La Toilette for SO a share
his stock in the Utah-Idai1o Sugar
co. He listed the holdings as 4ip
shares.
Senator La Toilette, in Baltimore
last night, charged that Vice Chair
man Culbertson of the Tariff Commits
sion had been invited to the office of
Mr.. Smoot and there had found d
group interested in sugar duties. He
also charged that members of Con-
gresS had tried to coerce the commits
sion to prevent a reduction in sugar
duties.
Calls Meeting On Square.
The meeting in his office, Senate"
Smoot said, was altogether above
board and was arranged for the pur-
pose of presenting pertinent facts iii
connection with the sugar situation.
This is a fight" he said, between
the sugar refiners of America, known
generally as the sugar trust, and the
producers of sugar in America.
"The meeting referred to by Mr.. Lii
Toilette in his speech last evening in
Baltimore was arranged in the fol-
lowing manner:
The representatives of the AmerI-
can producers of sugar complained 20
me that the tariff commission in ar
irving at the cost of producing sugar
in Cuba, as compared with the cost in
the United States. did not confine it
self to obtaining the latest available
figures of cost, but based the same OIL
the average cost over a period from
1917 to 1928, Which embraced a period
of most violent fluctuations in wages.
land values and prices and also car
ried years before the provision of law
granting the President the power I"
increase or decrease the tariff rates.
Again 1t was plain that the commits
sion ignored the agricultural costs in
producing cane, except in the case OF
Hawaii
Refers TO Methods Used.
The commission secured the costs
of producing beets in the United
States, but refused to use that cost
in determining the cost of production
of beet sugar and substituted there
for a price based upon their return on
the sale of the sugar. The commits
sion arrived at the cost of the pro-
duction of sugar in Cuba by taking
factory costs based upon the New
L VI piiCc ol sugar anu lHCiuQeO
therein profits made by the Cuban
cane producers, 80 per cent of the
production in Cuba being owned and
controlled by the sugar retiners and
financial interests in the East
This appears to me to be unfair
and l doubted that it was a fact. /
then asked Mr.. Culbertson to come t"
my Office and meet a few representa-
tives of the beet sugar industry in
~ MI lieto
complaints because / thought he
might have an explanation that
would, at least, be satisfactory to me.
Two There He Didn't Know.
Mr.. Culbertson came to my com
mittee room and met the above men
toned producers, some eight or ninc
of them 1t is stated that Mr.. Hodges
(treasurer of the Republican national
committee) was at the meeting. There
were two men present that / did not
know. 1t may be that Mr.. Hodges was
one of theG The meeting was held
but a short time, during which Mr..
Mead (the representative of the SUI
gar producers of Hawai) presented
the case to Mr.. Culbertson along the
above lines. Mr.. Culbertsoh made a
very brief statement and left the COM
mittee room. He stated he wanted to
be fair with the industry and that was
about all he said. No request was
made of him by myself or any one else
at that meeting.
The result of the meeting. so far
as l was concerned. proved to me
that the complaint made by the sugar
producers was just one and that be-
fore this thing is finally settled the
American people will come to that
conclusion. This is a fight between
the sugar refiners of America, known
generally as the sugar trust. and the
producers of sugar in America, Every
civilized country in the world raises
good share of it's revenues from
duties upon sugar. America is about
the lowest. Destroy the American
sugar industry and the sugar trust
will tell the American people what
price they shall pay for sugar, as
they did in 1920.
1T is true that ! am a stockholder
in the Utah-Idaho Sugar Co., holdins
440 shares. ! have never owned more
than this amount in my life in the
said company. If Mr.. La Toilette
wants to buy said amount, 1 will sell
it to him at SO a share"