Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-03
Washington Ticker
BY CLINTON COFFIN.
Associated Press Financial Writer.


Few legislative proposals have ever
had more careful preparation than the
sliding scale of sugar tariff, just made
public by Senator Smoot IT has been
apparent from the beginning Of tariff
discussion that the sugar schedule was
to be the center of bitter and prolonged
controversy. Opponents have con-
tinuously emphasized that the pending
House bill would increase the levy on
Cuban raw sugar from Sits per 100
pounds to s2.40. with like increase in
refined resulting.
Furthermore, sugar as commodity
has a runaway record behind it, though
not In recent years. and probably no
one better understands this than
President Hoover, because of food ad-
ministration experience. The Smoot
proposal. as advanced. clearly 1ndl-
Gates that a lot of experience has been
brought to bear in deviSing novel way
to give the beet sugar growers protec-
ton. and meet the objections of the
consuming public to unnecessarily high
prices. BY the arrangement proposed,
if refined sugar ever gets to $3.50
wholesale in the United States again,
the tariff rates on raw will drop to less
than half their present basis, and the
American consumer can draw freely
on all the world supply. Conversely,
if sugar drops to $3.50 wholesale. the
grower will have the fullest protection
ever proposed against any product
grown outside the United States.
People conversapt with the sugar
trade point particularly to new pro-
posal's method of determining the
price. making the actual sales of sugar
by refiners. as determined from their
books. over reasonable periods, the test.
Published prices, which are very dn-
ferent sometimes from the figures at
which business is done, would have no
control. Another point particularly
cited with respect to the proposed sys-
tenn is the relation of the rate of raw
sugar to the refined price.
Hesitate on Future Of OIL.
Astounding advances which have
been made of late in petroleum prodllc-
ton are causing observers OF the in
duStry to hesitate to predict its future.
The only thing that outmatches the
production increase has been the In
crease in consumption. especially in the
consumption of the gasoline proportion
of the supply. The last Government
figures indicate a small increase IN
crude stocks at the end OF June, nut
an actual decrease in gasoline stocks:
Yet there are some signs that the In
creasing output. registering as it does
now nearly 100000 barrels of petrol
cum day. is not going to rise further,
at least in the immediate future.
Most of the trade information leads
to the opinion that California; 90 new rev
gas law will cut off perhaps 0,000
barrels a day of production" G. r.
Hopkins. Government petroleum eco
nornist remarked in discussion of the
industrys figures. IF that proves to
be the result, it will cut of Just about
the surplus of present consumption
above demand outside Of that. there
isn't any sign of curtailment. and the
industry seems to be letting the idea
drop.
"The California measure is intended
to prevent the wastage of the gas which
ordinarily drives petroleum to the sur
face, and In so far as 1t brings about
production curtailment, does 1t In an
indirect way. There are no particular
signs of absolutely new fields developing
Just now. though the remarkable sue
cession of sands. one underlying an
other, at Santa Fe Springs in the Cali
fornia area. makes deeper drilling there |
have the effect of bringing new sup
plies into sight"
Tin Can Comes Back.
The economic life Of an old tin can,
is a somewhat more extended affair
than most people suspect. It goes out |
of their ken along with the garbage,
but there is mighty good chance that
the tin on its surface will come back
again with the grocer's boy. protecting |
the contents of still another can OF
beans or something. This suggestion |
is drawn from Mines Bureau research |
into the operations Of the Nations de-
timing plants. Il
Last gear the salvage work recovered
{, 18S, 800 pounds of the metal, which
was considerably less than In previous
years because the price Of new tin was
rather weak last year. That made II
less profitable TO scrape the cans. This