Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-09-30
SEEN and HEARD
around the
NATIONAL CAPITALA
By Carter Field :
FAMOUS WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

ESFOHOtN' .W
money spent-money which other
wise would stay in Europe. 1t means
a lot of food sold in the most profit
able way.
But that's just the commercial as
pect of his "joke job that Gerard
has undertaken.
It's a bromide in the West that
the New Workers think anything
west of the Hudson river is unim-
portant, save perhaps on election
nights. "Out there" is just the prov
inces, from which one returns, when
one has to 60 there at all, as speed
lily as possible.
But if that "west of the Hudson
river" is changed to ''west of the
Mississippi" lot of folks in this
country might be included!
An Eye-Opener
The late Charles F. Murphy,
famed boss of Tammany Hall when
that venerable institution amounted
to a lot more than it does now, had
plenty to say to friends when he
returned from the Democratic ma
tional convention at San Francisco.
He told friends he thought every
American ought to make trip to
the Pacific coast, just to see what
this country was really like.
When it comes to Europeans seek
ing to understand America, and usu-
ally writing book about it after
few weeks stay, the question be-
comes even more important. 1t
sounds as if Gerard's job is just to
sell the cultured Europeans whom
he got to know during his diplomatic
service the western scenery of
America. Actually of course that is
all he is appointed to do, because
that is what the national park serv-
ice is interested in doing.
But visitor cannot see the Grand
canyon, and Yellowstone, and Gla-
cier and Yosemite without seeing a
pretty good cross-section of the Unit
ed States doing it. And he or she
would get a very different slant on
this country from that which is nor
mally acquired by the average dis
tinguished visitor on a lecture tour,
rushing from lecture to reception to
autographing stand in the big stores
book section.
1t may actually prove very i'm
portant in future international rela-
tons!
About Sugar
Sugar always has been political
dynamite, is now, and probably al
ways will be. Concern about the in
terests of the housewives and con-
sumers generally has been the bunk,
in the opinion of this writer and most
observers, ever since sugar became
an issue under the original protec-
tive tariff, with just one exception.
That exception was under the I'm
derwood-Simmons tariff bill, passed
Immediately after Woodrow Wilson
entered the White House, and which
did not prove very satisfactory. 1t
deprived the government of a rev.
enue of around $6O,OOO,OOO a year,
which, in those days, was important
money from the Treasury stand
point. For a time also it played
hob with the Louisiana cane inter
ests. Then along came the war and
sugar prices began to soar regard
less of any governmental policy.
From the progressive viewpoint,
the worst tariff of all was that
passed under President Hoover, in
which the duty on sugar was fixed
at two cents. 1t happens, however,
that Americans were paying, during
that period, just two cents above
the world price. In short, the duty
determined precisely the differen-
tial.
But under the quota system,
which any economist or free trader
| will admit is much worse than the
tariff system in practical workings,
Americans were paying, around the
first of this month, 2.38 cents a
pound above the world price! So the
consumer is getting it in the neck
even worse than under the Hawley-
Smoot tariff.
Hits Consumer
Assuming this, it becomes inter-
esting to discover just what they
are doing to American consumers
of sugar in the way of profteering.
According to computations following
the formula approved by the United
States District court for southern
New York, the profits of the refiners
during 1896 averaged seven cents
on every hundred pounds of sugar.
For the year 1895 the refiners' profit
averaged six cents on every hun
dred pounds. And in 1884 the profits
averaged five cents on every hun
dred pounds. The year 1885 was
thrown out of line by some bad cal
culating on the part of the refiners
as to advance buying under the
quota system. Briefly, they were
"caught short" They had sold sug-
ar at price in advance and then
| l..~l - oo1y v,o0ra for. Tho r1v, o,,ror