Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-06-10

WaSh1ngtOn.| nave frequently
mentioned in these columns III e
problems t a t
Business have confronted
Problems and continue to
confront the COM
merce and industry of the United
States. However n may regard
the ethics of the business interests
of the nation, I think everyone must
admit that business has it's prob
lens that are just as serious as the
job of earning a living is to you or
me This has been. especially true
during the period of the depression
and it is equally true at this stage
Of economic recovery.
Business, moreover, is affected to
a greater extent than you or me by
any governmental policy tina. is pur-
sued or any legislation that is IN
acted by congress or by state
legislative bodies. In consequence,
it seems to be a fair statement to
say that business lives by the will
and the whim of the elected rep
resentatives whether those repre-
sentatives be local, state or ma
tional.
Those observations should DEM
onstrate fully the Importance of one
piece of legislation now pending in
congress. I refer to the so called
permanent sugar bill. Seldom in
history, I believe, has a single unit
of industry found itself in a position
where it is so utterly dependent
upon federal policy for it's existence
as is the case now with those eight
cen or twenty plants that refine
about seventy-ive per cent of all
the sugar we use on our tables
and otherwise in this nation.
The situation, succinctly, is that
President Roosevelt has recon-
mended to congress that it adopt
legislation of a permanent character
"to protect the interest of each
group concerned" and assure
meanwhile that the interest of the
consumer shall have due considera-
ton. Pursuant to the Presidents
proposal of March l, last, the house
committee on agriculture is work.
ing out a piece of legislation which
seeks to reconcile the differences
of all the various interests a d
make thereby a permanent policy
which this country may follow as
regards sugar.
1t must be remembered that the
United States imports something
like seventy-eight per cent of all
the sugar it consumes. The other
twenty-five per cent is produced
by our sugar beet and sugar cane
farmers-a consequential industry
worthy of protection from it's gov
eminent but still quite unable to
satisfy demands for the commodity.
Some of the sugar we import comes
from Puerto Rico; some comes from
Hawaii; some from the Philippines,
but the bulk m from Cuba.
Since Puerto Rico and Hawaii are
insular territories of our nation,
they must receive consideration as
an integral part of our nation. The
Philippines are no longer a pos
session and yet there is something
of a fatherly interest, or should be,
on our part. With reference to Cuba,
the United States long has attempt
ed to help the islands economically
and politically in order to insure
the independence which our nation
helped them to establish.
So it is seen that we have in the
sugar problem questions involving
(1) a home indus
There's try; ~ an indus
Sugar try in an insular
possession; (3) an
industry in a nation newly born
and which we are trying to lead
into a position of complete indie
pendence and solvency, and az
the maintenance of our chief source
of sugar supply in a nation for
which our government yet feels
somewhat responsible.
That summary indicates the COM
plexity of the general problem to
be dealt with in the current legisla-
ton but the picture omits a most
important unit in the industry. I re-
fer again to those plants who must
refine the sugar and must make
it ready for home S or other
consumption.
To make the picture complete, it
ought to be recalled that for sew
eral years we have had a tempo
rary law which fixed the amount
of sugar that could be imported. 1t
was managed through what is called
a quota system; that is, the law
provided authority for the secretary
of agriculture to prescribe how
much sugar could come in from
each of the regions that I have
described. This had the effect OF
stabilizing sugar prices and guar
anteeing to the cane and beet grow
ers of the United States a depend
able market. But it had another eff
feet which was shown by the opera.
ton of the law, an effect not sc
painfully evident when the law was