Evening star., 1938-12-06
The Political Mill
FIorido Violent Against Federal Quote System
On Sugar Production

effort to do justice to the domestic
producers Of sugar as well as the
producers in our island Territories
and possessions, including Puerto
Rico, Hawaii and the Virgin Islands,
not to mention the Philippines,
which only recently have become
independent with certain strings
still tied to this country-and to
Cuba, which Is one of the largest
purchasers Of American products.
Cuba, on its side, has only one big
money crop-sugar.
A group Of members OF Congress,
including both Senators and Repre-
sentatives, is here today, looking over
the Florida sugar situation, guests
of the Florida State Chamber of
Commerce, on invitation of Gov.
Cone Of Florida. The Senators and
Representatives are spending a
couple Of days In this Everglades
section of Florida. They have seen
the luxuriant sugar cane growing
in vast fields, the workers in the
fields cutting the cane by hand, the
shipment of the cane to the mill,
and the actual milling of the sugar.
They have seen the model towns
for that is what they amount to-
erected by the sugar corporation for
the use of the workers, some 5000
or more during the harvest season,
from November to April. They have
seen excellent Negro schools at
which the children are given educa-
ton and they have been told that
if Secretary Wallace persists, as he
apparently has done, in cutting by
Is per cent Florida's sugar quota,
$500 Of the workers will have no
work-which makes the employment
situation worse than it has been.
The Quotas.
Take a look at the sugar quotas
declared by Mr.. Wallace for the
year 1899 only last week. Beet
sugar producers in this country are
allotted 1,584,524 tons production:
domestic cane sugar producers, 429,-
553 tons (this means the producers
in Louisiana and Florida) with Flor
ida on the little end, for Florida's
quota for 1898 was about SIS, 900 tons
and Louisiana's 4l5,O0O tons, a to-
tai of 10000 tons: Hawaii, 958,994
tons: Puerto Rico. 8l5,S10 tons;
Virgin Islands, Oils tons; Philip
pine Islands, 1,052,854 tons; Cuba,
l 1854, 1903 tons: foreign countries
other than Cuba. 27,004 tons. This
means a total consumption in this
country of something under 7000,-
900 tons, of which a little more than
100000 is to be produced in the
United States, proper, and almost
100000 tons in Cuba.
At Loss for Remedy.
One of the arguments advanced
by the Floridians in favor of more
sugar production in the United
States is that sugar is an essential
food-and that if the United States
ever found itself involved In a war
which prevented importations of
sugar from abroad, the American
people would be in a bad way.
The labor on the sugar planta-
tions in Florida is we'll paid-run-
ming from SITS day to as high as
So or 81 a day to men working in
the fields. Not only are the work.
ers and their families provided with
houses in which to live, but they are
given medical attention. Here in
Clewiston model hospital has been
set up to care for the most serious
cases of illness or accident.
The members of Congress visiting
the sugar area admit that the Flor
idians have a good case. But some
of them are at a loss for a remedy,
in view of the fact that to curtail the
island producers Of sugar, including
Cuba, would be to strike the island
peoples in vital spot so far as their
economy is concerned. The whole
question undoubtedly will be aired
in the new Congress when it gets
down to work on the quota law,
which must be extended and given
new life II it is to survive after 1940