Honolulu Republican, Volume IV, Number 505, 24 January 1902 — SUGAR PRICES AND PROFITS. [ARTICLE]

SUGAR PRICES AND PROFITS.

The first thought which < ame to the minds of th*- American farmers when rb* events following the war for the i t- ation of Cuba brought under our control certain tropical areas, was whether or not the possession or control of this territory by the United State, would injure or perhaps destroy the opportunities which they beileved they had almost within their grasp to supply much of the 1100.000.000 worth of sugar which the people of the United States annually con Mime This fear —if it reached the >-taK*- in which it could be called by That name —was answered in the negative by the lb-publican party when it passed the Porto Ri< an bill. The Democratic party fought with all of its power to prevent the enactment of that measure which placed a duty upon articles coming into the United State-, from Porto Rico. That duty wa small, but it was an explicit declaration by the Republican party that it would not concede the power ■<o fix such tariff as it might deem judicious against the products of Porto Rico and the Philippines, and under whatever conditions. In other words, it was a distinct promise to the farmer that he need not fear that the Republican party would permit their cheap labor and cheap sugar to lie brought in in a manner which would destroy that infant industry of beet sugar production which the farmers of the United States have, under the fostering care of th*’ Republican party, been building up during ffhe last few years. The farmers of the temperate zone can produce beet sugar successfully in competition with the sugar cane of the tropics when both are handled by free labor But if the Republican party intends to give special concessions to a tropical country which possesses an unlimited supply of cheap labor, and which is neither a Territory nor a possession of the United States, rather than care for the interests of its own people, then it is receding from its old-time principles. However, nothing lias yet been decided. although it can hardly be said that th*- news coming from Washing ton is of a nature encouraging to the sugar inter* -ts of Hawaii. Raw sugar is cheap enough, leaving but little margin for producers here after deliv *-,ring their -ugar in either New York or Ban Francisco. The chief trouble is that Hawaii is. and always has been dominated by the Sugar Trust, which quietly credits Itself with a margin of one and a quarter cents profit on every pound of sugar It ban died last year a part of which is a tax squeezed out of the producers who. with the risk of failing crops, are compelled to figure their share of profit in the small fractions of a cent. Sellers of sugar from other countries than Cuba are accepting the ex isting ruinously low prices rather than hold back their sugar for a time It is feared that Cuba, after obtaining a reduction in duties, will sell Its -ugars even at a lower parity than the present duty paid quotations, thereby still further weakening the market and unsettling prices At the same time there are no indications of decreased production in any part of the world.