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Show oo RUINOUS EFFECTS j OF SUGAR TARIFF In an able speech in the house of representatives Congressman Mon-dell, Mon-dell, of Wyoming, showed how the placing of sugar on the free list will I result in the entire loss of the great revenue which the United States has : been obtaining from that source The ! reduction of 25 per cent in the duty on sugar, which went Into effect on March 1 h,as resulted in a loss ol I revenue for the four months, March to June Inclusive, of approximately ss ii.imiii Said .Mr Mondell Gone to the Pockets of the Refiners. If this great loss of revenue were j benefiting the American people by a reduction in the price they pay tor susar tnus reuuciug. ine eosi oi nv- ing we could well forego the revenue .ind secure it in some other way; but the fact Is that no dollar of this loss ol revenue has gone u, the benefit oi American consumers On the con-trary, con-trary, the greatei pari of it has gone ; directly Into the pockets of the re i I flners, while a little of it has gone i to the benefit of the Cuban planter and the small remainder to tJie bene i fit of the wholesale dealers. Sugar July 81 and for some tune before was higher in price al wholesale than: it was when the duty was reduced, or for i considerable period prior toj that time. I am not surprised at that condition of affairs, for it is exactly; , what we prophesied would occur when ' th Underwood bill became a law. The refiner, however, has it in his i ii i .. .-i to di pp 1 he price al nnj time, and it is this menace, this danger, that prevents the maintenance or the 'extension of the domestic Industry and will render It impossible to continue con-tinue it to any considerable extent at least when suvar goos on the free list. Ruinous Effects of Free trade in Sugar. Mr Moudell cited some ol trie; ruinous effects of the change of the sugar duty, as follows; It has praclicalh ruined the Louisiana Lou-isiana suar industry. has closed eight great beet-sugar' lueto; I' ll has rendered idle 110,000,000 In J i vested in these factories. It has prevented the starting up of four factories heretofore built. It has discouraged the erection ot new factories which were in contemplation. contem-plation. It has compelled six or eight factories facto-ries to reduce the price of beets about 50 cents a ton. It will throw thousands of experts and factory hands out of employment by the closing of factories. It has deprived American farmers of a market for a half a million tons of beets. It ha? reduced the farmers' su-ar beet market to the extent of 111,- 000.000 It has resulted in loss to railway and other industries of at least a million mil-lion dollars by reason of reduced demand de-mand for service and supplies. It has reduced the revenues of the government over $8,640,000. Only the Sugar Trust 13 BeneUted. Over against these disastrous effects ef-fects it Is impossible to set any compensating com-pensating benefits to the public at large Sugar is not cheaper; it is higher. No industrj has taken or will, bj operation of the tariff, take the place of those destroved Or crip pled. No new employment has been or will be furnished under the Underwood Un-derwood bill to those who have lost or will lose their employment In field and factory Out of this los? and ruin but one interest has benefited the sugar trust The reduction ot the duty has added over $7,000,000 to their profit. They have absorbed all that the federal government has lost in reenue All this, let it be remem bered relates to the period antedat ing August 1 to the effect of Demo oratic tariff legislation before the outbreak of the war in Europe I commend these facts to the defenders defend-ers and apologists for the Democratic tariff bill Such gentlemen will no doubt ask the farmers and the In vestors in sugar industries to console themselves with the fact that the trust is doing well Fallacy of the Free-trade Policy Demonstrated. It" sufficient time had elapsed under the Underwood bill for the sugar in-dustr in-dustr to be completely wiped out. the United States would have been without sugar in the present emergency. emer-gency. Wherever there is dependence upon Europe, the United States ts without the product which had here-i tofore been imported It is no won-! der that the sugar market has con i tinued to rise and that new high records rec-ords are being made in both the raw and relined product. The fallacy ot the policy of trying to exchange an menoan market for a doubtful European Eu-ropean market, as President Wilson has wanted to do. is uhown plainly, by the present wai American Economist. Econ-omist. August 28, 1014 |