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Show HOOVER CLAIMS EXPORTS CAUSE LAGKJL SUGAH Food Administrator Says Shortage Due Entirely to ' Supplying Allies 1,400,-000 1,400,-000 Tons. BARS PROFITEERING BY PRICE FIXING Reply to Investigating Committee Com-mittee of Senate Made Public by White House. WASHINGTON, Dec. 25. Food Administrator Admin-istrator Hoover's statement on the sugar situation, which he tried unsuccessfully to get before the senate committee investigating investi-gating the sugar shortage was made public pub-lic tonight by the White House. It attributes at-tributes the shortage here to the heavy movement of sugar from the western, hemisphere to Kurope, and asserts that without the fixing of prices by agreement sugar would have been selling for 25 or 30 cents the pound and more than $200,-000,000 $200,-000,000 would have been profiteered from the American people by this time. The statement contains the food administrator's"' admin-istrator's"' rtpiy to" "'charges 'madebefore the committee by Claus Spreckels, president presi-dent of the Federal Refining company, that the sugar situation was mismanaged, and sets forth in detail the administration's administra-tion's efforts to keep sugar prices down while supplying large quantities to the allies. The committee, of which Senator Reed of Missouri is chairman, not only had refused re-fused to make the statement a part of the congressional record, but has declined thus far to permit Mr. Hoover to take the stand to answer Spreckels's charge. When the hearing is resumed Friday, however, H Is understood Mr. Hoover 'will be permitted per-mitted to tell his story. At t lie outset the statement presents the world sugar situation as It existed prior to the European war. The allies then produced much of their own supplies and purchased the remainder from Germany. Ger-many. Before the war they took only 300,000 tons annually from the western hemisphere. This year they have taken 1,400,000 tons. "That." says the food administrator, "Is the cause of the sugar shortage; and nothing else." Big Jump Avoided. The statement says the food administration adminis-tration has handled the situation with a view to sustaining the morale of France and England, where the sugar ration has heen extremely low for months, and at the same time preventing a jump in price to .0 or 25 cents here. Since the food administration was created cre-ated in August the United States has exported ex-ported to the allies 110.3r.iJ tons of refined sugar and in the same, period Cuba has shipped to Europe 24rt.l-'iS tons of raw product. This, it is declared, is just the amount of the shortage in the United States. Even with these shipments, it is pointed out. the supplv In England and France has been inadequate. Consumption in England has been reduced to twenty-four pounds h year for each person and in France to fourteen pounds, against a consumption con-sumption in America of fifty-five pounds. The shortage, the food administrator declares, will continue during next year as it is the duty of the United States to continue to feed the allies. "Next year," he says, "our supplies will be short 250,000 to 300,000 tons unless the allies go to Java for supplies. This amounts to an economy of about 10 per cent on our part. If the allies are forced to go to Java It will require an extra, amount of shipping, which if used to transport troops will move ISO.OOu or SOfl.OfW American soldiers to France. "If statements that there will be an abundance of sugar next year are believed by the American public, it will do this country's war efforts incalculable harm. The number of troops we can send across is limited. If we in our greed and gluttony glut-tony force the allies either to reduce their ration or to go to remote markets after sugar we will have done tremendous damage dam-age to our abilities to win the war." Charges Are Denied. Charges that the food administration has permitted suarar stocks to remain in parts of the country unmoved are denied, as are statements that sugar was left in Cuba while an effort was made to beat down Cuban prices. "There are no sugar stocks in this country." coun-try." it is declared, "which are not in course of distribution. Some 30,000 tons held up by the embargo have been released re-leased for American consumption. All but a trivial amount of Cuban sugar has been exported either to the allies or to the United States. This Is shown in a report from the American consul general in Cuba." As to the fixing of sugar prices the food administrator has this to say: "In order to prevent profiteering out f the situation the food administration considered strong action was neoessarv and imposed a maximum profit on refiners refin-ers and wholesalers. The refiners' margin mar-gin was 51. S4 per hundred, and nine months before the fod administration came into existence it was reduced to 51.30 and a saving of more than $2o.0iXV 000 per annum was efiected. "As a further precaution against profiteer prof-iteer in p the administration obtained a voluntary agreement with the beet sugar factories that they would not sell sugar (Continued on fage Three.) BLAMES EXPORTS ' for sugar mm (Continued from Page One.) at moro than $7."r a hundred pounds, sra hoard. Some who already had con-t con-t nil -ted at $fl rescinded their contracts. This was follower by similar asrrcements as to the Louisiana, Cuban and Hawaiian arrivals. j Agreements Lower Cost. j "The net results of these voluntary I agreements was to reduce the ruling prire of sugar W cents west of t!ie Mississippi Miss-issippi and north of the Ohio and 1 cent on the A tin 11 tic. Had these arrangements arrange-ments not heen made sugar would have risen to 2.i or 20 cents a pound. "Numerous prosecutions have been started against firms which have sold IsuuLir at prices of ." and 20 cents. '. "The consumers" susar bill from the I time restraints were impose;! until Jan-j Jan-j uury I will he about 5l.i.n".ii0. Kvery c f nt, a pound rise means about SI S. 000,-0'u. 000,-0'u. Twenty - cent surar would have I meant about $1 SO.OOO.OOu profiieere"l from the American consumer. There was no 1 other, way under the law to prevent prof-I prof-I it eei inc except by voluntary acreement, I as the food bill carried no power to fix prices. These agreements have of necessity nec-essity been imuie with tho old manufacturers, manu-facturers, including the sufiar 1 rust. "1 ndependent refiners nre represented by majority on a committee v hose duty it is to divide the importer! sugar be-tween be-tween sll equitably. This committee has no price-fixin' power: it hrts solely to do with distribution. The independent refiners re-finers who h;i ve been fight inc the tnist for years could be. depended on to watch any nnfuir aition. "An appeal to prejudice h3 beCJijna.de against the food administration because the Cuban price is 34 eents above tiiat which prevailed in 1917 prior to September Septem-ber 1. It lias been said in effect that the Cubans a re at our men'y, that we could get sugar 1 cent lower." We made an exhaustive studv of the cost of producing pro-ducing .sugar in Cuba last year through our own agents in Cuba. Cent Profit Just. "We found that an average profit of at least 1 cent per pound was necessary in order to maintain and stimulate production produc-tion or that r minimum price of ?4.73 wa? necessary, and even this would stifle some producers. The price ultima telv agreed upon was 23 cents above 1 hese figures, or about one fifth of a cent per pound to the American consumer, and more than this amount has been saved by our reduction in refiners' profits, and in net result sugar would be 1 'cent cheaper to the Atlantic consumer next i yea r than now. "If we wish to stifle prodm-tinn in Cuba we could take that course just at this time of all times in our h if? tor v. when we want production for ourselves and the allies. Further than that, such a course would produce disturbances in uba and destroy even our present supplies sup-plies but beyond all these material reasons rea-sons is one of human justice. Tiiis great country has no right by tho might of its position to strangle Cuba." The sta tement recounts the food ad-ministratlnn's ad-ministratlnn's efforts to reduce consumption consump-tion to Avert the shortage, which was foreseen in the summer. "The food administration has conducted a systematic campaign for the reduction of individual sugar consumption," says the statement. "The reilii'M Ion has show-: In the decrease de-crease in cand v sales, et cetera . bnt on the other ha nd. a simiia r campaign for the preservation of fruit has J:i creased consumption in t hat direction hut uil reduce consumpt ion later. "Taken int o cousin era lion ail factors, it is not certain that there has been any increase in actual consumption, anil, i-on-sidering the increased canning: use, there irav have been a decrease." .M.r. Hoover en:pli' ;caLl-. -L""'- ' wr that George M. Rolph. head of the food administration's sugar division, endeavored endeav-ored to benefit the California refinery, of which he is head, through the arrangement arrange-ment of the Cuban price. |