OCR Text |
Show iVIGGRQUS ATTACK fli SPRECKELS I. 81 HDDVER 1 , 1 od Administrator De- jares the Refiner Is j ore Because His Ab- ! normal Profits Have Been Cut Off Under the Control System. I BABST QUESTIONS 1 RIVAL'S VERACITY I Jomewhat Sensational Incident Occurs During Dur-ing the Senate Committee Com-mittee Hearing Over J Dropping of Suit ' Against Ame r i c a n Company. WASHINGTON, Dec. 15: Charges I n:ade hy Clans Spreckels, president of 1 the Federal Sugar Refiniug company, I before a filiate investigating commit-t commit-t tee that iha food administration is re-" re-" sponsible for a sugar shortage, drew rlrom Food Administrator Hoover to-r to-r Ti'gbt, a vigorous attack on Mr. Srireeielt,'. ''" An open intimation is made by Mr. Hoover that Mr. SpreekMs '.; testimony was inspired .by the fact that the food administration cut profits in sugar transactions. . "It n-qturos no proof from me," "aid Mr. Hoover, "to establish that Mr. Hpreckels, a leading sugar refiner, is sore at tlio food administration and would Iiko to see it destroyed. I realise real-ise that Mr. Spreckels's balance Bheet will not look so good next year as last, for refiners' profits havo been regulated. regu-lated. . Furthermore, his balance sheet would have looked better this year if 1 the price of last August had not been reduced and held fast, in the fact of s partial shortage that promised a fair opportunity tor 30-cent sugar and much increased profits. Reason to Feel Badly. "Mr. Sprockets, therefore, has reason rea-son to feel badly. There are other citizens citi-zens who will feel tho same wav, and no doubt can entertain the public by assaulting the food administration. While many feel badly, still the vast majority of men and women of our business community and of our farmers are sacrificing t'.ieir profits daily to . 'he nation's necessities without 'coui-' 'coui-' plaint, for many are sacrificing more than their money their sons. L "We hnve had two months of partial S-ugar shortage October and November Y'land will also have December before V'i,.f from tiie new crop. The Ameri- in veople have had 500,000 tons of lir.arin these two months that is 70 I ,i r cent of their normal supplies "in I ich month, and if tho cars are avail-I avail-I ,e wo will have 70 per cent in De-f-mlier. Owing to car shortages, the V J iortago has been most acute in the y'iOrtheast, and about 00 crirs arc to-J to-J dav blocked from that region. I Twice the French Ration. f This 70 per cent is twice the French I -ation. !u the meantime we have given I Franco a good part ot the .",0 per cent I .mil ore proud of it. This supply to ; ranee was given deliberately a :S the American people were told ot it at the 1 tiic. We have ulso usreed to draw 1 10 000 tons for our friends in Canada, f I have yet to meet an American citi-I citi-I zen who' would have had it otherwise, f ;. "s to the food administration stop-i stop-i plnK the sources oi sui'ldy: The ,.u,t I ' that all available supplies hv bepn V 1-MOUKht here that snips and cars could 3 brine: and tlmt it li-'.s already been I aten is sufficient a..swcr. A What Spreckels Knows. I ' ' "Mr. Spreckels knows th bitterness I " the ten-voar lipli 1 8 producers I J and refiners between dill'Ttnt rcflilr L and it he looks back ov,.r the last 1 'hrce months, he will observe ,v ,05ire I "r many of these elements io use the I food admii,i,,t,ation us a club to settle 1 U'ir. long-stanUiiiK bltveiness. I . If Mr. Spreckels will s wlere I W v. s R,,y sunar today H'-'t ships Cil I ii'alwil to curry or ens eui be ob V on i "vcr, It will be .H,vo,f,l at hTt WUh the same resolution that we d.'. ,,!11"1111''! or distributed ovor Y"'i.lOn ,i?',rr ' 11,0 m'':in,'n:e. the ' wish 1 . 7", out ,h'' .,,UH,"-"le.s.s V includ ..'V1'1 nisll-l,or.k lh ov- V '""k I'.-finers ,m the ir.er. ''ntirum on t,rjTT" vigorous unisex Ifi WIT1SS BY HOOVER (Continued from Page One.) national committee created by the food administration to purchase all raw sugars for refiners. Spreckels declared yesterday yester-day that actions of the committee worked against his firm and to the benefit bene-fit of the American Sugar Refining company. com-pany. The state department had a hand in fixing the price of $4.60 for raw sugar f. o. b. Cuba, but to what extent was not brought out. for different reasons, H. Curtis Lindley, attorney for the food administration, stated. Spreckels protested to Hoover that the price was too high, notwithstanding that he raised Cuban sugar. The Cuban planters protested it was too low. When Spreckels testified the price wholesalers should pay the refiners was fixed by three American members of the international committee of the food administration having charge of the American supply and added that these men were sugar refiners. Senator Reed asked: "Was the public represented repre-sented at this price-fixing meeting?'! "No," replied Mr. Spreckels. Clash With Babst. ' Before , the morning session ended Spreckels and President B'abst of the American Sugar Refining company clashed over the antitrust suit against the American. Spreckels said Babst last October discussed dis-cussed with his competitors dissolution of the suit and asked Spreckels to write ; a letter to President Wilson suggesting that the suit be dropped. Babst declared he had only asked Spreckels if he would join in such a request if other competitors competi-tors did. Spreckels testified that on or about October 1 Babst came to him and said: "We are good now and we have an intimation inti-mation from the attorney general that if you will write a letter to the president saying we are good the suit will be dis-j dis-j missed." i "What makes you think T have such j influence with the president?" Spreckels said he replied, j "Because you are one of our principal i competitors," was stated as the answer, j Spreckels stated that Babst said again ! that "we are good now and will be in 1 the future," and that he (Spreckels) an-: an-: s we red : "I am not willing to take a chance on the future." Spreckels said he declined to write such a letter. Babst gave his version of the conversation conver-sation and said nothing about the request re-quest for a letter. "Wasn't anything said about a lette! to the president?" asked Reed. "No." Question of Veracity. Spreckels, sitting a few feet from Babst, quickly faced about and questioned ques-tioned : "Didn't you ask me to write a letter to President Wilson?" "I did not," said Babst firmly. Turning to Senator Reed, Spreckels declared that "my statement was made under oath and 1 am willing to repeat it." "So was mine." snapped-Babst. "1 explained to Mr. Spreckels," Balis t said, "that as we were all under government govern-ment control it had been suggested that possibly the dissolution suit against us might be dismissed. I aked that if such a proposition was made by our competitor competi-tor would he join in the,- request that it be done. He said he would think It over." |