OCR Text |
Show Pay Only Eleven Cents for Sugar c! By Predcric J. Haskiu. n 4 f J, WASHINGTON. Aujr. 30. The dealer who seeks to liroi'lteiT in sugar is show f ing punr judgment. In tho case of almost I any other commodity, it is r question hi'A I what is : lair price and what constitutes profiteering. But. although most pernio I do not ye. 'in to realize it, sugar is hUII being sold under the wartime regulations made hy t lie food administration, a ml rigorously enforced by that organization during the war. . n The fond administration is now a mere J whispering shadow of Us former Relf, but this sugar agreement remains as a in'omi n ment to its days of glory, and makes it easy for the depart nient. uf justice to "get the man who seeks to gouge the public ft on sugar p rices. Three wholesale dealera have recently been arrested and ono jobber job-ber has had his license revoked for charging excessive prices for sugar. "Our desire is to secure a fair prico to lltf the consumer," said Attorney General Palmer in announcing a rigorous enforce- fl ment of sugar regulations. "We do not wish to pursuo a wholesale policy of ree-' ree-' ommending cancellation of licenses il 1 Where trade adjusts itself to a fair price for the future, past violations, unless flagrant, will not ordinarily be made tho basis of a recommendation by this department de-partment for the cancellation of the iV-licenses." iV-licenses." :r Any housewife who pays more than H conts a pound for sugar is overcharged according to the food administration' ' The producers and refiners are getting" 'l the same price for sugar today that thev 'TU received during the war. That price is ". to continue in effect for the remainder U of the year by agreement between the refiners and the government. Jf more than 11 cents is charged the consumer 1-111 profiteering is going on, and the govern- 'h ment agents will take summary action iir against the profiteers. ,jr Reports havo readied the food admin-istration admin-istration that retailers have been getting , as high as 111 cents a pound for sugar in Chicr--o. Many cities report that tho if' retailers are charging 14 and 15 conta r while right here in Washington, under " the very nose of the food administration, e grocers are charging as high as iau .- c:nts. 3 :!e: There is positively no justification for !Jr an increase in tho price of sugar at this -da time. lM3t October the sugar equalizu- , e tion board, which is a part of the food ". administration, purchased the entire do- 111 mestic and Cuban crops of raw sugar. ":e Tho Cuban crop alone is estimated ut K more than four million tons. One-third id of this crop was allotted to Great Brit- - i'r ain. There remains about one million ( tons of the American portion of the Cu- ' . ban crop, and this is now available for distribution in this country just ua fast :" as it can be shipped and refined. The equalization board sells raw sugar to refiners at 7.28 cents a pound. He- tl finers are under contract with the board .a not to charge more than 9 cents to the ': wholesalers. The latter are allowed a fir maximum margin of profit of 68 cents per 100 pounds for handling, while the Mr retailers are permitted to make a profit Vu of 1 cents a pound, making a fair price "rp, of 11 cents to the consumer. f Every sugar dealer in the country binds himself to live up to the price arrange-ment arrange-ment made by the food administration '-' when he takes out a license to deal in :M sugar. This license can be revoked at any time by the food administration for the violation of any of the, conditions of sale and distribution. Food Administra- .i tor Hoover's large organization has been reduced to a skeleton, and because of the :ra lack of agents to see that the regulations :a! are lived up to many dealers have been ' able to do a little cheating. ;it When there was a scarcity of sugar re- Vv ported in certain parts of the country a ,j( few months ago, the jobbers immediately J:,: took advantage of this situation to boost the price. This was in direct violation of the torms of their agreement. But It :m is certain that the price of sugar would have been even higher in this country if it had not been under -government control con-trol all through the war. While there is an obvious scarcity of sugar in this country, the sweet tooth which endured such great hardships and privations last winter, being compelled to uso one teaspoonful of sugar in tho morning cup of coffee instead of two, need not be unduly alarmed. Government Govern-ment agents, who are in touch with the sugar situation, are convinced that there Is enough sugar to supply the demands until the next crop is harvested. . Congressman Martin of Louisiana, the leading sugar-producing state in the Union, attributes the scarcity of sugar to three factors: The sudden demand made for sugar by the fruit canneries and confectionery con-fectionery factories; the limited capacity of the twenty-two sugar refineries in this country, and the strike of the marine union of New York City, which held Cuban Cu-ban and Porto Hican sugar carriers at Atlantic and gulf ports for three weeks. Almost every other nation is suffering f-om the scarcity of sugar much more J than is the United States. Aside from that which the United States and. Great Britain control by purchase of the entire I Cuban crop, .there is but a small surplus of sugar in other foreign countries. And where a surplus does exist, exorbitant prices are being demanded. That sugar is higher in other countries than it is in America wras indicated in a recent report received from French food officials to tho effect that France is now facing a serious sugar shortage. The French are seeking an American supply, but a recent embargo placed on the exportation ex-portation of sugar from this country will prevent France from getting a supply from us. Sugar is said to be available in Czecho-SIovakia, but the Czechs are asking ask-ing 25 cents a pound, and getting it. According to Congressman Martin, there is no question but that the world is now short of sugar ttnd has been short all of the present year. It naturally follows fol-lows that the removal of war restrictions on the consumption of sugar in this and other countries has increased this shortage. short-age. He is of the opinion that this shortage short-age will continue for another year, unless there is a considerable increase in production pro-duction during the next year, but that the United States will not be very seriously seri-ously affected. Fortunately for tho entire world, the prospects are bright for a greater production pro-duction this year. Germany before the war was a large producer and exporter of beet sugar, and, in fact, took care of most of the Kuropean demands. While her sugar output during the war was reduced re-duced to a point where it only took care of local consumption, yet her lie.ds and her refineries are still intact and the best available information is that she-will she-will have some sugar for export the coming com-ing season. |