| OCR Text |
Show 1 lAETIITOfii H A Mil w IK ; Made Half a Million Over IH Night by Selling to H Sugar Trust 'H Washington, June 1G. Half a mil- I LL lion dollars pro lit was garnered by ' ' the Oxnard brothers almost over- night, when they put their Brooklyn M sugar refinery, valued at $200,000, In- H to the Sugar "trust" of 1887, accord- ' H lng to the testimony of Henry T. Ox- nord, vice president of the American M Beet Sugar company, beforo the Houso jH Sugar "trust" investigating commit- H too today. Had tho Oxnards held jfl "trust" certificates until today, tho , H witness said, the deal would have H netted them $800,000, besides the divi- LL dends on the certificates. They sold - ' H the certificates two years after they H received them for $750,000. H "We were rather glad to sell out," , H said Mr. Oxnard. "Cut-throat compo- H Utlon existed In those days and, un- , jH less tho beot sugar business turned. H out as wo thought it would, it was a i H Httlo doubtful about our keeping o- ; H The witness said the capitalization ' H of the Brooklyn factory was only $100,- .' H 0G0, but that the plant was worth I H $200,000. VM "You would have been eaUsfled to H get out what you had put into It, jH wouldn't you?" inquired Chairman H Hardwlck. M "Well, I don't know," M "On this little transaction, you , M cleaned up half a million. Now, how i H much water was in tho other deals? H How much did Captain Thomas M mako?" M "I do not know. We were probably H treated a little better than the oth- 'M "Why?" H "Thoy wanted the name," said Mr. H Oxnard. M He said ho did not stay with the j M "trust", but went abroad and, after l H studying tho beet sugar Industry la H Europe, returned to America to -en- i M ga2 in that business In earnest op- H posltlo.i to the "trust" H Mr. Oxnard explained that he and H his brothers, Robert, Benjamin and M James G., were Interested In the H American Beet Sugar company, but at H present they owned only nhout 1,000 M shares of preferred and 500 to 1.000 , H "shares' or common stockvThclr-laru- M est holdings. He added, wore in tho Ji M Louisiana Cane Sugar Refinery In IH which thoy had Invested about $1,- jkW 000,000. jH "There had been a big tariff on 1 sugar for twenty-fiv or thirty years," M oxplalned Mr. Oxnard. "I thought It H would bo profitable and patriotic to H Introduce the beet sugar business into H this country." M The witness said tho American iBect H Sugar company had never had any H connection with the American Sugar M Refining company, except a contract M in 1902, under which the latter became H the selling agency of the formor, H "Did It say where your Bugar was H to bo sold," asked Mr. Hardwlck. M "No," ho replied. "There was a pro- vision that It was to be sold every- M where except in New England." H "How about this phase in tho con- M tract?" And Mr Hardwlck read from M nn alleged copy of the contract, tho H following: "Care being Liken by us M (American Beet Sugar company) ex- H cept when necessary to avoid your M markets." LL "Well, that was written In there by H the lawyers. They said that It was H not against the Sherman antl-tniBt M law. As a mattor of fact. It never H amounted to anything, for we sold H where we wnntcd to." B "Whv did you mako it?" 1 "Well, there was that war of sugar H companies and then wo wanted to H tnko advantage of sales by their brok- H The witness said the contract wan H In existence only three years, although H it was to run ton years. H "You lived up to 'the contract, didn't H "I suppose so." B "They lived up to It?" "Thov really had nothing olso to HBa "Why did you go into it then? Wasn't it because of the American 1Kb Sugar Refining company cutting prices HBa in Missouri river territory in 1901?" "I don't know that that was the rca- HBa son. It mav have been one." JHb Chairman Hardwlck wanted to HBb know why the contract was aban- HBa doned. IHl "My brother succeeded mo when 1 retired in 1906 and Mr. Duvall came Hl on tho board. Tho latter was famll- HBl lar with the railroads and tho Sher- man law. Ho said 'Here, this violates HBb the Sherman anti-trust law.' I told IBa him tho lawyers said It wns nil right; that John E. Parsons, of the American HBa Sugar Rcflnias company had said 11 IBa was lcgnl mk "He asked If I would object to his friend Wayne MabVoagh looking at It Mr. MacVeagh said It was illegal So Mr Cutting went to H. O. Have f meycr of tho American Sugar Reflnlnq company and told him the cqntrart was Illegal Ho wanted it to be con IBa tinned the year. Mr Cutting said, "Nn this contract ends today.' So that (Continued on Page Seven.) M M OXNARD IS A WITNESS H (Coatlnlied from Pago Ono.) H i was amen, and the thing- was dead M from that day." M After a long discussion of the beet H sugar industry, and the tariff on raw H and refined sugar, Mr. Oxnard asked H to be allowed to make a statement H , "Quite a little has been said about H the 'trust' controlling the beet sugar H refineries," he said "The trust does H w not cqny-ol more than 20 per cent of H f the beet sugar industry, and the beet H nugar people compete with the output fl r the other susar refining companies. M There is no such Ihing as a restraint M of trade between the beet sugar peo- H pie and the other people-. M "I think you should give the devil H his due. If the trust had not gone H into the beet sugar business in this M country, the industry would not have M advanced as it haB. It had the money H and brains and chemists to put into H the work " |
