OCR Text |
Show Meeting Foreign Competition. The American producers of Cuban sugar are exerting their utmost influence in-fluence to prevent increasing the tariff on foreign sugar from $1.00 to $1.60 a hundred pounds. They argue that this is a subsidy accorded to the American beet sugar industry and call it a tax on the people. The other side of the story is that the Cuban sugar producer raises his raw Bugar in a country where the cheapest kind of common labor is obtainable. He asks that he be allowed al-lowed this cheap labor subsidy so that he can ship his raw sugar or finished product into the United Stats In competition with American beet sugar produced by American workman at American wages and outsell our home product in such a manner as would force our beet sugar sug-ar factories out of business. It takes no argument to show that the subsidy of cheap labor enjoyed by the Cuban 6Ugar producer must be met by a tariff on a product produced pro-duced under such conditions, as will allow American manufacturers of beet sugar to at least have an even break on a minimum price at which sugar can be sold in this country. Instead of ,'jUlMSving- the Cuba-i sugar producers to outsell the A-moricah A-moricah producer, put him out of business and the government get no revenue for the privilege enjoyed by foreigners of trading in this country and outselling out own people, peo-ple, the moderate tariff proposed, i simply gives an American manufacturer manufac-turer an equal chance at the business busi-ness and brings into the government 'a revenue .which offsets other tax ibills by the amount collected from I foreign sugar producers. There is no intention on the part of the United States to strike down the advantageous and desirable relations re-lations which have existed between the United States and Cuba in Te-gard Te-gard to sugar traffic. We are simply trying to protect and encourage the '.growth of a very important industry I within our own borders. |