Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 December 1890 — CHEAPENING SUGAR. [ARTICLE]

CHEAPENING SUGAR.

WHAT IT WILL TEACH THE PEOPLE. The English Jam Industry—The Same Industry Hindered in America by the Tarift—lnteresting Figures on the Subject. The McKinley law will teach the public that the tariff is a tax, both where it raises duties and where it lowers or abolishes them. For example, sugar is already falling, although the duties will mot be abolished till next April. The present duty on raw sugar is $3.22 iper 100 pounds. Not only has the whole of this tax been added to the price of •our sugar, but even more than the whole of it A comparison between New York and London prices shows this conclusively. A comparison for the months of March and September, 1889, is given in tthe following table, English American American priie per price per price Date. 100 lbs. 100 lbs. higher. Marches.,.. ......$4.46 $7.00 $264 March 5-11. 4.50 7.00 2.50 March 12-15 4.46 7.00 2.54 March 16 4.50 7.125 2.625 March 17-22 4.50 7.25 2.75 March 23-25 4.625 7.5 I 2.875 March 26-31 4.741 7.75 3.009 September 1-4 5.35 8.25 2.90 September 5-8 5.01 8.25 3.24 September 9-11 4.68 8.25 3.57 September 12-17.... 474 8.25 3.51 September 18-22.... 4.79 8.25 3.46 September 23-26.... <74 8.00 3.26 Sept. 27 to Oct. 2... 4.74 7.75 3.01 After the sugar tariff is abolished next April the difference between London and New York prices will almost wholly disappear, and the American people will have another object lesson in proof of ■the proposition thatine tariff is a tax. The cheapness of sugar in England has had the effect to make its use much more extensive there than in any other country. England consumes seventyfour pounds a year per person, the United States fifty, France twenty-eight, and Germany twenty. One reaspn for the Harger consumption in England is the fact that vast quantities of sugar are •used there every year in making fruit jam, more than 300,000,000 pounds being consumed in this way alone. Much of this was exported to all parts of the world. Thousands of persons in England and Scotland have found employment in small fruit growing and in the manufacture of jam. As the result of her cheap sugar the poor working people of England have largely substituted jam for butter. An English country grocer makes this report: “We have just ordered eleven tons of Jam. Years ago we never used to keep it. When it was high we coftld not sell at. Now it is an article of food for quite poor people. At the school treats children used to think bread and jam a great pleasure; now they would rather have bread and butter, they are so accustomed to jam. ” As sugar grows cheaper with us we may expect the jam-making industry to be greatly enlarged. This will involve a vast extension of small fruit growing, and there will be a great gain both to producer and consumer. But here one difficulty still stands in the way—a tarifi -difficulty. After jam has been made it must be packed in vessels. These are •either glass tumblers or earthenware jars, and these jars are greatly increased in cost by the tariff. The two following tables will make •plain the part the tariff plays in both -elements of the cost. The calculation is for one dozen jars of preserved fruit,, each jar weighing one pound. The first table displays the difference of cost on •sugar, which will, of course, be wiped -out largely, perhaps entirely, by the •new sugar tariff. Here is the first table: More in U. 8., Eng.. U. 8., Kind of fruit. cents, cents, cents. •Greengages and damsons. .60.45 36.97 23.48 Strawberries6s.lo 39.81 25.29 Raspberries and black cap 5.58.59 35.43 23.16 Peach (marmalade)6o.4s 36.97 23.48 81ackberry....60.45 36.97 23.48 •Quince6o.4s 36.97 23.48 Limes6o.4s 36.97 23.48 Red cherries6o.4s 36.97 23.48 Gooseberries6o.4s 36.97 23.48 lied currants6o.4s 36.97 23.48 Currant (jelly) 37.92 24.08 The following table gives the difference in the cost of pots, and the last ■column the difference for sugar and pots combined: More Total in extra U. 8., Eng.,U. 8., cost, Kind of fruit. cts. cts. cts. cts.* ■Greengages and damsons.62.s 37.5 25 48.48 Strawberries62.s 37.5 25 50.29 Raspberries and Diack caps62.s 37.5 2 5 48.16 Peach (marmalade)62.s 37.5 25 48.48 Blackberry62.s 37.5 25 48.48 •Quince62.s 37.5 25 48.48 Limes62.s 37.5 25 48.48 Red cherries62.s 37.5 25 48,48 Gooseberries62.s 37.5 25 48.48 Bed currants....62.s 37.5 25 48.48 Currant (jelly) 62.5 37.5 95- 49.08 *On account of tariff on sugar and packages. The wholesale selling prices in London by the dozen are: Strawberry jam, $1.30; raspberry and black currant, $1.24; and other kinds ranging as low as 95 cents. There is, therefore, a tariff difference here against the American manufacturer and housewife equal to 40 per cent, and upward of the English wholesale prices. When the abdlltion of the sugar tax has removed a part of thisdifference the people will doubtless see that it would be a good thing to strike off the tax on the jams also, .and thus remove the entire difference. On the latter subject Mr. Reed Gordon, a prominent jam manufacturer of New York, says: “Givp the American potters free chemicals and clay, give the American glasstumbler manufacturers free chemicals and sand and they will need no protection. In fact the tumbler manufacturers need none now. Give us absolute free trade in sugar, glassware and earthenware so that we may be protected from trusts and combinations; give us absolute free trade in preserved fruits including jams, and we will buy more small fruits from the farmers, pay them better prices, and lower the price of our goods. We can then control the American markets, and build up a large export trade to South America where there is a large demand for jam and other ‘sweets.’ Not only this, but we would be able to sell our goods in Glasgow, Dundee and London, the chief jam manufacturing centers of the world. We would be able to compete with them in their own markets, instead of being undersold by them in our own markets as is tne case to-day. ”