Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 October 1892 — High Prices to Be Advanced. [ARTICLE]

High Prices to Be Advanced.

The greed of the (sugar Trust is unbounded. Aided by the duty of $c per pound, which McKinley left on refined sugar for no other purpose than to swell the profits of the trust, which would have been enormous without any duty, this combine, as its power has extended, has mercilessly reduced the price of raw and raised the price of refined sugar. At present there appears to be no relief from its oppression. A few months ago the wholesale grocers of the United Slates, who had been in league with the trust, and had been receiving a rebate of A cent per pound for handling “trust” sugar only, became dissatisfied with the advancing prices, and threatened to erect a big refinery in Brooklyn. It now transpires that the trust people have again established friendly relations with the grocers by sligntly extending discounts to them, and perhaps by making other concessions unknown to the public. As is evident”from the following notice sent out by the trust on Sept. 10, the monopoly is stronger than ever before: “We inclose herewith invoice of sugar of oven date, on which a commission of one-eighth of a cent a pound has been deducted, in addition to our usual terms of one per cent, cash in seven days and one per cent, trade discount on 100 barrel lots, the understanding being that with your remittance the certificate below is to be returned duly signed by you as a voucher. *

[Copy of the Voucher.) THE A. S. R. CO. “We hereby certify that we have not sold, nor will we sell, nor has any employe, salesman, or agent sold in any of the territory specified on the back of this certificate, either directly or indirectly, any of the sugars for which we are now remitting, for less than your dally quotations, nor on more liberal terms as to credit or cash discount.* The only independent refinery in the country is the small one of Nash, Spaulding <t Co., at Boston, that can have no effect on the market. The quarantine regulations due to the cholera scare have caused the price of raw sugar to advance A cent per pound. Taking advantage of the situation which practically prohibits the importation of sugars, for a few weeks at least, the trust has advanced the price of refined sugar if cent per pound, and authorities say that prices will go still higher. The following quotations show clearly the effects of the trust upon prices: 96 deg. centrifugals. Granulated. Dlff'ce. Cts. per lb. Cts. per lb. Cents. Dec. 31,1891 4 % April 11.1892 4% I*4 May 25, 1892 3 1-16 1 6-16 Sept. 10, 1892 3 9-16 a 1-16 1H It should be remembered that there were several large refineries outside of the trust until last March. When these had all been gathered in, prices of raw and refined sugar began to diverge. The cost of refining is about A cent per pound. At present prices the trust is making net profits of more than SIOO,000 per day or $40,000,000 per year, and every additional difference of i-16 of a cent adds $2,500,000 to this amount. Twenty millions of dollars of these profits are extracted from the people by means of the J-cent duty, and helps to sWell the pockets of the rich refiners. None of It finds its way into the coffers of the nation, though a few thousand may get into circulation through the medium of the Republican National Committee.