PARAGRAPHS 216-219-BEET SUGAR. JANUARY 4, 1913. To the honorable members of the House Committee on Ways and Means, Washington, D. C.: We, the undersigned residents of San Bernardino County, State of California, wish to enter our urgent protest against the threatened tariff reduction on sugar. We solicit your serious consideration of this matter, feeling confident that any reduction would prove disastrous to the beet-sugar industry of California and this country in general. Hon. J. C. NEedham, JOHN T. SCHROEDER SOUTHERN California, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR: At a meeting of the Southern California Wholesale Grocers' Association held to-day the following resolution was adopted: "Whereas the beet and cane sugar industries of this country have been built up by means of a tariff on the importation of sugar from foreign countries; and "Whereas without this protective tariff these industries would be destroyed; and "Whereas it is the general opinion that a strong effort will be made at this session of Congress to have the tariff on sugar removed: Be it "Resolved, That we, the Southern California Wholesale Grocers' Association, in regular meeting assembled, do protest against any large reduction in the tariff on sugar which will have the effect of destroying the country's sugar industry and forcing the loss of the millions invested in it; and be it further "Resolved, That a copy of this resoluction be sent to the Senators from California and also the Representative from this district." In accordance with this resolution, I am sending a copy to you, trusting that you will do everything in your power to prevent such reduction in the tariff on sugar as will tend to seriously cripple or destroy one of the large industries of California. Very truly, yours, J. H. BYERLEY, Secretary. BRIEF OF THE AMERICAN MOLASSES CO. OF NEW YORK. NEW YORK, January 14, 1913. HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIRS: We understand that Schedule E, in regard to sugar and molasses, will be discussed by you in public hearing on January 15. We are interested solely in molasses. The present tariff on molasses between 40° and 56° by polariscope test is 3 cents per gallon, molasses testing above 56, 6 cents per gallon, and molasses testing under 40° on an ad valorem basis of 20 per cent of the f. o. b. value. Planters in the West Indies, in order to get the advantage of the lower duty on under 40-test molasses, are inclined to so manufacture their product that it will test under 40, and on a low basis of valuation f. o. b. the duty might be considerably less than 3 cents per gallon, although there is practically no commercial difference in value between the molasses testing slightly under 40 or slightly over 40° polarization, and we therefore suggest that the duty on molasses be definitely fixed at a specific rate, whatever that rate may be on all molasses testing over 35° polariscope, which would make therefore unnecessary any reduction in the sugar contents of the molasses in order to secure the lower duties. Molasses testing under 35 is invariably what is known commercially as blackstrap and used principally for the manufacture of industrial alcohol and for cattle-feeding purposes and on this an ad valorem duty would be just and satisfactory. We sincerely trust that our views on this subject will have your consideration. Yours, truly, AMERICAN MOLASSES CO. OF NEW YORK. PARAGRAPH 217-MAPLE SUGAR. MAPLE SUGAR. BRIEF OF REID, MURDOCK & CO., CHICAGO, ILL. To Hon. OSCAR W. UNDERWOOD, CHICAGO, February 19, 1913. Chairman Ways and Means Committee, Washington, D. C. IN RE TARIFF 4 CENTS PER POUND ON MAPLE SUGAR. DEAR SIR: We invite the attention of yourself and members of the Ways and Means Committee, and would respectfully ask that you give the subject due consideration. Within a few years the Amalgamated Tobacco Co.'s requirements in maple sugar for sweetening and flavoring purposes have grown with surprising rapidity. Their control of this valued farm product has developed into a strangle hold. The needs of the tobacco aggregation annually are already in excess of 100 carloads of maple sugar and growing by leaps and bounds, the introduction of maple into their processes being one of comparatively recent date. At their present rate of absorption, in 10 years more there will be practically none of this superb commodity available for family use. In substantiation we submit the following: In years of normal crops New England and northern New York supply the country with about 200 carloads of maple sugar and sirup; other maple-producing States furnish barely enough for home consumption, with the possible exception occasionally of Ohio. The removal of half the crop in a lump by the manufacturers of tobacco now effects a scarcity, resulting in prohibitive prices to the housewife. The food-consuming public is helpless, and to this statement the scrutiny and influence of your committee is earnestly sought. First, the tobacco people can pay any price necessary to take maple sugar away from those who would consume it as a food. They are already doing this relentlessly. Second, the masses deprived now of half the yearly crop of maple sugar and destined to lose the remainder at an early date are denied access to the remedy, viz, the hundred carloads or more of maple just over the Canadian line, the tariff on which is 4 cents per pound. Between our Government and the tobacco aggregation millions of American consumers are deprived of a delicious edible in order, substantially, to favor a few New England farmers on whose lands the Creator planted and maintains unassisted the wonderful maple trees, a boon to humanity. God may be willing to have his beneficent designs thus thwarted, but we are asking Congress if it is at all necessary in the light of developments. The tobacco industry emphatically refuses to use Canadian sugar, but our own consumers would be glad to. It may not be as good as the United States of America product, but it is, or soon will be, all there is unappropriated. The American maple product, gentlemen, is doomed to pass entirely into tobacco channels. No price is too high for the manufacturers of plug to pay for the sweetening and flavoring; the public can not compete for the sugar. During the latter part of the year just passed the so-called tobacco combine, running low on maple sugar, found the supply in the country exhausted. To prevent a recurrence of the shortage, the tobacconists instructed their purchasing agency to invade the maple-sirup sections of Vermont and New York and summarily convert entire communities of lifelong sirup makers into sugar producers in time to capture the crop of 1913 now close at hand. This plan, hatched in a night, was worked with signal success. Unprecedented inducements were made to farmers, a clean sweep resulted, and 50 to 60 cars of sirup, long depended on as for the people, were dragged off the platter and will now go yearly into the tobacco camp, swallowed up, lost to the homes, as if it never existed. We feel sure if you will investigate the situation the facts will bear out our statements and we will be pleased to submit such information as we possess to the committee either in person or a further detailed statement. Very respectfully submitted. This concludes the hearing on Schedule E. 78959°-VOL 3—13- -21 REID, MURDOCH & Co., |