THE CUBA 11 10 V I K W 



28 



THE SUGAR SHORTAGE 



Earl D. Babst, President oi the American 

 Sugar Refining Company, made public Dec. 

 20 a report on the sugar shortage, which has 

 just been sent to stockholders of the company. 



The report shows that with one-third of the 

 world's sugar production within the present 

 battle lines, England, France and other for- 

 eign countries have turned to Cuba and other 

 sources which ordinarily supply the United 

 States. It is also shown that the immediate 

 causes of the present shortage arc increased 

 consumption, too inadequate a supply and 

 delayed distribution. 



Early in 1917 there were serious strikes 

 in nearly all the Eastern refineries. This 

 caused public apprehension. Sensational 

 sugar famine stories began to appear in the 

 papers later, and the public fears were still 

 further excited by stories of the destruction 

 of cane in the Cuban insurrection. A desire 

 by the trade to avoid excise taxes proposed 

 in Congress added to the call. This demand 

 among dealers, manufacturers and sugar con- 

 sumers continued all the year and was ac- 

 companied by hoarding. 



A great midsunmier canning and preserving 

 campaign urged by the Government, furthered 

 by the trade, by the canning clubs, and women's 

 magazine, and by the press, generally fol- 

 lowed, so that by November the consumption 

 was shown to be more than one thousand 

 tons a day greater than the year before. It 

 amounted to nearly nine hundred million 

 pounds more than for the same period in 1916. 

 So much for the demand. 



Now as to the supply and distribution. 

 Java had plenty of sugar, but it is so far that 

 ships took other trade channels. The har- 

 vesting of both cane and beet crops in the 

 United States was delayed, but, more im- 

 portant, car shortages and traffic congestion 

 prevented the free movement of these crops 

 to the Atlantic seaboard. 



Very important in its effect on the supply 

 for America from Cuba was the proposal in 

 June of the Senate Finance Committee to re- 

 peal the drawback of over one cent a pound 

 on refined sugar sold abroad, and the placing 

 of an excise tax of one-half cent a pound. 

 When raw sugar is imported from Cuba or 

 elsewhere, the refiner pays a duty on it. 

 When the sugar is refined and exported the 

 duty is paid back to the refiner. It is called 

 a drawback. If the duty were not thus re- 

 funded the refiner would have to add the 

 amount of the duty to his price to the foreign 



ciustomer. This would have the same elTect 

 as placing an export duty of over one and 

 a half cents a pound on all refined sugar 

 sold abroad. Neither this nor any other 

 great commercial country imposes export 

 taxes, because they tend to discourage foreign 

 trade. 



When the Senate Finance C(jmmittee 

 made these propositions the sugar industry 

 urged tliat the higher prices to foreign custo- 

 mers would so disturb the world's sugar mar- 

 ket as to create a troublesome situation for 

 the United States. Seemingly to forestall the 

 expected higher prices, foreign buyers went 

 into the Cuba market and bought heavily, 

 thus reducing the supply available for 

 America. Our imports from Cuba were about 

 the same as in previous years, but .so great was 

 our consumption that these imjjorts were not 

 nearly enough. The proposition to repeal 

 the drawback failed in the Senate three 

 months later by 69 to 11, but the damage 

 had already been done. Cuba's extraordi- 

 nary shipments to Europe had reduced our 

 available supply for the fall months by nearly 

 450,000,000 pounds. 



The sugar shortage in the Eastern States 

 will be relieved when the new Cuban crop 

 begins to arrive in large volume, early in the 

 new year. The report also explains the oper- 

 ation of the United States food administra- 

 tion as it affects sugar. 



PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED 



The Relation Between Perpeival Inventory 

 Value and Appraisal Value, by Mr. Charles 

 Piez, Member of the American Society of 

 Mechanical Engineers, 29 West 39th St., New 

 York. Mr. Piez is president of the Link- 

 Belt Co. of Philadelpha, Chicago and Indiana- 

 polis, and has recently been appointed Vice- 

 President of the U. S. Shipping Boards' 

 Emergency Fleet Corporation. 



Bulletin No. 231, issued by the Walter A. 

 Zelnicker Supply Co., St. Louis, Mo. 



Bulletin No. 227, issued by the Walter A. 

 Zelnicker Supply Co., St. Louis, Mo. This 

 bulletin Usts rails, cars, locomotives, etc., 

 which the Zelnicker Co. has in stock. 



Bulletin No. 228, issued by the Walter A. 

 Zelnicker Supply Co., St. Louis, Mo. This 

 bulletin gives the specifications for 28 oil 

 storage tanks which the Zelnicker Co. has 

 just purchased from three abandoned oil 

 storage farms. These tanks are in first-class 

 condition and are for immediate shipment. 



