TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART VI 523 



United States produces all of the sugar that it uses. The fact is, that 

 the United States, (including beet sugar production of the country, the 

 cane sugar of Louisiana and Texas, the Hawaiian and Philippine Island 

 cane sugar crop) produces but one-third of the sugar used which means 

 that we must buy more than two-thirds of our gross consumption else- 

 where. The sugar consumed per capita in the United States is about 85 

 lbs. — this means candy, canning and household purposes. 



The statement that candy men have had plenty of sugar is true. They 

 bought tliis year the same as they have done in years prior to the war, 

 during the months of March, April and May, and for summer and fall 

 delivery. Certain others have also apparently been able to get all the 

 sugar required by buying from brokers. 



Numerous efforts were made by this department to bring about 

 measures which would relieve the situation, but I frankly admit, that I 

 doubt whether any results were obtained. 



I ask however, ' that those who may be inclined to criticise will 

 remember that the sugar situation is a matter lying without the jurisdic- 

 tion of the state, and that there was very little open for us to do. We 

 made many very careful investigations of complaints of hoarding, but 

 in no instance did they materialize. In general, I found the conduct of 

 the merchants of the state above reproach; as a matter of fact, com- 

 paratively few of them were able to profiteer even if they were so 

 minded owing to the fact that they could not obtain sugar. A number 

 of wholesale grocers in the state did open themselves to a certain amount 

 of criticism by taking advantage of an opportunity to make a profit with- 

 out the expense of handling the goods by disposing of their sugar con- 

 tracts early in the year, thus failing to protect their customers. I do not 

 believe that they would have done this had they known that a shortage 

 was impending. Apparently they sold the sugar believing that they could 

 buy more later. That this proved to be a mistake on their part was 

 very evident this fall. 



It is extremely difficult to make a comparison of food prices because 

 of the many factors which enter in the consideration of various edible 

 commodities. I believe that after all facts are considered, food stuffs 

 coming from the same class of stores will in general, costs considered, 

 be found to be both reasonable and uniform in price. Perhaps a few 

 illustrations will suffice to show that the percentage of profits in food 

 stuffs is not so great as to be unwarranted. It should be said in ex- 

 planation, however, that percentages only should be considered in study- 

 ing the tables as the figures will vary greatly on different dates. The 

 following table will show the prices charged and paid, and the profits 

 received by a certain butcher on a certain date: 



