THE FARMKR AND THE TRUSTS. 401 



independent of each other, but there is presumed to be a 

 perfect understanding between them in the allotment of 

 territory in whicii each shall have the monopoly of the sugar 

 trade, undisturbed by the other. Previous to the beginning 

 of the beet-sugar industry in the United States conditions 

 were ideal for the formation of an effective Trust. For the 

 purposes of the illustration I shall assume that conditions 

 remain as they were before we manufactured beet sugar. As 

 a matter of fact, conditions are not, at this writing, materially 

 changed, although they may become so. The invention of a 

 cheap process for refining beet sugar might entirely break u[) 

 the Trust, by enabling a large number of persons to engage in 

 the business. Fifty years ago, and even less, nearly all the 

 sugar consumed in the United States was "brown" or unre- 

 fined sugar. In those days any one could import sugar from 

 any country where it was made, and no Trust was possible, be- 

 cause the supplies could not be controlled. There might be 

 and doubtless were temporary "corners" for particular grades of 

 sugar, when they happened to become scarce, but nothing per- 

 manent or effective. For some years past, however, nearly all 

 sugar used has been refined. The public has become accustomed 

 to the granulated and cube sugars, and every retail grocer 

 must keep them or lose trade. This also requires wholesale 

 grocers to keep them for the same reason. A retailer orders 

 his supplies from one or two houses, and sugar with the rest. 

 If any wholesale house did not keep such sugars as his trade 

 demanded, the customer might take all his trade elsewhere. 

 Under our tariff laws refiners of sugar are "protected" by 

 such a rate of duty above that charged on unrefined or "raw" 

 sugars, that little or no refined sugar can be imported, for the 

 reason that our refiners can sell at a lower rate than refined 

 sugars can be imported for, and still make a profit. As a 

 matter of fact, the price of refined sugar is nearly always kept 

 a little below the price at which it can be imported. There 

 are, in many cities, refineries which were formerly independent, 

 and used to compete strongly with each other. At last they 

 were nearly all losing money, and by the usual steps a Trust 

 was organized which owned nearly all the sugar refineries of 

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