Spreckels Sugar

Spreckels Sugar

Rudolph Spreckels, onetime political reformer of San Francisco, more recently a harbinger of hope to the sagging sugar in dustry (TIME, Nov. 19), made a gesture last week. President of Federal Sugar Refining Co., he announced the formation of Spreckels Sugar Corp., capitalized at $20,000,000, to take over the business of Federal Sugar Refining.

Not unctuously, but boldly, Rudolph Spreckels explained: "The new company will be controlled by me personally, and I have permitted my name to be used as an assurance to the public that I have faith in the future of the company and intend to assume full re sponsibility for its management."

Sugarmen wondered on what Rudolph Spreckels had built his faith. Like oil, the sugar industry suffers from overproduction. Consumption of sugar has declined steadily, due .to diet regulation, to increased smoking by men, women, children. Federal Sugar Refining Co. is no exception. Its last earnings report (1924) showed a deficit of $2,190,789.