Anderson to Anderson

Few people talk to themselves in such stiff, critical language as Clinton Presba Anderson addressed to himself last week. Congressman Anderson of New Mexico, chairman of the Committee to Investigate Food Shortages, made a report on the sugar situation, a catalogue of Government blunders, devastating enough to make Secretary of Agriculture Anderson (see U.S. AT WAR) tremble in his boots at the inefficiency of his new department.

Some of the unvarnished facts which Clinton Presba Anderson dished up to Clinton Presba Anderson:

P: Although the big sugar production of Java, the Philippines and Europe's sugar-beet fields was in enemy hands, in 1943 the U.S. made Cuba agree to cut its sugar crop (because of a temporary shipping shortage).

P: The U.S. was so niggardly in the prices it offered for Cuban sugar that it failed to get a lot of sugar that might have been available. Outstanding example: in spite of the U.S. ceiling price of 18 1/2-c- a gallon on blackstrap molasses, the U.S. in 1943 refused to offer the Cubans more than 6-c- a gallon. Result: the loss of the equivalent of 450,000 tons of sugar.

P: No less than 20 different Government agencies are engaged in procuring, allotting and rationing the sugar--without coordination.

P: The Office of Price Administration has constantly let loose more sugar than was allotted to it. Worst bungle: industrial users were required to report their 1941 use in April 1942; then OPA rationed them a percentage of their 1941 use, estimating that they had collectively used about 2,400,000 tons in the base year. Not until some 18 months later did OPA add up the users' reports and discover that they came to a total of nearly 3,000,000 tons.

P: As a result of these and other miscarriages, only 6,221,000 tons--at an optimistic estimate--are available for total U.S. use this year (about 87% of last year's supply and 77% of 1941's). Worse still: because of excess consumption in the early months of this year, less than 47% of the civilian supply will remain for the last half of the year (which because of canning normally takes 55%). So there will be at least 30% less sugar available for civilians this fall than last.

P: Although at the beginning of the year Britain's sugar stocks were higher than prewar, and U.S. stocks were the lowest on record--too low for smooth distribution--630,000 tons of this year's Cuban sugar crop have been allotted to Britain.

P: In spite of a decrease of 13% in the sugar available for the U.S., the Army has increased its sugar demands 25%. The armed services are now claiming sugar at the rate of 220 lbs. per capita per year, compared to 70.8 lbs. per capita left for civilian consumption.

Congressman Anderson's chief recommendations to Secretary of Agriculture Anderson:

1) Give responsibility to one man to see that the 20 different agencies procuring, pricing and allocating sugar make combined sense.

2) Open negotiations to buy Cuba's and Puerto Rico's 1946 crops at once. (Reluctantly the U.S. has raised the price of raw Cuban sugar from 2.65-c- a lb. to 3.1-c- and probably will have to go higher, but it is just as important to make the contract before planting instead of just before the harvest, as has been done.)

3) Do everything possible to provide machinery and labor to increase sugar production in Hawaii and the U.S.

4) Try to persuade the armed services to accept a liberal but limited diet of sugar.

5) Establish a minimum sugar allotment for U.S. civilians and not just leave them whatever happens to be left.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.