Utah-Idaho Sugar Company
It was part of the Sugar Trust, and subject to antitrust investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Hardwick Committee.
[4] James Wilson, the United States Secretary of Agriculture in 1898, reported that 150,000 copies of an 1897 USDA farmers' bulletin on sugar beets had been distributed and "the demand appears to be unabated.
[5] James E. Talmage assayed the resulting sugar beets, and, according to Leonard J. Arrington: "the percents of sucrose and purity were so low that it would seem to have required a heroic imagination to see potential profit in the industry.
[5] In 1890, Woodruff, citing divine inspiration, called the 15 highest leaders of the church to raise money for the Utah Sugar Company.
[5] Bonds intended to cover the debt in 1893, did not sell, so the LDS church purchased them, then resold them to Joseph Banigan of Rhode Island.
[5] A director of American Sugar, Lowell M. Palmer, said he encouraged Havemeyer to invest in Utah because "the LDS Church, in a measure, controlled its people.
Utah Sugar negotiated with the Oregon Short Line to construct a railroad from Corinne 16 miles (26 km) north to Garland, which was completed in 1903.
[5] This was done to make gaining credit from banks easier, improve efficiency by reducing redundant equipment and staff, and it would remove criticisms of favoritism between stockholders of the companies (even though the management was nearly identical between them).
[6][10] The Western Idaho Sugar Company, with more modern equipment and having had a strong 1906 season, received a 25% premium on the new stock to alleviate stockholder complaints of being undervalued.
To help finance the organization, Alexander Nibley contacted George Sanders, a Mormon bishop and businessman in Grants Pass, Oregon.
[5] Because of labor shortages and low area planted with sugar beets, the processing machinery was moved to Toppenish, Washington in October 1917.
However, on January 17, 1919, an attorney with the Department of Labor charged Utah-Idaho with mistreating Mexicans imported to Blackfoot, refusing to feed or care for them.
[6] During the late 1910s, farmers were dissatisfied at the low price paid for sugar beets versus amount of profit Utah-Idaho was making during the set-price era.
[18] Knowing that buyers and speculators would pay well over this rate, the Utah-Idaho company asked Reed Smoot, a high-ranking church leader and United States Senator, if they would be prosecuted for selling above the ceiling.
[7] Four LDS apostles (Stephen L. Richards, Anthony W. Ivins, Charles W. Penrose, James E. Talmage), opposed the church taking this action.
[7] President Grant ignored this opposition, delivering the following as part of his opening address: "no man is guilty, in the truest sense of the word, of an offense, just because a Grand Jury finds an indictment against him".
"[6][22] A Supreme Court ruling on February 28, 1921, issued by Chief Justice Edward Douglass White, declared the Lever Act was unconstitutional, due to its ambiguous and vague language.
[5][7] Godfrey argues that while Utah-Idaho "had chafed at government restrictions, [their] real problems stemmed from the end of federal control of the sugar industract.
After the SEB had expired, the laws of supply and demand meant the demise of high prices as sugar poured into the country from around the world.
The factory was reopened on October 23, with Thomas R. Cutler reaching a compromise with the workers: a change to eight-hour shifts, but no increase in hourly pay.
Lower-volume plants were closed, as farmers could transport large volumes of sugar beets on highways now rather than by horse to the rail lines.
During that time, governors, politicians, members of the local school boards, as well as the civic groups: firemen, police officers, and chamber of commerce.
Some of these people were employed as seasonal agricultural laborers and allowed to leave internment centers in Hunt/Minidoka, Idaho, Topaz, Utah, and Heart Mountain, Wyoming.
The specific location was chosen due to the nearby Orman Dam and Reservoir land reclamation project, at the urging of the Associated Commercial Clubs of the Black Hills, who had pledged 8,000 acres (12.5 sq mi; 32.4 km2).
[5] U-I grew a test crop in Moses Lake, Washington in 1948, anticipating the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam and irrigation project.
[5] Research was being made toward a true monogerm seed by Russian refugees Viacheslav F. Savitsky, Helen Kharetchko, and Utah native Forrest Vern Owen.
[5] Partially in response to the labor shortages experienced during World War II, large efforts were made to mechanize the thinning, harvesting, and processing of sugar beets.
[5] Utah-Idaho and its competitors (including the Amalgamated Sugar Company) were again sued beginning in 1971, alleging price fixing and market manipulation.
Ronald Thomas Kemp, the president of U&I Sugar Corporation, now controls the process from growing to end buyer sales and is continuing to purchase mills in Brazil.
The company now concentrates on selling cane sugar to the end buyer and does not trade on international market platforms, thereby ensuring the best possible price for each mt produced.
