The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-04-24

were swamped tomorrow in the Gulf of Mexico,
or if all our Southwestern States II mean the
sugar-growing States) were to become bankrupt
in that production. The distance is nothing
nowadays, with steam at our command-the
world is comprised in few weeks-and thus,
with prices convenient, our remark carries us
out.
Palm sugars, nevertheless, are healthier. So
all medical men say. That has been proven,
without any doubt, and it is needless here to go
into discussion about it, whether it is so or
not. Wherever the manufacture Of sugar from
the cane has been established, cane forms the
article of saccharine consumption, and it is
largely consumed by the people of the East and
" est Indies, IN very coarse and cheap form.
Now, for the expectation of the countries in
question, from the best authorities, we have the
following statement: to Europe, generally,
$4,000 tons-last year. This is but a small
export of staple commodity, for such vast and
populous countries; but the result is interest
ing, as showing that the foreign commerce in
the East Indies is still in its infancy, and that
the establishments of sugar manufactures are
also very young. We come next to look into
the difficulties in the way, why this production
is limited instead Of increased, &c. Good and
cheap sugar can only be produced, like good
and cheap wheat on good and cheap land, to
realize profit by the operation. 1t cannot be
produced in any perfection, land that we know
without considerable civilization, or (which is
one and the same thing considerable skill and
ingenuity. A large capital is needed, because,
of all the processes of husbandry, the prepare.
ton of sugar approaches the nearest to a pure
manufacture. The sugar mill is as unknown
this day, to the less civilized people of the East,
as the steam engine or the spinning Jenny. 1t
seems in fact 10 have originated with the most
civilized people of Asia, the Chinese, and from
them to have been spread to a few others. The
sugar manufacture of Siam, Cochin China,
Tonquin, Java, aud the Philippines, is entirely
conducted by the Chinese colonists of those
| countries, who have introduced it into several
of them in comparatively recent times, and are
every day improving-so much so, that Cali
| fornia, since it has belonged to the United
States, is receiving sugars from there. The in
dustry is theirs, the skill is theirs the machine
ry is of their construction, and even considera-
bic portions of it are imported from China
The natives of these countries furnish nothing
but cheap labor. Thus the Chinese will one
day supply the place Of the European Colonists
in America, and the other East India natives
the place of the negroes of the West, without
stripes or bondage.
Towards the successful production of sugar.
the first point for consideration is, the husband
of agriculture, it is obvious that an enGght
ened system must follow. The cane, like the
vine, the olive, the coffee, and tea plants, and,
in fact, most of the other extensively useful
vegetable productions is botanically single
species, diverging into many varieties. This
is point which, in the East, has until recently
received little or no attention. Besides cane
lands must not be scourged with perpetual
crops, as in the West Indies, but ought to be
relieved by rotation of green crops, and rein
vigorated by manures-and they of the best
kind. The Chinese have, in the agriculture of
this product, paid considerable attention to the
matter. In the East, ration of second crop
is rarely if ever taken; in the West Indies and
louisiana rattoon of the third and fourth
crop is very often taken but when the cane is
cut down, the land is either allowed to lie fall
low for season, or cultivated with esculent
roots, pulses, or annual cotton, broad leafed
plant; and in Hisdostan, the cane is one of the
very few plants for which the soil is regularly
MANFRED. Next, as to the manufacture, this
requires, as has been already said, very con-
siderable investment of capital or one at least
which far exceeds, in amount, that which is me-
cessary towards conducting any other branch of
tropical husbandry. Works, for instance, ca
pable Of producing yearly $4,000 worth of in
digo, one of the most expensive articles of those
regions of country, may be constructed for
lrS5, O0O-whereas, to yield the same value in
sugar, an investment of at least twenty times
the amount would be requisite. Sugar, like
many other articles, can only be successfully
manufactured in large way; and the reason is
obvious: the saccharine juice of the cane land
the same applies to the sap of the maple, and
the juice of the palms. runs rapidly into the
acetous or vinous fermentation--a result which
not only deteriorates the quality Of the sugar,
but diminishes its quantity. The sugar-mill
must therefore be on large SCALE and 80
must the boilers. Much of continuous labor
must be employed in feeding the mill, as well
as of skill and vigilance in experimenting aud
directing the process of boiling. The Chinese
pay considerable attention to all these points
In Siam, for example, salary of 81 900 a year
is often given, and in that cheap country, too,
to skilful overseer-or as they call it, an
artist"
Still, for all that attention, they are yet be.
hindhaud in producing the best sugar, because
they do not receive encouragement, and this
brings on careless feeling as to their excel
ling, which they might do, if we would give
them the encouragement they need and also,
as the art of preparing rum from sugar is I'M
known among them. 1t is also Indispensable
necessary, in order to carry on the manufacture
of sugar successfully, to know the process of
refining and whitening, in proper manner,
the crude articles, commonly called clayed and
muscovado sugars. The only mode known in
the East is candying and crystallizing the
crude article-for the art of preparing loaf or
white sugar was the invention of a Venetian,
about the beginning of the sixteenth century
and is yet, at this present day, we think, wholly
unknown to these people. The great consump-
ton of sugar, however, throughout the East, is
provided for by these Chinese, who annually
export thousands of tons to India, Arabia, and
Persia. And why, in time, should they not ex-
port to us? A great and indispensable requi-
site for the production of cheap and good su-
gar is cheap labor, and of this there is an abun-
dance in the East; for the population is so
dense with them, that it admits of no competi-
ton between free and servile work. In our
Republic, the Southerner may act upon the prin-
ciple that it is polite and fitting to make forc.
BILE use of the labor and existence of one-half
of their community, to help the other half; but
in the East, free labor is generally too cheap
to allow it to be superseded for the love of Sla-
very, and the difference of ranks has none of
the bitterness which exists in countries chiefly
peopled by the descendants of drivers
In the whole of the fertile plains of the Gan
ges, where there is a population equal to two
hundred and fifty to the square mile, agrestic
slavery in general sense, has no existence,
and even domestic slavery is rare. Free labor
has there been so cheapened by competition,
that no profit can be made by the exercise of
the cart-whip, and therefore Slavery has now
suffered natural death. 1t is notorious that
but for the opening of new markets for slaves
in the Mississippi country Slavery would long
ere this have been abolished for, what with
an increase of population and amalgamation,
it would have been very difficult today to have