Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1857-02-19
10 ~ 81 a - lIGee
NO. 20. q :

reason ot'tte secere frosts and the general de-
probation Of seed cane"
Other reliable statements also tell us that
the plantations are being abandoned, in
spite of the large protection now enjoyed.
or else are in process of conversion to cot
ton-felds; while the 1,4S1 sugar planters
in Louisiana, who, in 1852, raised nine
tenths of all our home production of sugar
cane, has decreased to l, 299 in 1S55-a loss
of about one seventh-and are now even
smaller in numbers; and the last Patent Of
fee report, in the following clear, undenia-
bic paragraph of single sentence, gives US
the reason why the crop has become SO
uncertain, insufficient, and deterioated.
From the absence, with few exceptions,
of everything like an attempt at q rotation
of crops, and from an injudicious perse-
verance, year after year, in the culture of
cane, on the same fields, much of the land
in Louisiana has either become wholly unfit
for its production, or only capable of yield
ing diminished crops at a continually in
creasing expenditure of labor and money;
and a perseverance in the same system, for
some years longer, will end in the total a.
abandonment of cane cultivation; for, as the
cost of the production of sugar must pro-
gressively increase, ii ciHJe impossible for
the planters to compete successively with
those of the tropics, where the cane is pc
RENAL, the soil more enduring in its fertili.
ty and labor is equally cheap"
And to this might be added the conclusive
fact stated in the great mercantile petition
from New York city, preJehted here few
days since by one of their. faithful Repre-
sentatives, [Mr. WAKEMxS,1 that expert
ence has proven that ''more lodor is necessa-
ry to, produce given quantity Of sugar in
this country than IN any other pdr ef the
world from which the commodity Is
brought And if the reason for this is
asked, it might be replied that the we'll
known fact that the cane does not mature
seed in our country, which it does In moro
congenial climes, is strong evidence that
it is an exotic-that can only be cultivated
here advantageously in favorable seasons
: and that it is better, in pecuniary point of
view, to encourage increased production
where it is a natural crop, by opening q free
market here, by pursuing hot-house poll
cy of seeking as we have already done
, with tea and coffee by oppressive taxation.
to force cultivation on uncongenial soil and
in an uneongenial climate. 4.r
1t cannot be contended that the expert
: ment of protection has not been thorough
ly tested. The culture of the cane was in-
troduced into Louisiana over a century
since, in the year 1751; and the tariff on
foreign sugar has existed for the last sixty
e years. And yet, when the production was
$ in its palmiest state the most eminent COM
: mercial Judges estimated that the actual
t cost ofits culture was double as much pex
e pound in Louisiana as it was in Cuba or
II Brazil; while our own most recent statis-
t tics show that the average product in thai
e State is not over one thousand pounds pea
jacrc, while in the more congenial climes last
S named it rises to fully four and five times
e that amount In fact, De Bows Census
If Compendium of 1850, page 17S, gave the
: average yield even then at but one thous-
d and pounds per acre in Louisiana, and sew
l. en- hundred and fifty pounds in Florida, and
-e it is confessedly much smaller now; while
h in Mauritius, the yield is as high as six
a thousand pounds per acre. 80
+ Our commercial reports show also, as I
l. have before stated, that, instead of the high
nc prices stimulating production, as should be
is the case, if protection has any efficiency IN
I'd its development, the exact reverse has been
i the case, From home crop of five hum
a. dredthousand hogshead sper year it ran dorn
y last year to one hundred thousand and
IN perhaps less, while the importations from
te abroad have increased In . like ratio
u Thus although the total consumption has
l. remained for several years at the same ag-
'y gregate, the increasing prices restricting
IN the ability of the entire population to pur'
a chase what becomes an expensive luxury,
he the importations from abroad have increas
ng ed in very large ratio. The figures are a
On follows: Total consumption of Sugar In th'
he United States in 1858, 372,9S9 tons; il
nc 1854, 3S5, ,92S tons; in 1855, 377, 1852 tons
ly in 1856, 1890 tons. Imports of foreigl
he sugar in 1854, 165, ,925 tons; in 1855. POS.
his O64 tons: in 1856, 275 1862 tons; estimates
1t for 1857, 330, 900 tons; an average increas
IS Of imports of twenty five per cent, Tor eacl
Ia successive year. -. - -.
Eminent statistical writer's have estims
,r- ted, and their figures arc borne out by tn
NJ census Of 1850, that the consumption o
is sugar by tie people of the United States
ew men, women, and children-averages owe
cir thirty pounds yearly per head. The thre
at, hundred and seventy Eight thousand sevc
ng hundred and sixty tons consumed in the I'm
ias ted States last year amounted to eight hun
The dred and forty weight millions Of pounds
t it The census of 1860, but three years distant
be- viii show population of thirty one mill
ual ion FIVE hundred thousand, which will n
vo- quire nine hundred and forty millio
the pounds of sugar With home crop no.
Ugh of about one hundred millions, and even II
ov- Ecluding the maple, which, being made e
the season that other farm work cannot /
ted done. is not affected by the protective =
,es. Qument, it isevident that fully seven eight
orn Of our supply is to be drawn from abroa'
,es- or else that we must look to other sscch'
us- ! trine products for substitute. If I've do n
the desire, therefore, to permanently changefh
ters item Of universal use INTO costly luxur
ub- obtainable only by the rich, ought we .
in to abolish this Government tax upon its q
nu- portaticn, which serves only TO enhance
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