The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1883-03-03


Bradstreet's, Of the seventeenth in
stant, says a kind word for the new
sorghum sugar industry of the coun.
try, which is TO supplement the cane
sugar industry Of Louisiana. The
governmental policy as to both these
industries is, or should be, the same
one Of encouragement-and protection.
The enormous quantity of sugar aud
molasses We are now compelled to i'm
port makes the question Of increasing
our product one Of high national mo-
ment. Though the sorghum industr y
is Comparatively new, the experimental
returns have every year afforded in
creasing satisfaction, and it is conf
IDENTITY predicted that within the pres
ent decade it will assume large pro-
portions and prove profitable crop,
unless the present measure of govern
mental protection is Withdrawn. Sor
ghum does not require a veryrich sell,
a sandy loan being considered best,
and it is averrcd that the seed pro-
duced pays all the cost of cultivation
up to the period when the cane is
cut.
According to Bradstreet's figures,
the raw sugar consumption in this
country during 1889, reached lit
949 tons of 2240 pounds weight, in
comparison with 1,O0s,932 tons for
1881. OF this quantity but one
eighth was produced at home, the re-
manning seyen-eighths being imported.
The sugar and molasses importations
of 1881, together with the duties paid
thereon, amounted to $l36,416,030,
As the coinage of gold and silver
during that year reached only S7s,-
900, 900, it required not only this
entire amount TO meet our foreign
sugar and molasses bill, but $57,8l6,-
036 additional The matter is, there
fore, deserving Of serious considera-
tion. In the language of our New
York contemporary, "the importance
of an Industry which will enable us
to keep a constantly increasing amount
of this money at home among our
own citizens can hardly be estimated" "
The example Of France is referred
to, In 1871 the possibility Of obtain
ing sugar from beets was first demon
strated, and though the result was OBJ
taincd at cost Of eighty cents per
pound, yet the possibility of better
results was so impressed on the saga
cious mind of Napoleon that within a
month he established six stations for
making experiments and granted a
million francs TO make the test thor
ough. The industry advanced from
that time forward, the production in
1850 being 10000 tons, and in 1882
no less than 100000 tons, or twenty
seven times the amount of the annual
consumption in 1871,
The sugar industry Of this country,
even with the most unpromising vari
eties of sorghum, offers greater en-
couragement than the beet-sugaf in
dustry of France did, even after years
of perseyering experiment, and, as our
New York contemporary observes
" There is no reason why the United
Sta.es should not do far moro than
duplicate the experience Of France"
We pay more for sugar than for any
other imported article, and the amount
is less effectually met by our domestic
exports. In fact, sugar is cash arti-
Gle, and we pay cash for it, and ANY
industry which promises to diminish
the bulk of this importation, success
fully to those engaged in it, should
meet with the enthusiastic suppoft of
our farming community