Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-09-12

From the Missouri Republicans.

From the Missouri Republicans.
The sugar question in Louisiana has be
come the one of supreme interest The
enormous growth of the beet root cultiVa-
tiOn in Europe has broken down the price
of sugar toa point at which Louisiana
planters cannot afford to raise it accord
ing To the existing methods ; the commits
sion merchants of New Orleans have sig
nitied their purpose To materially reduce
their advances Oh cane crops and it is
plain that if prices remain low, sugar
making in Louisiana. the chief interest in
the State, will have To be abandoned
The outlook is gloomy. Beet sugar has
increased 80 largely in Europe that the an
nua product now exceeds that Of cane Su-
gar in the world. The total caue-sugHr
prduct last year was ?.l5l.OoO tons. while
the beet -sugnr product was 3,3?3,u 1910 tons,
or III. 600 tons more of beet sugar than of
cane sugar. The cane sugar of the West
Indies no longer fixes the price of the ar
tiCle France made last year nearly as
much sugar as Cuba dld. and Germany
made go ,OIO tons more, or rs much as all
the West lndi1S and Louisiana put tuGcth-
err II i no longer the competition OF the
West Indies, but that ofGcrmany, France,
and Austria that the Louisiana planters
.
duciug sugar enough to glut the markets
of the world and break down prices to a
point ut which the Louisiana planters can
not afford to raise cane. II Is crcdltablc
to their spirit and enterprise 10 find that
they are not wholly diShcartencd by the
condition of things. but. ON the contrary,
are looking ii SQuarclY in the face and ad-
dressing themselves To the task of finding
il remedy. They believe such remedy is
to he found in two things First, cheaper
processes for making sugar and second,
/ the extraction of IL larger percentage OF
SaCCharinc from the cane. rs long rs SUI
gar sells for five cents Il pound and il costs
five cents Il pound to make it, there Is no
profit III the business but if the cost of
producing il can bp reduced cent Il pound
and % per cent more Saccharln" can he tN-
truCtcd from the cane, there Will be Il gam
of cents a pOuud-and this is the object
the planters set before themselves for
achievement. 1t is interesting To observe
that they do not propose to reduce the
price of labor. An essay ON the question,
read before the Sugar Planters .\SsUcia-
tiOn hY Theodore :. Wilkinson of Plaque
mines says: Il contend that wages will
never be, and can never be, lowered to cor
respond to the fall in the price of sugar.
|, for one, would never ask the labOrer to
work for the wages that are paid To the
the beet-rOOt laborers of Germany The
reduction which they propose to accom-
machinery, whereby Il greater amount of
cane shall be raised to the hand greater
economy in grinding. boiling and manu-
faCturc, and Il new system by which, i'll
stead of having Sugar-houSe ON every
plantation, canc-groWing shall he Separa-
ted from sugar-making, and one large mill,
provided with the most improved maChn-
cry and the most economical processes,
shall manufacture the cane CrOpOf "A dozen
or more plantations. In Germany they
obtain T. per cent. or about $50 pounds of
sugar from IA tom of heetS, while in Louis
lana they obtain Only6 per cent, or l2j
large proportion of the juice being thrown
away in the imperfectly treated bagasse,
or pressed cane, Cane is richer in Juice
than beets, and it is believed that with II
more perfect process for grinding and
pressing, a great waste Will be saved, a
larger percentage of sugar made from the
cane, and the cost reduced to the point of
successful competition with beet sugar,