Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1885-01-22
Sugar for One Cent a Pound.
From the New York Tribune.

rIOIl Tic INoW IOlh lIlDuucs
DR.. Peter Collier, formerly chemist OF
the Agricultural Bureau at Washington,
recently laid down the startling propo-
sitieA that sugar can bs made from sOr-
ghum for one cent pound. Such an
achievement. or any close approach to it,
would be of immense Importance to the
people Of this country; and the POSSIBLE
ity of it possesses peculiar interest just
now while the Spanish treaty il under
consideration. Nowhere in the world,
except, perhaps, in England, Is as much
sugar eaten ia proportion to the pOpula-
tiOn as in the United States, Our annu-
al consumption is 2,300,O0OO 900 pounds;
Europe with six times rs many people,
eats only about 7,0O0,000,OOO pounds.
Leaving out the cost of refining the raw
sugar when we have bought IL, which
would add from quarter to third to
the price, and saying nothing OF the TO-
100000 gallons Of syrup and mOlasses
we use, our annual sugar bill is about
$100,000,OO0. Seven eighths OF this mon
ey Oes to foreigners. Ii DR.. Golfers
proposition is sound, we need not pay
over $20000O00 or $25000OOO a year for
our sugar; and every cent OF this should
60 into the pockets of American farmers.
Not only this; in time we should be able
to produce moro sugar than we need, to
undersell the growers OF cane and beet
sugar in other countries, and to build
up large export trade that would still
further enrich American agricultural
lists, refiners and merchants. Ii, ROW,
by the ratification of the Spanish treaty
we should prevent the realization Of
this possibility, a greater injury might
be done to American industry and pop
ular welfare than any other that has
been mentioned in connection with that
negotiation.
DR.. Collier therefore, should be invited
to explain himself. The country ought
to know what reason he has for the faith
that is i'm him. What he says is entitled
to great weight. No one has eOntribu-
ted NO much as he to the solution of the
practical difficulties In the way OF max
ing sugar II ON surghum, In 1879. while
as yet his famous experiments were only
fairly begun, the whole product of this
commodity ir the United States was less
thaa 1900 pounds. Yet scientists had
been wrestling with the problem for 30
or 40 years. Last year, directly as the
result of his discoveries, the amount was
100000 pOunds-an increase of one
hnndred and twenty-five fold in five
years. This substantial verificatiOn of
the prophecies lie made while in the SER
vice of tho Government, taken with tho
handsome recognition of his work by the
Natiooal Academy of Sciences, and the
cOnfr nation of many of his results by
subsequent investigation IN this and
other countries, establish fair pie
sumption that he knows what he Is talk
ing about. Although his abrupt disnis-
sal from Office in 1882 interrupted his
valuable work, and while there are sew
eral important questions relating to the
sorghum industry yet remaining to be
solved, it is quite possible that DR.. Col
lier can back UP his recent conclusions
with arguments that would be worth
hsaring at the present juncture. It is
gratifying, then, to know that the New
York Chamber of Commerce, an 0rgani-
cation already identified with the deyel-
Opement of the Nations industries, has
invited him to expOund his theory. An
important service to the e0untry may
thus be performed.