National Republican., 1888-01-05
Sorghum Works at Alexandria,

Congress has many duties to perform,
but the first and greatest Of these is to do
whatever promises fairly to advance. the
people Of the great Republic as far az pos.
sible upon the road to absolute selfreance
for anything necessary for sustenancs and
comfort.
The infnite variety OF soil aud climate
within the limits OF the country enable US
TO produce almost everything OF great
value to the human family growa upon the
earth's surface. Whatever can be produced,
even IL artificial stimulation Is necessary at
first, should be produced Thls-t.s the
American idea advanced by Gaorge Wash
ington aud otter founders of the Republic
and s%Tocated by the Republican party.
urs-Sn following this idea to its logical Sc
quence many experiments have been m lde,
more or less costly, some of which have
failed and some proved successful.
The most costly of these experiments
and it has proven fatlure-has been the
lonG.contnued attempt to produce the
sugar supply Of the country from the sugar
cane grown above the frost line. Like the
attempt to cultivate tea this effort should
he abandoned, and to obtain home pro-
duction Of sugar equal to the consumption
we should look In another direction.
The recent experiments made at Fort
Scott, Kan, indicate that the common
sorghum will furnish sugar not only for
home consumption but for export. Ameri-
can machinery has been perfected, after
many years of experiment, which, In the
trials at Fort Scott, proved, or at least gave
strong ground for the belief, that sugar can
be cheaply and prohtably made from sor-
ghum.
Sorghum has been grown In small
quantities in almost every county In the
United States as food crop for animals,
and In some states has been manufactured
with the rudest machinery, into syrups
The fact has been demonstrated In this way
that immense quantities OF sorghum can bt
produced, II the crop can be made protlta
bic.
one Of the first acts Of Congress should
be to continue the experiments made al
Fort Scott, but the work should be done
within the immediate vicinity Of Washing.
ton city,
1t is claimed by Senator Plumb, Of Kan
sas, the earliest friend favoring governmeu
tai experiment, that brown sugar Is pro
duced In Kansas from sorghum at net IS
IL 81 cents per pound. A telegram ha
been recently received from Loulslani
stating that in recent test a ton of Sd!
ghum produced PIG pounds of sugar.
1t therefore seems evident That the ives
and south consider the problem solved.
this be true then let Congress appropriate
such sum of money as the commissioner o
agriculture may recommend 10 establish
works and school for technical trinin!
OF those who desire to become eYp2rts
within easy distance Of the nations clpl
tai, which, the NATIONAL REPUBLICAN, 4
informed, can be done for u sum nOJ eN
ceeding 100000
Alexandra, Va, seems TO the NATroNNl
REPUBLICAN, the most desirable place To-
tie erection Of works To further test tn
capacity OF sorghum as sugar prodaiinI
plant and the establishment OF a trIinin!
school. We suggest 10 the representative
from Virginia the Introduction Of n bill
sppropriatIpg 100000 to enable the buresl
Of agriculture to erect the proper work
and machinery to carry out this plan.
such a bill should be passed early tha
the farmers Of Virginia may be able to plan
ana produce the supply OF cane necessar!
for the work of experiment There ar
numbers OF careful farmers IN Virginia ani
Maryland who would plant aud cultlvat,
sorghum In considerable quantities, gIyini
the exact cost and process OF production
go that the whole question Of the manner
cost, and result Of sorghum cultivation car
be determined at once, and these farmers
through their oranges and In other ways