The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1891-01-01
BEET SUGAR.
consul Merritt Writes About the In
dustry in Germany.

tOhsul AeTTlu NEuSs hUout tuc III
dustry in Germany.
This Country Pays $1,000. 900 Annuai-
~ TO German GroWers-BIstory Of
Rect suEar-Why this Country
should Grow Sugar Bssts.
United States Consul Merritt, Of
ChemnitZ, says, In q report just pub
Ilshed by the State Department, that
fI6,OO0,0 600 IL the sum OF money, In
round figures, which the United
States sent to Germany to pay for
beet sugar bought during the fiscal
year ended June 30, 1890.
Every pound OF sugar thus paid for
was made from sugar beets grown
In Prussia, in q latitude exactly on
q line with the frozen regions Of
Labrador. There are within the
United States, between the thirty
eighth and forty -secOnd parallels. OF
latitude, many million acres Of land
which are as thoroughly adapted to
the culture OF the sugar beet ~ any
land on earth. That 10 the opinion
OF Consul Merritt, and he thus con-
tinues:
1.-The question naturally occurs to
the mind of ali American, why
should ZIG OF, 600 paid for beet sugar
be sent to Germany instead Of being
paid to American agriculturlsts in
tue valleys Of the Ohio, Mississippi
and Missouri rivers7 II IL q subject
OF profound interest aud has recent
ly been considered by Congress IS
one Of paramount national import
anee. Il II q fact that no one will
care 10 dispute that the United States
IL the greatest consumer Of sugar In
the world to-day. The consumption
Of sugar per capita per annum may
be said TO be rs follows In five coun-
tries from which statistics are OBJ
tanned: England, 80 pounds; United
States, ~ pounds; France and
Switzerland, Is pounds; Germany,
IS pounds. Hence, with an enormous
majority Of population, the United
states may be called the greatest
sugar-cOnsuming nation on earth"
Consul Merritt then goes into the
history Of sugar and cites some very
interesting facts, The use Of sugar
In Europe was for many years re-
stricted. Sugar was for q long time
sold by druggists a. . luxurious
salt" This continued until late In
the seventeenth century, q monopoly
. existing which kept sugar ut an ex-
ffavRgant price. With people who
were not in independent circum-
stances sugar was nj that time much
more Of aIuKury than 10 champagne
Or truffies at the present time"
In his Physiology Of Tastes, pub
lished in lsOO, Brilliat-Savarin says:
"For more than eighty years the droll
remark held good that the use Of SUI
gar injured a man only As far as II
related to his pocket book. Since
then. however, the use Of sugar has
increased day by day until Il has
become 30 common that all well-to-
do people spend annually more
money for sugar than for bread"
Sugar was regarded with the great
est dlstrust. One declared that II
over-heated the system, another that
Il congested the lungs, others that Il
was the direct cause Of apoplexy.
Kunksl va LOwenstjern declared
openly that sugar was without doubt
Injurious, because in an experiment
he had made, sugar had accelerated
fermentation, and hence sugar
would bring the human body into .
state Of PernicIous fermentation,
accompanied by . host Of stomach
diseases. The equally well-known
English scientist, Boyle, dlscovefsk'
of the consumption Of atmospheric
air, arrived at q similar conclusion,
particularly on account Of his dis
covery that all sweet and farinsceous
substances are subject TO iermenta-
ton. GarenEieres had the courage
or audaeity, In I6I7, to make the
monstrous declaration that sugar
twas not only not nutritious, but thst
ut Is q poison; and no better deed
D.. can be done than TO send II back to
India from whence IL came, because
only by that sction can consumption
which Its immOderate use has devel-
oPed, be checked"
In all epOchs and ages the war
against sugar has been q fight with
wind mills" And sugar, which vas
once treated with hostility and dis
credit, has taken Its place In the front
rank Of human necessities snd COM
forts. lite use and production seem
unlimited, for, while In 1875 the en-
tire sugar product of the world Wss
81 10000 meter cenlners, In lss4-s5
% had reached the enormous volume
Of 81, 600 900 meter centnsrs, and has
been increasing annually since then.
II appears that the flrst discovery
Of sugar In beets was made By G Ger
man professor Of chemistry, DR.. An.
drsas Sigismund MaFgEraf, about
the year 1T4o. tits not Of record that
Professor Marggraf pursued his re-
searches further than mere thsoreti.
cal disclosures, but one Of his pupIls,
FrAns Carl Aehard, became deeply
intsrestsd In the subject end dsvsl-