The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-04-15
WEDNESDAY. APRIL 10, 1891.
TWELVE PAGES.
What Sugar BOunties Have Cost the
World.


result of the payment OF bounties on
sugar production by several nations, and
these bounties have cost the world great
deal more, directly and indirectly, than
the world has saved because OF them in
the price of its sugar.
The practice of stimulating the pro-
duction of beet root sugar in Europe, by
bounties and protective duties, dates back
20 the first quarter of this century. But
che existing system of excessive bounties
dates only from 1869, when Germany I'M
dertook TO increase her revenue by laying
an excise ian internal taxi on all beet
sugar produced. The tax was levied upon
The raw beets, and drawback was allowed
npon whatever sugar was exported equiv
alent 10 the tax paid on the beets from
which the sugar was made. The draw
back was calculated on a basis of one
pound of sugar to twelve pounds of beets.
This standard YVES, when adopted. q
fair one. But the German sugar produ-
GERS, byintroduc;ng better methods of cul-
tivation and improved processes of treat
ing their raw material. gradually increased
their product, until in 1886, they made a
pound of sugar out Of every S.8 pounds
of beets, and they also extracted sugar
from the beet root mOlasses, which was
not taxed at all, but upon which they re-
ceived a drawback. What wasintended
for tax, therefore, operated as bounty.
1t stimulated the sugar production of
Germany enormously. The exports of
oIz
in 1876 to over 5000, 900 cwt in 1885. The
consumers of other European countries
got the benefit of the cheaper sugar, and
soon their own sugar producers raised a
great clamor, with the result that France,
Belgium, Holland, Austria and Russia be-
gan the payment of bounties, and entered
"into competition with each other to see
which of them could sell cheapest to
foreigners at the expense of their own
people"
The results were that beet sugar, which
in 1860 constituted only 20 per cent. of
the entire sugar product of the world,
now constitutes about so per cent. of the
aggregate product. The prices of sugar to
consumers have been greatly reduced, but
OF course. because while she has paid no
bounties, subsidies or taxes of any kind
on sugar, her people have saved e., 100000
(S25, OO0,O 00) a year on their sugar bill,
aud the per capita consumption rose from
So pounds in 1874 10 "a pounds in 1886
(as compared with about 81 pounds in
the United States in 1851. Great fortunes
were OF course made by the manufacturers
and refiners of continental Europe out of
these bounties.
But the bad results OF these arbitrary
interferences with the natural develop
ment of great industry have far out
weighed the apparent benefits. There
was an immense overproduction of sugar
under the stimulus of bounties, and
finally a period of severe depression in
the sugar industries of the continent set
In. Many establishments were closed or
became bankrupt. Many laborers were
turned out of employment and great dis
tress prevailed. In a discussion in the
German reichstag IN 1889, Deputy HEINE
asserted that the bounty system had
proved disastrous to the agricultural
laborers of that country, who had been
compelled to sacrifice all their land to the
beet cultivators. In some districts the
iaborers were little better than serfs
Deputy GALLBERT, in the same discussion,
said:
/ can not discern the smallest gain to
our country. The profits of the system
have only been reaped by England. 1t
is German sugar that has enabled England
20 give sugar to her cattle; il is German
capital that has so developed the English
macufacture of sweets that it successfully
completes with the German manufacturer
an the markets of the world and in Ger
many itself We pay one and half to
two millions sterling to enable England to
consume what would probably be worked
up by our German industry. Gentlemen,
fear that this system has made us the
laughing stock of our English cousins.
''The disaster which the extreme arti-
fetal reduction in the price of sugars has
brought to other great business interests
and to the material prosperity and even
civilization Of large areas of the earth's
surface cannot well be overstated," says
DAVID A. WELLS. In the British West
indies, in the absence Of all profit on which
is almost their sole industry, it is said that
civilization seems destined to disappear
from many of the islands. as it already has
70 a great extent from some of them. In
Cuba and Porto Rico there has been an
appalling increase of poverty and cor
responding increase OF brigandage. In
Java the great sugar industry has been on
the verge of ruin for years, and the same
Is true of British India and Australia,
while it has been practically abandoned
10 the island Of Madagascar.
In continental Europe strong reaction
has set in against the bounty-paying sys-
tenn. Il has not brought permanent pros
perity either to the sugar industry or the
people, but has imposed upon the latter
an enormous burden of taxation. which,
in the face Of increasing annual deficits, is
rapidly becoming intolerable. Russia has
e'ready abolished her general system Of
bounties. In 1887 conference Of repre-
ssntatives of the various sugar-producing
nations Of the world was held at London
to consider the bounty question. Dele
gates were presentfrom Germany. Austria,
Belgium. Sweden, France, Denmark,
Spain, Great Britain, Italy, the Neither