The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-02-21
a GLOOMY PROSPECT FOR THE
SUGAR INDUSTRY,
To the Editor of the Eagle.

Tho election in November, 1899, has
not only in Kansas, but in Louisiana and
other southern states. The sugar makers
of the south who made money before the
war, when they had slave labor, and sold
their sugar for II cents per pound, find
it a very different kind of business, max
ing sugar these days, when they have to
pay for labor, and sell their sugar for 81
cents per pound. Some of the difficult
ties they are meeting with are described
in recent correspondence on the Sugar
Industry in louisiana" published by
Colman's Rural World, from which we
will make II few quotations.
s'This parish has the finest sugar land
| in the state. In those halcyop antebel-
lum days, cheap and abundant slave
| labor cultivated the tropical cane, and
made it into sugar. The oid-time planter
only knew how to secure ninety pounds
of sugar from ton of cane, which he
sold for a shilling a pound, and
he was happy and contented.
| He led what has been called an
ideal life of affiuence and ease. Then
came the war. the emancipation of the
slaves, disaster and rum, and a social,
political and commercial upheaval, hard
to be realized by one living in the pres
ent time. The whilom master was
poorer than his servants, for he lacked
their muscle for manual labor.
The old methods of sugar making were
crude and wasteful, and under the
changed conditions, impossible. Those
who tried TO continue in the old way lost
all they had managed 10 save from the
wrecks of the war. New and expensive
machinery, often experimental knowl-
edge, was introduced, only to be dis
carded, with heavy loss to the planter.
After great tribulations the planter sue
ceeded in procuring 175 pounds Of sugar
from ton of cane; fuel and labor were
economical, and much useless expense
curtailed, and the dawn of a brighter
day seemed near at hand. The struggling
industry was protected by tariff, aud
the unceasing CHATTER of the politicians
for ''cheap sugar" became a constant
menace to his business. This paralyzed
effort, and hindered new investments of
capital in the enterprise. The Repubi
cans caught the idea, and the watchword
of the party became, to abolish the tariff
and substitute for this protection, a
bounty OF. 2 cents per pound on al sugar
produced in this country, which reached
a. certain grade. At last we all have
''cheap sugar" What big package of
sugar you can buy at the grocery for 81;
more than you can carry home comfort
ably, and it is white sugar and of the
best grade too. The government has
paid the Louisiana planter $500 600,
bgt the people of the United States an.
nuallv are buying their sugar for $50,
600, eco less than under the tariff. Alas,
there is another cry now, which is
cause for alarm. The Partially of
the bounty, which ''roos one class TO
enrich q few planters. Let Us
this season for fairly good crop of
sugar. has not met the current expense
Of cultivation and manufacture. Not
until the annual bounty is paid by the
government, will the Louisiana planter
be able to make both ends meet. With
out this aid he must fail. The growing
sugar industry of the south, with the
pioneer beet and cane sugar business in
the west, must be anuihilated. In this
vicinity thousands OF negroes subSiSt on
the wages earned 10y the cultivation OF
sugar cane. They are totally unfit for
doing anything else. Recently a planter
told me that l 600 people were supported
on his place. They fed, clothed and
housed at his expense. and all this was
done before he received the bounty from
the government This Is only one of the
many similar places in this part Of the
country"
Again, thousands OF these negroes
lease land. and sell their sugar
cane to the Central Sugar Fac
tory. This season they received
81 per ton for the cane delivered in the
mill ward. K is estimated that the aver
age cost OF cultivation alone IS equal 10
this amount. 4 smaller sum or bal
year causes distress among these small