, 1893-11-15

keep an eye on his competitors. He will
be stimulated in this way to greater activity,
and may moreover learn something from the
proceedings of his rivals that may be useful
10 himself. There was a time when the sup
plying of the world with sugar could not
have been spoken of as Il race at all. The West
Indies had it all their own way. Columbus
had discovered a veritab!e Ell Dorado, though
not Of the kind for which he was looking. And
even to this day, although the times Of lavish
wealth III the West Indies have long gone by,
we may still say to the sugar planters IA the
Old farmer said to his sons. there is n treasure
buried in the field dig and you will find it"
Formerly the treasure was to be had. so to
speak, for the picking up; now We have to
dig for it. and dix laboriously too, if we want
to find it. Or to return to the figure of the
race, we may say that the West Indians, for
me, u without c mpetitors. have now for many
years been subjected to the s sverpst competi.
zion; and not only 40, but have been far out.
stripped IN the race by stronger men. This
has become so obvious within the last ten
years thaA the reflection has been forced
home onlthis side of the Atlantic that we must
run better or retire from the race altogether;
and the result has BEEN that the wonderful
strides have been made in the cane sugar
industry. There are signs on the other hand
that our great rivals, the beet sugar growers
aud manufacturers, have about reached the
utmost they can attain to at any srate the
rapid increase in the cultivation of the beet
root in Europe, which almost created q panic
IN these parts a few years ago, has for the
last year or two come to a stand still. 1t Is
true that the beet cultivation is increasing
iust now ia the United States and especially i'll
CALIFORNIA;. where the climate seems to be re-
markedly suited to tevsIopingthe full saccha-
VIVA Nv &c ti,a~aOf II -, not ba rn,,nDlhar
ed, however that the industry enjoys at pre-
sent the advantage of receiving a very heavy
bounty, a bounty which is already a subject
of complaint in the States. and which, as its
payment becomes more and more 0nerOus by
the extension Of production whichit encourages
will in all likelihood be reduced, and perhaps
ultimately abolished. It would seem, then,
that the critical point in the contest bstweSn
beet aud cane sugar has been past, and that If
we only exert ourselves to m~lintaIu and i'm
prove the position that tbs cane industry now
holds, there is little to fear. But croak@s
will crosk. no matter how good their case
may be. 1t is impossible to prevent them
from finding some excuse for sighs and groanS
Why, there are people in prosperous England
who worry themselves because in three or four
hundred years all the coal in the world will
he used up. aud what they ask, will thea
become of onf poor descendants ? There
are others WHO are not satisfied with this
terrestrial globe itself, bat search the universe
70 find trouble "a comet viii some day smash
us sll. ~ our sun will break out into a
greater hlazs. As The new star did last year,
aud Their we shall all be frizzled up. Here in
Santa Cruz it is tie weather or the low prices
that troubls us. &.NAat if we get a success
sion of dry yeasst What if We get a vet crop
seasons and eant get the canes of the land ?
What if a hurricane sweeps down our canes
sitter we have grown them How will it be
w~hsa,alf America is growing beets? How
will it Do whea The vast and fertile lands. of
Afri"a producs SO mssh sugar that the upfor-
tunste West 4ndiss will be swalnpsd by 1t?
Wsll suppose that we answer these questions
and alfof their like by another. namely; How
Will it be if we give up all these useless quss-
fions and all the gloomy forsbodings and spe-
c~ulations that give rise to thenl and just go
straight ahead with our duty, looking in the
mean while on the bright side of everything?
Why, we know very we'll how it will be; We
shall be contributing to two good things on
the one hand. to opr own peace and happi-
nsas. snd on the other. to the prosperity of
the pleasant Tittls island in which our lot is
oae&.