The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-06-02
POINTS ON SUGAR.
Sweet Stuff Causing Political and FL
nancial Indigestion.
The Story of Its Humble Beginning in the
World.
Washington Start

| AuG STORY OIL lCS II umDl6 beginning III the
| World.
| Washington Start
Sugar is like the genie in the Arabian
| Nights story. 1t has grown until finally it
| has become so gigantic as to throw its shad-
i ow across the field of national politics. In
| fuence is alleged to have been cast by it into
| the scale of elections. Senators are openly
charged with specializing in it. One of
them make no secret of his interest in the
| market for this product, the recent rise in
| which has probably netted him at least s.,
00O,000.
Yet, in respect to age, the giant sugar is
a baby. Its extensive employment is very
new. In early times honey was almost the
only source OF sweets and was enjoyed only
by the sick or by the finder of a colony of
wild bees. In the middle age sugar from the
juices of plants was rare luxury, within
reach of the rich alone. People now living
can remember when it was not a common
article of diet even with persons in easy
circumstances. Only within the last twenty
years has it ceased to be a luxury.
The production of sugar has steadily in
creased until now it is used commonly
as flour. Nobody is so poor not to have a
household store of it. It's consumption is
referred to as measure of prosperity and
civilization. Whereas savages consume al
most none of it, people employ it more and
more as they become progressively enlight-
ened. England uses seventy-nine pounds
per annum for each individual of her pop
ulation; the United States consumes sixty
nine pounds per capita, France twenty
nine pounds, Germany twenty-three pounds,
Austria fifteen pounds, Russia and Spain
ten pounds, Italy and Turkey eight
pounds.
WHY MORE is USED IN ENGLAND.
1t willsbe observed that the consumption
of sugar in England is greater than in this
country in proportion to the population.
This is accounted for by the fact that a
large part of the saccharine luxury used in
John Bulls island is made up into jams, pre-
serves and ma rmalades for export. The
United States consumes about 1850, 900
pounds OF sugar in year, not including
molasses, honey and sirups No other item
of food costs so much except bread and
meat. 1t is most nutritious, having the
same food value as an equal weight of
starch. The consumption of sugar in the
world has doubled since 1876.
The sugar cane has been cultivated from
time immemorial. 1t was known anciently
| to many savages tribes of the eastern hem
| isphere, by whom the plant was grown for
the sake of sucking the stems. or for sweet
| ening food with the raw juice. Their are
many species and a multitude of varieties,
natives of river banks and meadows, in
| warm countries around the world. The
cane is said to have been first systemati-
ca1lv raiSed in India whenea the Va natiaps
brought it to Europe, in the twelfth CEN
| fury. In the South Island the leaves are
used for matching houses, while the stems
| are made to serve for the shafts of arrows.
| The opposition encountered by sugar
| when first introduced was extraordinary.
| The early struggles of the potato to gain
recognition are a matter of history. The
| spread of tobacco was antagonized by an
| exasperating fanaticism. Innumerable
statements were published to prove the evil
| effects of coffee, tea and chocolate when
| they came into use in Europe. Sugar, how
! ever, had an even worse reception. Emf
nent authorities declared it a poison. 1t
was alleged to overhead the system, to con-
| gest the lungs, to give rise to aplopexy, to
| produce diseases of the stomach by ferment-
| ing and to develope consumption. These
| conclusions were Endorsed by Boyle, who
discovered the composition of atmospheric
| air.
| Sugar was known in England as early as
| the middle of the fifteenth century, but it
| was only used at feasts and for medicinal
/ purposes. In France the sale of it was a
monopoly enjoyed by apothescaries until
late in the seventeenth century. The mo-
nopoly did not help to make it cheap. In
i fa pt it wa of a 11IYnpU than
champagne and truf1es now are The con-
| sumption of sugar in the United States in
1880 was only forty-three pounds per capita
| Thus it appears that each person in the
| country uses twenty-six pounds more OF
sugar annually.than fourteen years ago.
There has been great deal of agitation
| of late on the subject of glucose, and re-
| specting this product many mistaken no.
| tions have been spread. 70 begin with, it
is not harmful. Common molasses is glucose
mixed with little cane sugar, which falls
| to the bottom of the cask after long stand
ing. That part of the sugar derived from
| cane which will not crystalline is glucose
Its non-crystallizability characteristic of
| glucose. Crystallizable sugar is always
called ''cane sugar." no matter what plant
| it is derived from For example, beets yield
| CduO sugar duu COAIdlA liz SluCOS0.
| HOW GLUCOSE MAY BE MADE.
| Commercial glucose is made from corn.
but it may be got from almost any sort OF
1 vegetable stuff. 1t may be obtained from
cotton rags by mixing with the rags a
small quantity of sulphuric acid. Ordinary
blotting paper treated in the same way will
| yield glucose. Cotton rags and blotting
| paper are cellulose, and cellulose is the
| same thing chemically as sugar, save that
| it contains more water in each of its mole.
| cules The sulphuric acid takes away the
| extra water, and the residue is glucose.
| Glucose is not quite SO sweet as cane
| sugar, but it only costs cents a pound
So it makes a very suitable adulterant, and
for this purpose it is widely employed in the
manufacture of candies, jellies, syrups
| etc. 1t would be made out of rags but fol
the fact that corn is cheaper than rags
Ten pounds of glucose are turned out annu.
ally in this country for every man, woman
and child in the United States. total OF
650,0O0,000 pounds. Chicago produces enor
nous quantities of it from maize. In fact
it is the most widely employed of all adult.
| Grants.