The morning times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1897, 1896-09-20
TONS OF SWEETNESS.
IN SUGAR BETS
Description of Great Industry in Several West
ern States.
NEBRAsKANS TAKE THE LEAD, PERHAPS
But the Country Imports Six-sevenths of It's
Sugar.


| beet sugar industry is less thancEht years
! Old. In lSSs experiments were made at
| Grand Island. In 1883 the State University
! conducted experiments aud The first fac
| tory was begun. hut ii " as not until $50
| that beet sugar WAS commercially produced
| IN any quantity. \ second factory, az Nor
| folk, was completed by the OXnards in the
| following year, and the product has iu-
| creased from 100000 pounds III 1880 TO
about 5, o,noo pounds IN 1898. -Four other
! large fdctores-those of Chino and Almetlu,
| Cal; of the Western Beet Sugar Company
| and the Utah Sugar Company were com
| pleted soon after. The severe financial
| depression o. 81 checked the movement
| hut its friends claim that il is now in a
| healthier condition than ever, and ON the
| eve of great Expansion, especially in NJ
| hraska, under the law OF 1888. which pro
viGcs for the payment of d bounty Of five
e,Ghths of one cent per pound upon sugar
| manufactured III the State from Lccts.
sorghum, or other agar Yielding plants
grown III Nebraska, provided no money
shall he PAID upon sugar produced from
heets for which much as 81 per ton has
not been paid to the producer nor upon sugar
produced from heets raised by Il manl.-
facturcr
1t may be added that an acre prCduC-
ing thirty tons o. bc,.ts ~ Zen 49, mi
in!um rate of So 4 ton yicleS more money
than II l. likely I" so u sown wheat ii,
90 cents bushcl,
The quality OF bcets for sugar purprses
varies greatly with the season. The amount
Of sugar per ton of beers has in this way
varied from 80 pounds To over eco. Per
hap> l75 NAV he taken as an average
Allowing for the expense of refining. ;Lc
manufacturer could hardly afford 10 nav
even tie minimum price for his bepts IL
il were not for the State money tn,. United
States bounty of cents Il uound On all
domestic sugar having been rcpcal,d nv
Congress in 1894
II would he a fine thing no doubt II
tie United States could and would pro
ducc all its own sugar, transr,..,,,.. some
10 the home producer. Dat the question is
after all one of finance. TIE State of
Nebraska may be willing To foster an
infant industry by bounty Whose pay
mcnt i q rifle but we can hardly imagine
her pa wing out S35 900 900 Ia $40 .OuO 900 |
a year ID bounticS, if the farmers Of the |
State We're To accomplish what is easily |
possible in theory ard provide Tie national |
sugar supply
whether the country VIII ever restore |
tie Federal sugar bounty of . cents a |
pound. or even offer a smaller one, is n |
political question whose answer rests |
with Congress If this should lie done.
there can be no doubt of the rapid ex- |
pansion of the Western sugar industry. |
TO the great benefit Of the region II not.
the question must ultimately he whether |
the sale of 175 pounds of sugar at ruling |
wholesale rates will pay the farmer for |
raising and the manufacturer for working |
up ton Of bccts. Without the bounty |
the price must go considerably lower than
50 per ton, especially as we have az vet
discovered no such excellent use for the
refuse beet fiber as certain continental
people who use it. dried, To adultcrate
cbicory. which, in turn, gets into 50 much (
Of the worlds coffee. This chicury in.
duStry exists on a very small scale in Wis
consn. il is said hut il is not vet ,iunies-
ticated in Nehra ska. where the refuse
beets sIe simply fed to the cattle. In
Lehi. Utah, last years contract price