The San Francisco call., 1896-12-13
THE BEET-sUGAR INDUSTRY.

The return of the Republican party to
power next year will be followed by
largely increased protection by new tariff
laws. and the claims of the beet-sugal
industry to a prominent place on the list
of those deserving to be fostered should
be strongly urged upon Congress.
Sugar is one of the great farm products
with which the United States fails to
supply even her home market. Its produc-
ton from beets has increased till it now
far exceeds the yield from cane. The
sugar beet can be grown in many parts OF
this country and its cultivation only needs
encouragement to make the home supply
of sugar at least equal to home consump-
ton.
A protective tariff on sugar would
hasten its introduction TO new localities,
and would offset the unjust discrimina-
ton made py Europ an nations against
some products of our farms under the pre-
tense of sanitary policing. 1t would be a
protection IN which the farmer would di-
rectly share, and in it he could readily see
the benefits of protection generally.
Even from the standpoint of the advo-
Gates of a tariff for revenue higher duty
on sugar would be advisable. The tact
cannot be overlooked in the present need
of increasing the income of the Govern
ment to make it equal to the necessary
expenditures. The broader and better
ground on which higher sugar duty is
urged, however, is that of protection to
this great industry. 1t is in no wise Sec
tional. North and South, East and West
alike are interested in it, and it will be
for the benefit of all to promote it and
protect it.
To the people of California the subject
is one of vast Importance. The prod uc-
ton of sugar is already one of the largest
industries of the State and has IN ii tie
possibility OF becoming the very largest.
In the complex proc sses of its work it
gives employment to all grades OF labor
from the farmhands who gather the beets
to the scientific and skilled worKmen who
transmute their juices into sugar. The
product, moreover, is one of universal use.
1t is consumed in large quantities in
every household and has become one of
the prime necessities of civilized man.
Thanks to the energy, the skill and the
public spirit of Claus Spreckels, the in
dustry has been advanced to great proper
tions in California and is still going
forward. He is now erecting the largest
and best-equipped sugar producing plant
in the world near Salinas, and if the in
dustry be properly guarded from unfair
foreign competition he will make this
State the greatest sugar producing region
on earth.
Since so much capital is already in
vested in the enterprise 1t Is the duty OF
Californians in Congress TO guard it by all
means in their power. The responsibility
of this duty becomes augmented when we
consider the prospective growth of the
industry. With such an industrial
general as Claus Spreckels TO lead the way
California needs nothing but fair degree
of protection for her sugar-workers to
produce all the sugar used in America,
thus enriching herself, giving employ
ment to her labor providing profits Tor
her farmers and saving to the United
States every year millions of dollars now
sent abroad for the sugar of foreign lands.