Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1896-10-28
THE BEET SUGAR BELT.
Importance of Fostering the Develop
mcnt of the Industry.


Nothing has been more ofectual In dis
polling the idea that the farmers can make
their calling more profitable by voting for
an abundance OF silver money than the ten
| doncy of the wheat market to go in a di-
rection opposite to that of the silver market
But this simply illustrates one phase of the
great interest the farmers have in the issues
OF the pending campaign. If the claim
that farmers ought to vote for forcing up
the price OF silver in order to raise the price
of their products is a fallacy it is not a
greater one than many other claims put
forth in the interest OF the Nebraska candi-
date.
The farmers in Nebraska who live near
the great beet sugar factories which have
been built at Norfolk and Grand Island
can testify to the advantages which have
come to them by reason of the existence
and operation of these factories. Sugar beets
is a surer crop than any of the cereals and
il Is more profitable at fair prices for the
product. There is double advantage in
the sugar beet factories. They afford sure
and ready market for the products of the
farms and they give employment to many
who are not directly engaged in farming,
thus making home market for garden and
field crops generally The experience OF the
Nebraska people who have been favored
by the presence of these two great factories
has been in every way satisfactory and no
persons near Norfolk or Grand Island can
corporations which have built them or oper-
ated them.
A Minnesota eXperimenter has shown that
fifteen tons of beets can be grown on an
acre OF ground In Minnesota and the quality
is good. Good results have been obtained
in Wisconsin, South Dakota and Iowa, and
there is no doubt in the minds OF well in
formed farmers and sugar beet experts that
beet factories can be supplied with material
in almost any part of the northwest. The
soil Is all right and in most places the
climate is just what is NEEDED. The farmers
of the northwestern states are quick to learn
and they have no trouble whatever in taking
up the cultivation of the sugar beet with
success. The cost OF raising sugar beets is
from 81 to 50 per ton and the factories pay
from 81 to So ton for the beets, according
to quality. There are no crops that can
be made to yield such good returns from the
salo OF the product direct.
The Nebraska factories were built a few
years ago when the tariff laws OF the United
States gave encouragement to the home
manufacture Of sugar The state of Ne
braska also took action looking to the en-
couragemelt Of the industry Had there not
been this encouragement by laws and the
implied understanding that there should be
continuation OF the policy at least for
such term OF years as would enable the
manufacturers to become firmly established,
the Nebraska factories would not have been
built. II the government should return
again to policy of protection and encourag-
ing home industry-if the American people
give such an endorsement to the policy as
will indicate that there can never again
be a deliberate attempt 10 break down our
Industries by unfavorable Observation-Disclosures
will be many more beet sugar factories es-
tablished in the northwest. II may not be
necessary that there should be bounty
offered and the tariff duties need not be
high. but there should be distinct encourage
ment OF the sugar industry and the manu-
facturors and farmers vii do the rest.
This is only one of the ways In which
the farmers are vitality interested in the cam
| paign. But II Is an important matter and
they cannot afford TO overlook It.