The Hawaiian gazette., 1896-12-04

dLlEAlllEs ll4N- dlE III "a OSEcNN" " -
consin has one factory quite definitely
assured. Central New York capital
lists have an option on the only beet
sugar factory in Canada-at Farnham,
Quebec-which it is proposed to estab-
lish in the Mohawk Valley. Any num-
Der of factory propositions are in en-
bryo, and many enterprising towns all
over the country are planning to push
for a beet sugar factory.
Much depends upon State and ma
tional legislation. McKinley's election
will be taken as insurance of reason
able protection against foreign compe-
tition, and will be followed by the
rapid development of the industry.
Even if Bryan is elected, it is possible
the development may not be wholly
arrested, at least in California.
Under favorable conditions, Wiscon-
sin and Iowa will follow Nebraska in
offering bounty payable to the beet
growers) on all sugar produced from
beets raised within the State. New
York and Minnesota are likely to do as
much: perhaps other States also Ne
braska now pays 5-Sc per pound, equal
to about 81 on the ton of beets. Utah
paid 1c per pound during the first two
years of the Lehi factory.
Europe, especially Germany, has de-
veloped her beet sugar industry by
an elaborate system of protection
against foreign competition, internal
taxation to encourage beet planters
and sugar manufacturers, and substan-
tial rebates and bounties upon all sug-
ars exported. Europe is not content
with shipping to this country so times
as much sugar now as Is years ago,
but to still further monopolize the
American market, Germany has just
increased her export bounty, and
France is likely to do the same Those
nations are willing to go to almost
any extreme to discourage the sugar
industry in this country, so as to pre-
serve for themselves the American
market-the greatest market for sugar
in the world.
Moreover, it usually takes two to
four years for a beet sugar factory to
get well established, because of small
supplies of beets until farmers have
learned how to grow them. This has
been the experience of all our now
successful factories. But when the art
is once acquired farmers find beets at
"a to Sc per ton one of the most profit
able crops, paying SO to $25 per acre
net profit above all expenses of pro-
duction. Corn and wheat hardly pay
cost of production, let alone profit. An
acre of corn, 40 bushels at soc, will
buy 200 pounds of sugar; it will pro-
duce 1000 to 5000 pounds of sugar in
beets.) A dozen or 20 years ago the
beet sugar factories at Portland, Me-;
Franklin, Mass, and Wilmington, Del,
failed because they couldn't get beets.
At that time other crops were more
profitable, farmers were not interested
as at present, and they had no sue
cessful experience in this country to
profit by. The immense investment
for a beet sugar factory is
idle about two-thirds of the year; this
has to be insured against also.
This nation paid $7O,000,0OO for i'm
ported sugar in 1879. In 1894 our
sugar imports cost us nearly $125, 000,
600. We consume two and three times
as much sugar per capita (65 pounds)
as Europe. The total quantity used is,
therefore, certain to enormously in
crease from year to year. The worlds
supply of sugar now comes more large
ly from beets than from cane. The
United States produces about 100000
tons of sugar in favorable season
now, one-half more than a decade
ago, but our annual imports are ap-
the 2,000,000-ton mark.
Beets are a comparatively sure crop
and yield more sugar per acre than
does cane in Louisiana. The books of
one of the best equipped Louisiana
plantations and sugar factories, COM
pared with the records of the Chino
beet sugar enterprise for five years
past, prove the latter to be the better
But there is plenty of
room for both sugar cane (within its
limited environment) and the sugar
beet ION it's broader field until the
United States produces all the sugar it
consumes. To do this will require at |
least $50 more factories, several mill
lion acres of land (crop rotation is
necessary, a vast amount Of labor and |
al l11lulCnoC vi Sop1Idl. II |
will mean large business for our ma
chine shops, enormous annual tonnage |
or railroads, wealth and prosperity for |
farmers, putting into the pockets of |
American farmers, laborers and CAPT. |
talists the S100,000,000 now paid out |
each year for imported sugar.
In view of the probability that |
number of beet sugar enterprises will |
be offered to investors, certain points
are important:
First. The factory must be assured |
of certain supply of beets of good |
quality. Even if pledges of an abun-
dance of beets are forthcoming, they |
are of little value unless it has been |
determined by actual experiment upon |
the lands in question that they will |
produce beets of proper quality as
we'll as quantity. At least two or three |
years tests are usually necessary to
determine this beyond a doubt. Fort
lnately, such tests have been made al
ready in large number of places. Too |
much stress cannot be laid on getting |
plenty of rich beets.
Second. The beets should be grown |
as near the factory as possible; haul
Of 80 to 100 miles absorbs much of the |
profit on the crop. There should be
sufficient beet land available within a
distance to furnish the de
sired quantity of beets when only one
third of such land is sown to beets,
thus permitting a wise rotation of
crops. Beets can be grown year after
year ON the same land. but it is not |