The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-14

to 10 cents on each proof gallon" To
be sure that the purpose Of this bill
was not misapprehended, your CORE
spondent asked Mr.. Evans what his
purpose was in proposing thus to re-
duce the whisky tax. His prompt re-
ply was that it was a measure to stim-
ulate the revenues. 1.-THE present tax"
said he, us like millstone resting on
production. 1t has paralyzed the whis-
ky industry, and the government is not
getting the revenue out of 1t which
ought properly to come. Although the
secretary Of the treasury Is not re-
sponsible for my bill, and perhaps does
not know Of its existence, his recon-
mendations are in precisely the same
line. He recognizes where the trouble
lies"
1t Is part of the unWrftten history of
the consideration Of the Dingley bill
in the secret session of the Republican
members of the ways and means COM
mittee, that Mr.. Dingley was urgently
advised by some of his colleagues on
the committee to permit the act to
carry g. reduction Of the whisky tax
such as is now proposed by Mr.. Evans;
but he would not harken to the idea.
How he will treat the Evans bill when
1t is taken up by the committee, in view
of his former attitude and Of Secretary
Cages position on the question, it will
be Interesting to observe. Meanwhile
the tariff mathematicians are putting
the case somewhat in this way: If the
Dingley bill, as Mr.. Evans contends,
is producing revenue enough what does
Mr.. Evans propose to do with the large
surplus, which his reduction Of the
whisky tax is expected to produce?
The beet sugar campaign which has
been started by the present secretary
of agriculture has called down upon
his department and upon good-natur-
ed members of congress a mass Of cor
respondence from farmers in various
parts Of the country who seem to re-
gard the sugar industry as something
into which any one Of them can go in
about the same way that he would go
into dairying or bee keeping. One of
the interested inquirers has drawn from
Prof. H. w. Wiley, the chief sugar eX-
pert Of the department, a letter setting
right some popular misconceptions.
Prof. Wiley says that in one sense it is
true that the production Of a crude
beet sugar in small way is a simple
process, and that any farmer who is
equipped with a cider mill for rasping
the beets, a press for getting out the
= juice, and an evaporator suitable for
making sorghum molasses can make
sugar. The product, he warns his cor
respondent, will not be very palatable,
because it is not refined and contains
the salts and bitter principles which
make raw beet sugar and Inolasses as
a rule unfit for table use.
Prof. Wiley thinks that although
such an object lesson would convince
the experimenter that sugar resides in
the beet, and to that degree might slim
ulate him to special effort to take part
in the industry, the average farmer
would be foolish to attempt to make
his sugar successful commercially. The
profitable manufacture Of sugar, he
says, can be accomplished only in fac
tories equipped with all modern appli-
ances, and no beet sugar except of the
pure, refined sort can become an article
Of commerce. In this particular the
beet differs from the sugar cane, which
does eXude sugar with an edor and
flavor that make It, in its crude state,
more agreeable to many consumers
than the refined product.