Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1897-08-21
THE SUGAR INDUSTRY IN THE
LIMITED STATES.


ing the next few years the beet sugar
industry is destined to occupy very
prominent place among the great IN
dustrial and commercial questions Of
this country. The present unsatis-
factory condition of agriculture, our
present enormous and ever increasing
imports of one Of the staple products
of agriculture, and the legislation by
which the present government is
seeking to assist the one and reduce
the other, render the question OF beet
farming and beet sugar manufacture a
subject of vital concern to every citi-
zen who has the interests of his coun-
try deeply at heart.
The statistics of the sugar industry
for the year 1896 show that the total
consumption of sugar in the United
States amounted to 2,o93,SI9 tons,
equal to a per capita consumption OF
Ga pounds. OF this amount I,73o,3I3
tons were imported from abroad and
3s4, 500 tons represents domestic pro-
duction-that is to say. for one ton OF
sugar manufactured in the United
States we brought in five tons from
other countries. The statistics Of the
past sixteen years show that the total
consumption during that period was
25,I82, GAO tons, of which 2,673, 600
tons, or only one-tenth, was produced
in the United States. During this
period we paid out for this imported
sugar about fifteen hundred million
dollars, or in other words we have
paid to foreign countries an average
yearly tribute for the past sixteer
wears of about one hundred millior
dollars. These figures become ye
more significant when it is remember
ed that sugar has declined in value
during this period from 7.58 cents II
2.o2 cents per pound and that our pc
capita consumption is from two t
three times as much as that of othei
sugar producing countries. Of thu
I,73o,3I3 tons imported into Thu
country over one-fourth, or 500, oot
tons, came here in the shape of brown
or raw German beet sugar. This
and indeed all the imported raw
sugar, whether from cane or beets, il
purchased by the American Sugar Re
fining Company and other firms o
less note, who refine it and put it OF
the market as standard granulateC
sugar.
OF the two sources of sugar, suga
cane and sugar beets, the former i
the older and better known. 1t i
said that it was the blockade o
France during the Napoleonic war;
that turned the attention of the French
people to the culture of the suga
beet, and that to this emergency
Europe owes its present sugar bee
industry. Be that as it may, The
growth of the industry has beer
steady, and in recent years truly
phenomenal. Germany, which il
in 1884 produced I,I47,ooo tons 0
beet sugar, in 1894 produced I, 500, ooc
tons, an increase of 81 per cent
Austria Hungary in the same decade
raised her production from 653, ooo
tons to 1850, 900 tons, gain OF O.
per cent, and in France the increas
has been FROM 3o3, 600 tons to SI4 oo'
tons, a gain of 1853 per cent-the in
crease for the whole of Europe during
the same period being Is per cent, ant
The production reaching the grea
total of Ago., 600 tons.
The question naturally arises: 1
there any difficulty of soil or climat
which at once renders us dependen
upon these countries for our own sup
ply and prevents us from taking par
in this vast and profitable industry
To which it must be answered that nC
such difficulties exist, inasmuch al
there is broad belt of country reach
ing in a continuous line from the At
lantic to the Pacific, several hundred
miles wide and over three thousand
miles long, which is admirably suited
to the growth and harvesting of the
sugar producing root. 1t has beer
found that beets grow best in tenn
perate climate, and the richest and
most reliable crops are obtained in
regions where the average tempera
ture during the months of June, July
and August is about 70 degrees Fab
renheit. Very valuable information
on this subject has lately been giver
in pamphlet form by Prof, w. H
Wiley, Chief of the Division of Chem
istry in the United States Department