Abilene weekly reflector., 1897-06-10
About Beet Sugar.

The other day Populist Of Dickin-
son county called nm the REFLECTOR
and wanted it to advocate sugar beet
raising. He did not realize how great
an expense is necessary to the busi-
ness and the necessity Of government
assistance but wanted the farmers to
go ahead without any help. 1t has
been demonstrated time and again
that beet sugar cannot succeed with
out bounty and protection and it is
this that the Republicans are trying
to get through congress.
TO this feature Of the sugar sched.
ule and to the development Of the
sugar beet industry Republicans
are unequivocally committed in the
national platform at st. Louis. 1t
says
"We condemn the present admins
tration for not keeping faith with the
sugar producers Of the United States.
The Republican party favors such
protection as will lead to the produc-
lion on American soil Of all the sugar
which the American people use, and
for which we are sending abroad an
nually more than Sl00,000,000 to for
eign countries" "
The benefits from such an industry
would be widespread, as nearly the
whole Of this vast expenditure repre-
scnts labor, from the growing Of the
beet until the sugar is refined and
ready for the market. Here is little
table that may be injected with profit
that shows the amount Of money that
would be paid each year to our farm
ers and to each Of the various trades
and industries II the sugar now i'm
ported were produced in our own
country:
To farmers for beets s.a,s,,3,,..,,.,M M7,2SO,O 900
Toaborers In factories for payroll l7599,6OO
To miners for coal l.,.,.,,,....,..,.., 85S6,38O
To quarrymen for lime rock a...,, 2,20S,000
To coke manufacturers for coke, 17s2.24O
To textile manufacturers for filter
cloth, filter bags and sugar bags. 9l8,16O
To machine shops and repairers for
annual repairs s.,,u,...,..,.,at...,.. i6O0,0W
The above is what the farmers get
out Of it, Where does the wage
Garner come IMP His harvest would
be in the construction Of these fac
tories. The average cost Of construct.
ing a beet sugar factory with capac-
ity Of $50 tons day is 100000
Suppose we had thousand such fac
tories scattered over the western
states That would represent S400,-
100000 Of invested capital, money
which would employ mechanics in
machine shops and the building
trades. This, again, represents to
large extent labor and therefore 80
per cent of it at least would 90 di-
rectly into the hands Of our mechan-
les and laborers. Not to do this, II
we have the chance, is criminal folly,
from national point Of view, and alb
solutely breaking faith with our farm
ers from a political point Of view. 1t
WOuiu Uo lai UVplci w pay iitoio
more for our sugar and to keep the
money for sugar and employ this la
Dor at home, as Lincoln would say, |
than to send these hundred millions
in gold abroad to purchase the foreign |
article. If we thus distributed our
great sugar industry and raised the
raw material in our own fields and al
lowed our own farmers to profit
thereby, there would be no sugar
trust, no more than there is wheat
trust, or cabbage trust; it would be
the best possible legislation to abolish
the sugar trust and give the people
native sugar instead of foreign.
The good looking young ladies and