The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-22
SUGAR BEETs AND BEET SUGAR.

The visit to Indiana of Prof. II. w. Wiley,
ington ought to give an impulse to the
growing interest in the question of estab-
fishing the beet sugar industry. Besides be-
ing an Indiana man and naturally inter-
ested in whatever concerns the State, Prof.
Wiley is the best informed person in the
United States on all phases of the sugar
beet and beet sugar questions. For it should
be understood there are two distinct ques-
tons involved, viz, the steady production
of an adequate supply of beets and their
successful conversion into sugar. One is
question of agriculture and the other of
manufacturing, the points being. first, to
get the raw material, and, second, the
means of utilizing it. The raw material
without the machinery would be as worth
less the machinery without the raw ma
terial. How to bring the two into conjunc-
ton is the problem. Thanks to the co-opera-
ton of the national Department of Agricul-
ture and the authorities of Purdue Univer-
sity considerable progress has already been
made in familiarizing the farmers of In
diana with the details of sugar beet Gull
ture. A large amount of seed has been dis
tributed and some good experimental crops
have been raised, which upon analysis,
show an Unexpectedly large percentage of
saccharine matter, There is every reason
to believe that a considerable portion of the
State is well adapted to the growth of
sugar beets That, however, is only one fac
tor in the case Before capitalists can be
expected to put money in the business there
will have to be a distinct understanding
that the farmers of a particular district
would furnish, year after year. a steady
supply of beets to keep factory running.
When it is once demonstrated that the crop
is as profitable as any other, perhaps more
than most, there would probably be no
trouble on this score, but to reach this point
the farmer as we'll as the capitalist must
take some risk, and there must be coop
Grafton. In Germany the cooperative idea
has been carried SO far that a great many
farmers have become stockholders in beet
sugar factories. A recent report to the
State Department at Washington by Consul
General Mason, of Frankfort states that
nearly one-half of the German sugar fac
tories. including the largest and most sue
cessful ones, are organized as stock COM
panies. The stockholders are divided into
two classes. In the first category the hold
err of each share of stock is bound to Gull
tivate annually a prescribed area of land
in sugar beets and deliver his product to
the factory He can only sell his shares by
permission of the company to a purchaser
who will assume all the obligations that it
may impose with regard to the growing
and delivery of beets. Stockholders of this
class are farmers The other class en-
braces capitalists large or SMALL to whom
stock is issued for the purpose of securing
working capital. This is practical applica-
ton of the cooperative idea which, by the
way. has made more progress in Europe
than it has in the United States. Consul
General Mason says:
The cooperative principle is of large and
increasing application and influence in Ger
man beet culture and sugar manufacture.
The purpose and effect of it's application
are to bring the whole process of sugar
production under control of the land-own-
holding capitalists, and secure to each fac
tory in depressed as well as prosperous
times an adequate supply of beets as raw
material. Both large landholders and small
farmers are engaged in cooperative sugar
production, the proportion of large land
owners being greater in northern than in
southern Germany, where some factories,
organized as stock companies, have
many as 1000 or 1,500 beet-growing stock
holders. Both large and small factories are
organized on the cooperative plan, but the
relative proportion of small factories is de-
creasing, by reason of their enlargement to
meet the more difficult requirements of
sharp and close competition.
1t is not certain if this idea could be sue
cessfully carried out in this country but in
order to establish the beet sugar industry
there must be some kind of cooperation be-
tween the raw material and capital, be-
tween the farmer and the manufacturer.