The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-27
flee to principle or public interest Is
just like John Sherman.
SUGAR BOUNTY FACTS.


goes on under the name of protection"
and "bounties" which shows as we'll
the Indifference to familiar facts Of the
advocates and beneficiaries of such
policy as the comments made in Mime
sofa, from the head of the Republican
family down to the infant in arms, on
the question of sugar bounty. We took
occasion, few days ago, to quote from
an article in the Minneapolis Tribune
purporting to show that the farmer Of
Minnesota could make a net profit Of
$40 per acre by raising the sugar beet
We asked why any industry that will
pay $40 an acre pure profit should need
encouragement by a bounty or any
thing else. Now comes the Minneapolis
Tribune, and says that, as usual, 1t is
not the farmer who is to get the boun-
! ty, but the manufacturer 1t is the
manufacture of sugar from beets that
we want to stimulate. 1.-THE starting
of new manufacturing industry is
always hazardous experiment." says
| the Tribune. And the probabilities are,
in its view, that capital will not go into
| this business without being paid for it
| by the state.
Now, we might be satisfied with call
ing attention to the absurdity Of the
proposition itself. We think that any
! number of farmers can be found who
would be willing to raise sugar beets
on the basis Of $40 an acre clear profit,
and agree to give half that sum to the
capitalists who will put in a beet sugar
| factory. A net $40 an acre would be
something better than the farmer has
seen for many a Ions day, and the
other $50 would certainly be a bigger
bonus than any manufacturer is likely
to get from the state. If there is any
sense or reason in the statistics pre-
scented, they show that of all industries
on earth that might claim bounty en-
enlargement the beet sugar industry
should be last of all to receive it. But
we are not shut in to deductions from
the Tribune's figures. The most ex-
traordinary feature of this whole dis
cuss1on, to US, IS the total ignoring, by
GOV. Clough himself, and by all the
| Republican commentators upon this
measure, Of the fact that what they are
asking for was granted by the legis-
Iature two years ago, in an act ap-
proved by no other person than Gov.
! Clough himself. The first section of
chapter 205 of the General Laws of
Minnesota for the year 1895 reads as
follows:
That there shall be paid out of the state
treasury, to any corporation, firm or person
engaged in the manufacture Of sugar in this
state, from beets, sorghum or other yielding
canes or plants, bounty of one cent per
pound upon each and every pound of sugar
so manufactured under the conditions and
restrictions of this act.
The Tribune says that we do not need
any bounty for the production of the
sugar beet, because it is so profitable
that the farmer will make big money
at it as soon as he has market. What
we need is encourage cement to put in
big sugar factories, and here is where
the bounty should be given. But the last
legislature did exactly the thing which
is being recommended to this one, and
under the laws Of this state the secre-
tary Of state is required to certify any
claim for beet sugar bounty to the
auditor, and he to draw a warrant on
the state treasurer for bounty of one
cent a pound on every pound of beet
sugar produced in this state, contain
ing at least 80 per cent of crystaIlized
sugar
What we wish to inquire at this time
is what do the bounty grabbers want?
They are now authorized to draw from
the state treasury an enormous bonus
for the production of beet sugar. Not
one dollar, as far as we know. has been
paid, because the stimulus has not had
| the effect Of building up sugar fac
| tories. If a profit to the farmer.
certified by the Minneapolis CONNER
cial club as reaching $40 net per acre
for raising sugar beets, and a profit
guaranteed by the state of one cent
per pound in addition to all the legiti-
mate gains Of the undertaking for the
! conversion Of these beets into sugar has
not built up an industry here. is it
not proof conclusive that such an in
dustry cannot stand either on it's own
feet or with the help of two substan-
t1al clutches? In any case, we would
ask our esteemed contemporary, the
Minneapolis Tribune, to read chapter
205 Of the laws passed two years ago.
and then inform US what it proposes
or advises in the way Of a new and
| additional 'fnducement."
THE T0RREY BANKRUPTCY BILL.
Congress shall have power "to estab-