The record-union., 1897-06-03
COLONIZING LABOR.
Able Article on Beet Sugar by William
II. Mills.
The Profits of the Beet Sugar Fac
tories Are SO Enormous as
to Incite Incredulity.
From the San Francisco star.)

1
dress you in criticism of opinions ex-
pressed in a late issue of your paper
Upon the question of affording hon.
orable and profitable employment to
the disemployed we stand agreed. In
| this we agree perhaps with all man
kind. While the desire to see our fell
| iow-men profitably employed is not
wholly devoid of selfishness, I still be-
| lieVe the majority of mankind find graf
ification in the prosperity and happi-
ness of their fellowmen.
The matter / desire to consider re-
lates to the colonization of the disem-
ployed. l look upon this project as
fraught with great danger to society.
l do not apprehend that the colonists
will be a source of danger, but I do
apprehend danger from the establish
ment of the system. In my opinion it
is the incipient beginnings of depress-
ing the value and independence of
| Ia Dor.
The earth is the source Of all wealth.
It's monopoliZation is the source of
nearly all the woe that affiicts the COM
mon life. For many years / have been
in position affording extensive OBJ
| seryation of the operation of the land
system of this and other countries. I
have come in personal contact with
! thousands OF cultivators of the soil and
have been familiarized with their hard
| ships
The proposition you have commend
ed, under just analysis, may be briefly
presented A very profitable enterprise
has arisen in the production and re-
| fining of sugar. The people Of the
United States consume 1920, 100000
pounds of sugar annually. They pro-
duce about 800, 100000 pounds of this
aggregated consumption. They import
more than $500 100000 pounds of
| sugar. | have before me as / write
statements formulated and presented
| by expert sugar makers and refiners,
showing the vast profit to the manufac-
turer of the raw material. / have in
vestigated with diligence the profit to
the grower of sugar beets from which
this sugar can be manufactured. I
find great disparity between the pro-
| fit to the beet grower and to the sugar
refiner. The vast demand already in
| dicated affords opportunity for the very
profitable employment of large num-
Der of cultivators of the soil. But if
| the cultivators of the soil are to have
a mere subsistence out of their industry
while the results of the industry itself
create milliOnaires, | fail to see where
! the common life is to be benefited
! The colonization proposed is in the
| line of supplying the sugar factory with
| a cheap raw material. All colonization
schemes suggested by the depressed
condition Of the labor market have for
their underlying motive the cheapening
of the wages of labor The opportu-
nifty in this line suggests the whole
! scheme. Colonies formed and directed
| in this way become competitors with
| the existing source of supply of the
material they produce. They uniform
/ Iy cheaper the cost of the raw material,
and this is the reason for their estab-
! lishment.
From the statement already referred
| to of the profit of sugar making, find
the beets when they reach the mill are
| capable of a reduction which yieds
gross value of So per ton. The grow
er is paid 81, and in a mill capable of
| reducing 5000 tons per day the cost of
reduction is 81 so per ton, with Incl
dental expenses of, say, 80 cents per
| ton. Thus a ton of beets which has
produced $12 has cost the manufacture
er Sc, leaving a net profit of So per
| ton. If these figures are 'erroneous,
am not responsible for their errors.
| These figures We're presented to induce
| capitalists to establish factories The
sugar factory capable of reducing
5000 tons per day is represented to
| cost 100000 If it can reduce 5000
| tons per day at a profit of S6 per ton,
/ its net profit per day would be $4,000,
| or in run of $50 days, the usual
| duration of the season, 50 700, 900. This
profit is so enormous as to incite in
credulity. But the figures are soberly
] presented by competent and RESPONSE
| BILE authority.
| Let US narrow this margin, so that
! the mind will more readily receive the
results as both possible and probable.
Let US assume that instead of Sc per
| ton for the manufacturer he receives
| So per ton. We have then S5 per ton,
or $4,000 per day. which for $50 days
! in the season, gives 50 250,0 900 profit
for a seasons run by the employment
of a factory which costs but 5000, 00U
That there may be no error or exag-
geration in these figures, let us discount
| them 80 per cent, and we have
profit in a seasons run of 81, 125, ,000
and this to arise on an original invest
ment of S900,00O
! When some capitalist comes forward
to say that he is willing to invest a
| million of dollars in a factory plant
and willing to permit that factory to
earn 10 per cent. on the investment,
we will have the factory receiving $780,
| 600 on the basis of the experts esti-
mate. Therefore, on $2.250,000 for a
seasons run there would be divided
back to the grower of the beets So, $780,
900.
It appears to me that if the American
people are to manufacture the sugar
they consume, associations of capital
should be formed which will establish
commercial sugar factories working
the beets grown by the Industrious cul-
tivator of the soil at a reasonable
profit to the capital invested. At once
the cultivation of the raw material
would produce a general prosperity,
and it is upon the prosperity of the
masses that the prosperity of the ma
tion depends. Even the security of
great wealth rests upon the prosperity
of the common life.
Great wealth may supervene upon
general prosperity. but it is unstable
and ephemerous when it has a founda-
| ton of poverty, discomfort and a con-
slant tendency toward the pauperiza-
ton of the common life. Colossal for
tunes as an incident of universal pros
pefity and as the natural evolutionary
result of that prosperity are not en-
dangered by social disorder, by politi-
cal revolution, or the menace of popular