The herald., 1898-08-07
THE HISTORY OF THE WORLDS
SUGAR PRODUCTION
SOME STARTLING FIGURES
The Financial Outlook-Exemptin
Manufactures From Taxes.
Insurance Notes
OFFICE OF THE HERALD,
Los Angeles, CAT, Aug. 9, Is.

unknown in Europe in the middle ages
tboueb II was in use in India and the far
east at comparatively early period of
history. The first 100000 pounds of sugar
was imported into London in 1919 from Ven
ioe which was then the center of the trade
and it's price was Is. 91sd. pound. Until
the eighteenth century it continued to be
a costly luxury, but the development or the
use of tea and coffee at that period lea 10
an increase in sugar producuoh' ana Us
consumption rapidly grew, though untiI NJ
ty years ago it continued to be luxury
for the well-to-do; now 1t is necessity Tor
ALL The figures as quoted in Bradstreei's :
are somewhat startling:
The consumption in Great Britain In the
following years was:
Tons Tons
1900 ......... 5000 1856 ...........l 0S0, 400
1900 ....... $50 900 1896 ..........l o00 ,0"
OF the consumption in 1856 cane supplied
900 tons and beet 549, 900 tons, while in
1896 the proportion was about 80 per cent.
cane and about 20 per cent. beet.
The worlds production was as follows in
1850, according to the most trustworthy fig
ures obtainable:
Tons Tons
Cane sugar 2 1872 900 Beet sugar. 2SDS.Ooo
Total in 1889 .24O, 900
In 1895 cane sugar had increased Cos ,000
tons. but beet sugar had increased by 2 2O92,
600 tons, and the worlds production in that
year was:
Tons. Tons
Cane sugar. 31oO,0oO Beet sugar....4 1000
Total ooo2'ooo
The existence of common sugar in beet
root was discovered by Andreas Maygrai
of Berlin, in 1741, and the first beet sugar
factory was established in Silesia in 1901.
But to return to the origin and prog
eress of the beet industry as it now exists.
1t was in manner forced upon continental
countries by three great commercial
changes which have taken place during the
last thirty-five or forty years: % The vast
development of the production of wheat
and other cereals in America, India, Aus
trala and South America; (2) the enormous
increase of steam tonnage and consequent
lowering, of freights; (3) the opening of the
Suez canal in 1S67-6S, which brought the
great eastern supply of cereals as 1t were to
the door of Europe. Till then Germany
France, Austria, Belgium and Russia We're
great grain-eXporting countries. Soon
however. after the changes we have re-
ferred to came into operation the position
was reversed. Europe became flooded with
eastern and transatlantic importati tions,
and the farmers had to seek other source OF
income than the raising of cereal crops.
which had been so profitable to them and
their forefathers.
In vain did the various governments try
TO stop the tide of imports by imposing a
heavy duty on foreign corn, for despite al!
their efforts the export trade in corn has
vanished from Europe, while even the
home markets are seriously invaded. I'm
der these conditions the farmers dmin-
ished their acreage under cereals and took
10 sheep and cattle raising. First they
GREW beet for cattle food, and then. finding
that beet pulp. after the greater part of the
sugar had been extracted, was eXcellent
feeding stuff, the beet sugar production ad-
vanced with rapid strides, fostered as 1t
was by paternal governments fully alive to
The necessity of protecting their greatest
national industry of agriculture. So beet
growing, with its accompanying bounty
svstem. arose and has gone on steadily
spreading and increasing until two-thirds
of the worlds sugar production is from
bounty-fed beet.
The method by which the object OF CIV
ing bounties on exported sugar, both raw
and refined is attained differs in most coun-
tries, as we'll in amount as in other ways,
but all give bounties except Russia. She
abandoned the bounty system in 1850. and
substituted the ingenious plan of limiting
the amount produced for home consump-
ton, thereby so enhancing the price OBJ
tanned by the manufacturer as to enable
him to export any surplus he may have at
q cheap rate.
In France the bounty, till the end of 1885,
took the form of production premium at
francs per 100 klos-e2 Is. Cd. per ton; but
in 1897 a further bounty was given of 60 los.
per ton on all refined sugar exported. About
800 900 tons of sugar are produced in
France, q which $4,000 are consumed al
home. On this home consumption an octroi
duty of G25 per ton is raised. Besides this
there are 420 distilleries in the country using
molasses and from them an excise revenue
of about G10, ,000,0 900 is raised. So that, after
deductng the heavy bounties on produc-
ton and export, France raises a revenue
from her sugar of considerably over G2O,-
900 900 per annum.
Germany gives an export premium of
f1 5s. on raw and co 10 S. on refined sugar,
but the output is limited to 1,500, 900 tons.
Austria, which commenced the bounty
system before any other country in 1860,
gives G1 los. per ton on raw and CO los. on
refined sugar exported, but as she allocates
only some $500, 900 for this purpose there is
limit to expectation. The nterna, tax
on sugar for home consumption is E12 per |
ton.
The nature and conditions of the bounties |
paid by Belgium so intricate that 1t is |
difficult to say precisely what they are, but |
they are not less than G3 per ton on re-
fned sugar exported. The home tax on |
consumption is G25 per ton. Holland gives |
bounty of 30s. per ton on raw and go los. |
per ton on refined sugar. The internal tax
is G6 per ton on consumption.
The United States gives production pre-
MUM or manufacturing bounty of 1 cent |
per pound An import duty of Y cent per
pound Is levied on all foreign sugar, and |
when sugar is imported from a bounty
giving country an additional tax is put on |
equal to the bounty given in the country of
origin.
The Financial Outlook
With hardly an exception important