The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-01
SUGAR THE CAUSE OF 1T
CHIEF CHEMIST WILEY REFERS TO
EUROPE's HOSTILE FEELING.
Germany and France Afraid Their
Own Industries Would Be Wiped
Ont by America.

IioDdbly the HISt ntlm3ll tIldl mas
been received in this country touching on
the real cause of the bitter feeling in France
| and Germany against the United States
since the beginning of the Spanish war was
given yesterday by Prof Harvey w. Wiley,
chief chemist of the Department of Agri-
culture, at Washington. DR.. Wiley, who is
an old indianapolis man and brother of
Judge U. 2. Wiley, of the Appellate Court
of this State, has been for nearly a year past
in France and Germany, and but recently
returned to this country to resume his du-
ties. Yesterday he passed through this city
on his way to Rockford, ILL.,, where he has
been sent by the government to examine
the new process of manufacturing paper
from corn husks, with view to preparing
a paper on the method for circulation
among the manufacturers of the country
and to call the attention of the country at
large to this plan for utilizing this immense
product, which is now almost complete
waste.
After leaving Rockford he will go to Bay
City, Mich, to examine the beet sugar in
dustry, and later will visit Aroostook
county, Maine, where a start is being made
by the farmers in the manufacture OF
starch from potatoes This is an old 9nd
simple method of making starch, when has
been in use on a small scale for almost
century among the farmers to supply their
own wants in this direction The big FAC
tories, however, use corn almost exclu-
sively, and DIR. Wiley hopes to be able to
present the matter before the farmers OF
the country through the Department ct Ag-
riculture, at Washington, so as to give the
industry boom in general way.
1t was during his trip to France and Ger
many, however, that he became aware OF
facts that had never occurred to him be-
fore and which are not even now known
in this country. He has made it practice
to visit these countries each year since he
has been established at washington, and
in the course of his pilgrimages has made
many friends among the scientific and uni
versity men of both countries. The recent
war and it's accompanying development OF
a GOODNESS in these countries for anything
American did not, of course, disturb these
personal friendships and when he went to
Europe this year he found with his friends
much opportunity for discussion, and at
last arrived, as he believes. at the true solu-
ton of the trouble which has been agitated
on both sides of the water. Almost the first
question asked Of him by his acquaintance
in France and Germany was, rs the United
States going to annex Cuba and Porto
Rico?' He invariably pleaded ignorance on
this point and when his friends learned that
the matter was still an unsettled one. they
always began a discussion which ended in
their making the statement, without equiv
ocation, that If the United States annexed
these two islands the death knell would
be sounded for the beet root sugar indus
try, which is one of the pet schemes Of
both the governments and agriculturists of
both countries. This feature of the situation,
according to DR.. Wiley had never appealed
to him, and he assiduously began to study
the question from the standpoint of the
DIR. Wiley says the European scientists
have compiled voluminous statistics proving
beyond any doubt to them that America is
to be able henceforth to dictate the price
of sugar to the world. Their figures show
that l2,0O0O00 tons of sugar are consumed
each year in the civilized world and that at
present France and Germany with their
beet roots are a factor in the market as
supplierS of the demand According to DIR.
Wiley, the Europeans realize that so long
as Spain had control of Cuba and Porto
Rico the sugar industry was carried only
IN a cursory way and did not hurt the
French and German interests to any great
The annexation of either or both of the
islands by the United States, however, gives
to these European statisticianS a guarantee
that old methods will be thrown overheard,
and a result the resources of both Islands
will be taxed to their limit to produce the
sugar which they are best adapted to yield
In following out this line of reasoning the
Europeans feel the certainty that If the
United States takes the islands it means,
in spite of all their own efforts, the death
of their own sugar industries. They figure
that Cuba last year yielded a million tons
of sugar under practically impossible cir
cumstances, with fields devastated and
grinding mills almost universally abandoned.
With the proverbial energy of Americans to
back future efforts the Europeans feel that
these figures can be increased sixfold. Porto
Rico, with it's rich soil and favorable CHI
mate for the raising of sugar, the Hawaiian
islands, known throughout the world as the
most productive sugar lands on the globe,
and the Southern cane fields of this coun-
try are expected to produce the rest of the
IL 10000 tons needed to supply the world
with sugar. The cane sugar is admitted to
be better article of commerce than the
beet root product, and when the Americans
start to turning out the cane sugar from
the rich fields of the Antilles and Hawaii
the French and Germans feel that there will
be no way of competing with them
According to DR.. Wiley 1t Will take the
Europeans some time to bring themselves
to a sense of realization that America is
bound to figure in the markets of the world
somewhat to their exclusion, but that when
they do so the present bitter feelings will
do not go to the length of reviling America
cannot avoid the patriotic feeling that
America is the Industrial enemy of their
own lands and nstinctivey adopt that hos
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