The sun., 1898-12-04

had n cotton gin and mill attached TO his farn
IL and manufactured IL into calieoes, muslinl
and other goods. The sugar planter IN mus Ils
s%sarb bcS h9sS eoss S h mae6nory any
where from $20O.00Q to s60O,Q00., He mus
have besides his ileld labor skilled chemists
sugar turned out This skilled and seientiiIt
chemists, machinists and engineers have g
keep thoroughly up TO date as 70 everything IN
TsS was neSer better S done done than Il day. and
far better done than In Hawaii or even Cuba
sr more M re scens ye re rG@ result IL IN t
This year is as bad as In tho old careless. slip:
shod days Of 1877, What is the explanatloni
| The failure In 1877 was attributed TO a se-
| vere hurricane which occurred In September
| IL blew the cane down and twisted II some;
from the injury OF the storm the cane did not
! yield sugar as II should have done. There has
been; howeEer' NO storm this season to &c; ;
greenness, 1t is seen, will not do. because there
is no Improvement as the cane ripens., pop
| sprinR. which set bnck the cane. and followed
by rainy season. b%eginnpPE % IN Ey July which which
the s'i case q ike that Of 4 child who has been
| stunted by sickness and suddenly grows very
! rapidly. out gains in stature without gaining
! plausible. will not suffice, for there have been
similar seasons before without such effect
The explanation that the cane has deteri-
| GRATED will not answer, because the deteriora-
tion would be gradual not sudden, as It has
been this year; ard the Louisiana planters
seed and test all varieties so as TO determine
which are best suited to the climatic and soil
| conditions of the state.
planted not 1t for % the m TS the Sac came s %fS
very difficult and unsatisfactory to handle In
the process of manufacture. The entire cane
Srop 81 hs STATE this year tn1S 1S TO be S
had been planted in cow peas. The spring
drought, followed by later rains produced in
sprout at the eyes, which is the immediate
cause Of the serious injury TO i.
In old days 1t was noted that yellow fever
years meant n big sugar crop. The biggest
crop in ante bellum times, that of 1888. was
eoincident with the greatest yellow fever eli-
/ demic the country has sever known. Again. in
1875, there was another big crop and another
big endemic While. the sugar crop Of 1877
large and 1878 was the. year of the worst post
belluIn epidemic. Nor is this coincidence ex-
climatic, which brings Louisiana nearest to
the tropics would naturally be the best year for
r9Ra sssl. eF9p Ike and for rop
The nearer Louisiana approNimates t. Cuba
ip climate and weather the more likely it Is to
fever. The past season saw this country
exposed more to yellow fever than any pre-
yioNs one in our history. There was more
than. ever before, the quarantine regulations
enforced in ! preyious years could not be kent
anything done TO keep out the germs. That
they ve't in is. we'll known: that they, were
is % also true, Tor the fever visited more places
than II had for forty years. but the disease was
not vir 1lent. had less the severity and fatality
il had / U Cuba. and. notwithstanding its wide
country. Evidently the climatic &C conditions in
Cuba. essi6Iy in this. les @ some EEK eXpIanation %
Of the fai lure OF the Louisiana sugar crop; The
~
yielded less abun lantly.
Fortunate ely, the loss to the sugar industry
in Louisian does not fall to-day on the smaller
cane growers but on the big companies. the
to-day. OF these half are small affairs.
The others are large and handsome re4n-
needed for tue plantations upon which they
stand: that is. the planters can grind up their
sugar houses working. therefore. they buy UP
the cane crope of their smaller neiGhbors and
grind the cane and eo9vertthe Juice into sugar.
Thus the nu'nber OF cane growers is much
larger than the number of sugar manufactur-
ers. Many planters have abandoned planting
control only of the sugar house where the
cane raised BY their tenants is ground. Tho
of twenty. years. work has established the
amount OF sugar to be expected in it, and
the current price OF sugar fixes the value of
the cane.
The contracts are usually made long in ad-
vance OF the grinding. When. therefore. the
percentage OF sugar in the cane falls 80 far be-
low what was to be expected. as 1t has this year.
the sugaf house buying 1t at the rates estab-
lished by experience is poying too high. Many
of the manufacturers are finding that they arc
payinR far more than the cane will yield them.
There is a demand for a reduction III the price.
but most OF the contracts, were made in ad-
vance and the reduction can be obtained only
by consent of the sellers Whatever loss there
may be will fall upon those best able to stand it.
The sugar industry is the life Of Louisiana
and the planters say with tIllth that 100000
people share in its profits. The griEdng sea-
son is the holiday OF the negro. He has hard
work. but the pay is large. three or four times
what he can make in the COTTON Q eld. The
consequence is that when the cotton is gath
cred the negroes tramp Off TO the sugar plan
taton. where they work until Christmas.
this year because OF the low price of cotton.
Many OF the negroes have actually q bandoned
the cotton standing In the fleldx, for 1t scarcely
pays to pick it at present pfices,i and have
come TO southern Louisiana to Try their hands.
The negroes. however. are not the only sugar
laborers, The tendency is toward employing
white labor because the industry is becoming
more inteliigent and scientific end the negro
ts gradually being crowded Out. There are
250UO or 10000 Italians workin on the plan
tatioDs, and some 1000 or 5000 come over to
but most OF them through New Orleans. help
the spring satisfied with the profits Cd single
season. Finally there is q great deal OF high
grade. skilled labor. including chemists. ma
chinists, &c. The labor contracts ale gener-
ally made well in advance and the lahorer will
not su1fer because OF the poor yield OF the cane.