Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-04-12
Importance Of Sugar Beet Project
Should be Realized.
MORE FARMERS TO Be INTERVIEWED
A History of the Immense Plant a,
Ames, Nebraska, and What 1t
Means to the Farmer
Financially.
From Wednesdays Daily.


up to what a realization of the estaD-
llshment OF beet sugar plant in OF
tumwa means for both the city and
The country, especially the latter. 1t
means that the value of land will in
crease. At least that is the experience
of the Nebraska farmer whose land, II
is SAID, has increased on an average of
ten dollars per acre by reason of the
establishment of the industry at Ames,
| in that state
The local committee is hard at work
on the proposition submitted by j. S.
Emery, the president of the Iowa Sugar
Beet Development company. The
work of securing the acreage is pro-
crossing and it is thought that the
project will go thru, yet there is al
ways a chance for an enterprise not ID
succeed and the people of this county
do not want to take that chance,
when it is fully realized what failure
means. An expert from headquarters
will visit the city this week and in
conjunction with Ed French will go
over the ground and close the con-
tracts. This is important and farmers
should meet these gentlemen half way
in their labors. Several persons VINO
live in the city have land that they
would be glad to have cultivated
Some of them have made arrangements
to plant and care for smal tracts; 9TH
ers are now seeking for good, reliable
men to care for the crop. Captain j..
q. Hutchinson, in particular. has twenty
acres of land that it would pay some
man to take hold of. The captain
agrees TO furnish the seed, the tools
and give the person who will take hold
OF it properly, the sum of $40 per acre,
making lump sun. of 5000. This prop
osition is fair and the person who
sees fit to do the work can lose moth
ling.
To convince the farmer of the feas-
Utility of the scheme, in the absence
of practical things in Wapello county,
except in a small way, nothing better
can be done than to give statistics
from other states where the climatic
conditions and soil resemble ours. The
following in regard to the immense
sugar beet factory at Ames, Nebraska.
1.-The amount of money it distributes,
the labor employed, etc, will, in some
measure, serve to illustrate that which
can be done in Iowa and Wapello
county:
/ = D0llCNS ldISl values Ill DOuSe COuH-
ty in the immediate vicinity of Ames
have been increased fully 100000 by
/ the establishment of the beet sugar
factory here. I base this statement
upon the fact that there has been an
average of $40 per acre in the price
asked and received for farm lands
in this valley since the sugar factory
became an assured thing
/ Th;e ,%o %o l..
by r. NJ. Allen, the energetic and pro-
gressive general manager of the i'm
mense interests of the Standard Cat
tie company and the originator, pro-
moter and vice president of the Stand
ard Beet Sugar company. He was
seated in his private Office at Ames
and details of stock feeding, beet grow
ing and sugar making seemed to fairly
ooze from every pore as he twirled a
spindle or pencil and talked of the great
factory which had been erected at Ames
during the past year almost entirely
thru his efforts.
1t is a matter of history that the
new factory at Ames has capacity
for extracting the saccharine sub
stance from 600 tons of beets each day
and converting it into white granulated
sugar ready for the table. This capac-
ity will be doubled in the near future,
making the output more than double
that of the other two factories in this
state. incidentally, it may be recalled
that the Immediate cause of the cree
ton of this factory in Ames is found in
the fact that the Standard Cattle COM
pany. one of the largest and most i'm
| portant stock companies in the coun.
try, esta blished a great feeding station
for its cattle at Ames in 1856. The
great advantage of being able to fat.
ten stock on some waste product led
Mr.. Allen to investigate the feasibility
of growing sugar bee1s. Experiments
on large scale were undertaken in
1893 and the success attending these
| efforts led to the organization of the
Standard Beet Sugar company, with i
fully paid p'capital of 100000 of pre-
ferred stock and 100000 of common
i stock, with these officers: Hayward G.
Leavitt, president and general man.
ager; r. NJ. Allen, vice PRECEDENT; 10
i seph q. Stearns, secretary and treas
i urer. The stockholders are principally
New York and Boston men who have
other large interests in the west.
The average campaign" as The
period when the factory is in active
operation is called, will last about 10t
days of twenty-four hours each, 22t
hands being employed.
| The sugar company will not grow
beets, but will depend upon the cattle
company and farmers for its supply
j, At its present capacity the factory
will consume the product of about 5000
acres during single campaign.
Space forbids a lengthy discussio,
of the magnitude of the operations o
the Standard Cattle company, but ;
careful study of the following Stats
ties will show the Importance of thi.
concern to the state of Nebraska ii
general and to Dodge county in par
! ticular:
Total wages paid from 1886
to March l, 1900. ...... $G65,sS4. q
Total number OF employees,
j, same period. >. ........ 1928
Total bushels of corn grown 793,S9l
Total bushels corn fed. ....3, COG sc
Total number cattle fed. $500
Total number hogs fed. 1912,
Total number sheep fed. 1913,
! Amount of land leased March
II tOnn (,o,,ncl