River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-12-26
THE BEET-sUGAR INDUSTRY.
Messrs. oxnard's and cuttiag's View.
on the Subject

The following editorial appeared in
the New York Evening Post of Decem-
Der u last, and as every household. in
fact, every man, woman and child is
interested in sugar, it being one of the
most important articles of daily food.
our readers will thank US for reproduce
ing this notwithstanding editorial:
The Evening Post bids the heartiest
welcome to every American industry
that can stand on its own bottom and
make its way without leaning on the
| poor rates. Among these self-support-
ing industries, we are glad to know, is
the production of beet-sugar. At all
events, it was such two years ago. We
| publish elsewhere a letter written in
1899, and signed by Mr.. Oxnard and
Mr.. Cutting, the chiefs of this indus
try on the eastern side of the Rocky
mountains, showing that this was the
| happy condition of the trade at that
time. Ifparties masquerading as beet
sugar producers are besieging the
| president and congress at this mo-
ment and pretending that they will
for six months at half the present
rates of duty, their false pretenses
| ought to be exposed.
The letter of Messrs. Oxnard and
Cutting was probably written for the
purpose of inducing the farmers of the
Mississippi valley to go more largely
into the cultivation of beets for the
sugar factories. This was laudable
motive for telling the truth and show
ing the large profits which awaited
both the beet-grower and the manu-
facturer if the industry were persever-
ingly and intelligently prosecuted. To
this end it was pointed out that farm
ers could clear sos per acre by cultiyat-
ing beets, and might even make 500.
But in order to assure the cuItivator
that he would not be exposed to re-
verses by possible changes in the tar
if, they proceeded to show that the in
dustry stood in no need of protection.
The beet-sugar industry, these gem
tlemen say, Stands on as firm basis
as any business in the country" They
point out the fact--a very important
one-that their product comes out as
finished article, refined and granulat-
ed. 1t is not, like cane-sugar grown in
the West India islands, black and Of
fensive paste, which must be carried in
wagons to the seaboard and thence by
ships to the United States, where,
after another handling, it is put
through a costly refinery, and then
shipped by rail to the consumer, who
may possibly be in Nebraska, along
side beet-sugar factory which turns
out the refined and granulated article
at one fell swoop. Indeed, the advan-
tages of the producer of beet-sugar
for supplying the domestic consump-
ton are very great. We have no doubt
that Messrs. OXnard and Cutting are
within bounds when they say that
"sugar can be produced here cheaper
than it can be in Europe" The rea-
sons for this are that
THE sugar industry is, after all, merely
an agricultural one. We can underseI Eu-
rope in all other crops, and sugar is no ex-
ception."
1t follows as naturally as the maxi
ing of flour from wheat. If we can
produce wheat cheaper than Europe,
then naturally we can produce flour
cheaper, as we do.
But the writer's of the letter do not
depend upon G-pri0ri reasoning to
prove that they can make sugar at a
profit without tariff protection. They
point to the fact that under the McKin-
ley tariff of 1890, when sugar was free
of duty, the price of the article was
cents per pound. Yet a net profit
of SO per ton was made by the
beet-sugar factories under those
conditions, not counting any bounty
on the home production of sugar.
They boast that they made this profit
while working under absolute free
trade, and they have a right to be
proud of this result of their skill and
industry. Many beet-sugar factories
had been started in bygone years, back
in the sixties and seventies of the nine
teenth century, and had failed, because
the projectors did not understand the
business. Since then great progress
has been made, both here and abroad,
in the cultivation and manipulation of
the beet. What was impossible thirty
years ago is now entirely feasible.
The industry is already on a solid and
enduring basis. There are factories in
the United States, these gentlemen
tell US in their letter, capable of using
100000 tons of beets per annum at a
profit of So per ton, and this would
make a profit of $1,050,OoO as an in
come to be earned under absolute free
trade.
1t must be plain to readers of this
letter, signed by the captains of the
beet-sugar industry, that the people
in Washington who are declaiming
against the temporary measure which
the president of the United States
urges for the relief of the Cuban peo-
pie are either grossly ignorant of the
subject, or are practising gross decep-
ton. The tenable ground for them is
to say: "Other people are having pro-
lection that they do not need, and
therefore we ought to have more than
we need" This would be consistent
with the letters of Messrs. Oxnard and
Cutting, but nothing else is so.