Arizona republican., 1901-10-30
BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY
If Good for the Northwest It Should
 Be for Arizona.

A La Grande correspondent of the Portland Oregonian says:
 The beet sugar industry is one of the great potential resources Of toe northwest that can be developed in- definitely. So large and growing Is the demand for sugar that the market ab- sorbs all supplies with avidity. Modern life is making larger acquisitions on the means of production all the time Tha new mills that are building do not keep up with the demand Sugar, Tn It's pres ent form, is a product of civilization It is also a means of civilization. From a luxury of the few it has come to be q necessity of the many. Consumption is taking so many forms that it is inn possible even to guess the future uses to which sugar will be put
 .'Beets are Q constantly expanding source of supply of sugar. The prob able development of the beet sugar in dustry is impressive; its relation to the northwest is doubly so; and the possi- bility of creating such great agent of wealth in this district if the Unitei States is something to stir the imagin3- tion. Beet sugar may be used in varied ways and the ways that will unfold in the future are yet past finding out. As an article of household consumption IL has, of course. it's chief function It iS also used in the manufacture of alcohol , and potash and even enters humbiy into the composition of shoe blackinE-
 Culture of sugar beets in the north west has gone far enough to prove that no district of the United States is bet ter adapted to the industry. Progress has been slow here, and the La Grande and Waverly projects have met with some discoura gements- But the enter prises are evolving satisfactorily and in two or three years will be on profitable basis.
 "As yet the resources of the north west in this direction have hardly been touched. If two sugar factories can be made to yield remunerative re- turns. there is no reason why two score should not. Sugar beet raising is to prove a great stimulus to the agri- cultural vigor of Oregon and Wash inyton.
 Tt is a frequent misconception that beet sugar is inferior to the cane pro- duct, and that it can be distinguished from the other. If this is so. it is owing to improper methods of specialization. Sugar is nothing more or less than sugar, the world over, whether in the cane or in the beet. Just as gold is gold. whether found under the north pole or under the equator. so is all sugar. Copper assumes many differ ent forms and colors according to its chemical affinities, but in all its com pounds it is copper and nothing else, and can be reduced by the metallurgist to the tangible element. The same chemical truth belongs to sugar in it's
 many compounds, whether it be in the form of white crystals, or brown or yellow mush. or maple sugar. or mo lasses, or syrup. or beet juice or cane juice. Sugar always preserves in its own nature and the change it's com pounds, with the proper apparatus, all ways limited. however. by the insepa- rable character of sugar from itself The only difference between cane and beet sugar when 1t occurs in a varia- ton in specialization or in the pro portions of moisture in composition.