Evening journal., 1901-11-11

mer in those islands than II is in TenlI
nessee. Arkansas, Louisiana. Texas
Mississippi, Alabama, Florida. Georgia
or south Carolina. and no one can|
properly claim, since the War of thdI
heOellloh and the economic recon
struction that followed The abolition of
slavery. that the white man has physi.
caly degenerated in any of our South
ern States
1t Is moreover perfectly well estab-
llshed fact that the peasantry from the
Spanish Peninsula. which form thel
basis Of the white Cuban and Porto
Rican population, are among the most
industrious and prolific races OF fine
human family, do as much work Nor
diem in those islands as thew do a+
home. and they and their descendan+s
constitute one of the most industrioa,s
orderly, frugal and temperate peonIe
in the world. ''0
II then you ask what is the matter
with the West India Islands-whv arc
their people living in such poverty and
distress, my answer is that they are ali
AFFLICTED with the same disease. Tha,,
are all suffering from economic ana
commercial mismanagement rather
than from bad government or social
inefticiency. And This disease whether
IN the English. French or Spanish
Islands is not only Identical. but comes
primarily from the same cause. namely
the fact that all COlonizing countries
fell originally into che fundamental
error OF treating their colonies as hav-
ing been planted for the benefit of tho
people at home rather than for that of
the colonists themselves. Every
European nation regarded it
as perfectly right to do with
Its colonies Just what it might think
best. You all know the consequences
in our case, and how they caused
Great Britain at least to change ncr
method of treatment of even her lees
powerful dependencies.
So long as coffee was worth forty
cents pound. which was frequently
the case in Cuba, San Domingo and
Hayti, Porto Rico and jamaica during
une seventeenth century. and so long
as sugar was a great luxury worth
from htty cents down to twenty cents
a pound as it was in all the West In
ules Islands at various times till the
Battle of Waterloo, it made no differ
ence 10 the inhabitants of those islands
what taxes or contributions were ex-
acted OF them. nor what privileges
were denied them by the home govern
ments. They We're rich and prosper
Gus. and did not feel The inequalities of
their situation. But with the march
of modern science an incident. all I'M
observed by them, but big with their
fate. and. destined after the lapse Of n
half century to bring forth economic
changes such as no man dreamed of
then, and not many understand even
now Indeed !, am within the limits of
truth when | say that the incident i'm
question was the chief factor in the
most far-reaching and destructive com
mercial war of modern times. refer
to the fact that one Marggraf. great
German chemist. discovered in the year
l7i5 THAT the substance which gives
sweetness to the sugar beet and the
carrot is identical with the substance
which gives sweetness ito sugar cane.
He at once proclaimed. that his dis
covery would revOlUti0nize the sugar
Of the world. Like all true
discOvorers-or at least all German
discOverCrs-hc set about the task or
his discovery to the profit Of
his country. but she road was beset
with difficulties. AT best the sweetest
bects ait that time carried only four per
cent of sugar the quantity Of beets
was limited. and the means of extract
ing the sugar was difficult and costly
to follow. besides the German people
were incredulous. but after much per-
sistence Marggraf succeeded in inter
esting Frederick the Great in his dis
covery A factory was built and by
accident burned down. the entire capi-
tai. thirty thousand thalers of which
were Frederick's, was 'Ost; and the
discovery lapsed for time into
desuetude. Later pupil Of Marggrafs
took Up the task. Frederick put in
more money; improvements were made
in the processes; new and sweeter vari-
cites of beets were discovered and used
for seed. till now. after over a century
of experimentation. the average beets
carry from fourteen Ito seventeen per
cent. Of eXtraot2ble sugar. while some
varieties Of sugar begts grown i'm Cali
fornia and other favored regions carry
as much as twenty-four per cent or
nearly one-quar,cr of their weight
The best sugar cane carries from four
teen to sixteen per cent.
Marggrars discovery remained labra
tory curiosity tin another and far more
striking event took place i'm the world
and singular as il may seem. that
event was the Battle Of Trafalgar
which took place i'm sos. All students
Of history know that the great victory
won upon that occasion by Lord Mel
son and tho English fleet, over the
combined fleets OF France and Spain
made Great Britain mistress OF the
seas and enabled her 10 maintain an
effective blockade to the principle
European seapOrts, in spite of all Ma
poleOn could do to break it, from that
time till he was destroyed and the gen.
eral peace of Europe was restored.
The productions of all other countries,
and especially of the tropical islands,
were rigidly shut ont OF Europe Ccf-
fee. and especially sugar, which mp to
that time had always been considered
luXlwies and had commanded high prices
shared the fate Of other articles OF
tropical and foreign growth The
nricp Of sugar advanced i'm Fur0np hut