Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1901-12-27
THE BERT-suGAR INDUSTRY.
Me.srs. oxnsTd's and Cuttings Views
the Subject.

The following editorial appeared in
| the New York Evening Post of Deeem-
Der ~ last, s1d 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 viii thank US for reproduce
ing this highly-interesting 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.. CuttiEgSthe 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. If parties masquerading as beet
| sugar producers are besieging the
president and cor gress at this mo-
ment, and pretending that they will
be ruined if Cuban sugar is admitted
for six months at half the present
rates of duty, their false pretenses
| onght 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 a 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 cultivat-
ing beets, and might even make $500.
But in order to assure the cultivator
| that he would not be exposed to re-
| verses by possible changes in the tar
| iff, they proceeded to show that the in
dustry- stood in no need of protection
The beet-sugar industry, these gen.
| tlemen say, Stands on as firm a basis
I as any business in the country" They
point out the fact-a very important
| oae-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 a bee4-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-
I ton are very great. We have no doubt
that Messrs. OXnard and Cutting are
within bounds when they say that
! "sugGr can be produced here cheaper
than it can he in Europe" The rea-
sons for this are that
1.-THE sugar industry is, after all. merely
| an agricultural one. We can undersell Eu-
| rope in ali other crops, and sugar is no ex-
| c. ption."
Il follows as naturally as the max
/ ing of -four from wheat. If we can
produce wheat cheaper than Europe,
| then naturally we can produce flour
| cheaper, as we do.
But the writers of the letter do not
/ depend upon G-priori 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
4 cents per pound. Yet net profit
! of So per ton was made by the
beet-sugar factories under those
1 conditions, net counting any bounty
| on the home production of sugar.
| They boast that they mada this profit
| while working under absolute free
trade, and they have 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
| teeath 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
i 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 S1,05O,O0o 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 deelaiming
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 ae ought to have more than
we need" This would be consistent