The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-03-12
BEET 81 Az . SUCCESS.


y most inter st.u, bulletin on the
manufacture OF ,-z-i s:a=ar was issued to-
day from the CerrsCs ctiice- Il was pre-
pared under the direction of the Chief
Statis-ician for Manufactures. by Dr..
| GuluoFd I. Spencer. of the Department
CT Agriculture. while acting in the ca
PaGty Of expert special agent for the
DIVISION Of Manufactures 81 the Een-
sus Office
In the Dre;-lrsstiG, of this report. Or.
! Spencer. personally -rfsiteE every beet st-
gar factory in operatIoa in the United
states. and his report is an admirable
/ statement Of the s!=vetarIncrt and present
condition of this new industry. In view
/ OF the great interest III the subject o.
Inc manufacture of sugar from the beet.
Ut spencer was instructed to prepare
| report more in detail than usual.
from this report. il appears that there
! Were 81 beet sugar factories in the United
States in the census year distributed
| among 10 States and I Territory. repre-
senting an Invested capital of S2e. s5S Jls,
and producing q. 427 long tons of beet SUI
gar, valued at S4,@22. S57. This is 4 small
product. in view of the amount IF capital
| invested, due largely to the fact that the
census year WI a disastrous one for the
| beet sugar crop.
at the close of the census year having
nominal daily capacity Of 2z.3la short
tons OF beets, and capable of 1nanufactur-
ing 210,0g0 short tons of SUGAR annually.
The decade ending with the Twelfth
Census covers the period Of greatest &c
tIVity IN this industry, and may almost
be said TO have Witnessed its birth as a
successful manufacturing euterprise
As The result of his Investigations. the
special agent reports that the beet sugar
manufacture may now he regarded rs a
! commercial success in the Tinted States.
In concluding the report. DIR. Spencer
says:
The statistics OF the beet sugar indus
try show that, after many years of
manufacture on a small scale. il has as
| SuThed large proportions, and in the cen
stis year more than one-third Of the
| domestic sugar product WAS obtained
! from the beet. This quantity of sugar, 20
per cent OF which was suitable for imme-
date consumption, WaS produced IN a
year OF extremely unfavorabl 1grictil-
tural conditions in the beet districts The
Yield Of beetS per acre was less than half
that Of an average season The factories
could readily manufacture more than
two and Onc-haIf times the quantity OF
sugar produced, Il supplied with sufficient
raw material.
The progress Of the Industry cannot
I ne measured BY the returns OF previous
! ceuSuSeS. since beet sugar has been sepa-
/ ~ately reported but once, by the census
! OF 1851. and nj that time the total CAPT
tai invested in four esJa bjishments would
NOT equip modern factory Of average
capacity
The schedules show that but one fac
! tory obtained sufficient Deets. ana that
! many were operated but a small fraction
! of their capacity The average quantity
I Of baets worked per factory was Zj,fS
/ short tons and the average nominal ca
/ pacity Of the factories. based lpOR only
I 100 days work, IS more than fo-V1o tons.
/ The average length Of rhe working .seESon
/ in the various States Is NOT known. bat for
/ the United States il Is probably nearer 40
/ days than 100 days. Notwithstanding the
{ very adverse agricultural conditions which
( resulted in the small supply OF raw ma
/ teriai, the value OF the products was
/ larger than the expenditures \ number
/ OF tactOffSe-eaTned fair return on their
/ investments. others paid expenses and
/ several lost heavily The statistics demon
/ StraJe that beet sugar manufacture + a
/ commercial success in the United States