The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-01-25

cat statement that beet sugar 10 paid
fof by the state in which " % raised.
This question of beet cultivation and
Its future is one which affects our own
main industry and BE- well worth our
attention But the beet sugar market
is becoming seriously gluttod. for 10
must boz always remembered that FOR
some purposes nothing but cane sugar
can bee used. As far as beet growing
goes the Consular reports say.
"rhc European producing lands are
Germany Austria, RUSSIA, France
Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Denmark,
Servia. Bulgaria. Roumania, SWitzer-
land. Italy Greece. and Spain. Persia
is Just entering the field; Egypt is
realizing that her soil is adapted to
the cultivation of the beet, the United
States is pressing them all. with Ar
gentna and Chile trying to follow in
her footsteps
And now Spain has entered into the
sugar scramble. But those who are
looking on see difficulties not only for
Spain, but for other beet raising coun-
tries. However let Consul General Lay
speak for himself. He says:
THE following are some OF the rea-
sons given why Spanish sugar can not
be profitably exported:
"The average yield of Spanish grown
beet root should be from II to IL per
cent, whereas at present only the An
dalusian beet root gives this return.
A hectare (about ~ acres) of ground
ought to produce some 30 to 36 tons OF
rich beet root, making between 20 and
30 pesetas per ton SO TO $D, or say
about $50 pesetas (3S cents) per degree
of saCcharine richness.
The factories have mostly an eX-
pensive staff of foreign foremen and
oVerlookers who are paid high salaries
during the whole year for only three
months work. The cultivation of beet
root requires to be improved selected
seeds should be grown and special fields
devoted to their cultivation under
careful supervision, and finally 1t
should be possible to supply sugar for
export at the cost price of 30 pesetas
per 100 Kilograms (about $3.50 per cwtO,
in which case it is said that bounties
such as those given by Germany or Bel
GUM might result in foreign sugar
trade"
But what is the value of bounties
continually paid to some industry. One
can understand the fostering of a
growing industry by the bounty sys-
TEN. just as one understands why men
/ educate and take care of their youth
| full children, from whom there is no
/ hope of immediate return. But once
an industry is on its legs it ought not
| to draw from other industries to keep
/ it fourishing. 1t is simply taxing other
/ ente rprises to make a dividend paying
affair out of what could not exist with
out this extraneous assistance. As a
/ fact the German beet bounty system
supplies cheap sugar to Great Britain
while it in great measure curtails the
employment of sugar in the poor homes
of Germany AS it is sometimes STAGED
/ by economists Germany pays Great
Britain to eat the products Of her
! beets.
The more the beet sugar market is
| glutted, the better it will be for the
cane sugar growers. Just as tobacco
growing indescriminately was found to
be curse, so will promiscuous beet
growing, and the time will come when
there will be a reaction and the rails
ing of sugar go to its legitimate sphere
But it is a matter of interest to us, a
tropical sugar growing Territory to
watch what is being done in the tenn
perate zone as regards the manufac-
ture Of our staple and to understand
] the reasons, if any, why failure or sue
cess comes.