New-York tribune., 1901-12-11
crRAy sUG4R AND SOME OTHER.

The chief opposition to tariff concessions III
60 - cuban surar-really in favor of the
Cuban people, to save them from ihuus'i i"i
min is understood to come from United States
suoar nroducers. and especially from those IN
+oros+od in the production of beet sugar. Ihey
insist that theirs are important domestic indus
tries. which are entitled to protection under our
tariff system, and they protest dSaihsI 'he
removal of any degree of existing protecIon.
Revond doubt there is something III lher COLI
tentions The domestic sugar industry is i'm
nortant. and is not lightly to be sacrihced- len
rears ago however no less earnest an advocate
of protection than William Mckinley IN the
famous tariff which bore his name abolished
tho whole dutv Oh crude sugar and put that
commodity upon the free list. 1t has not yet
been made convincingly to appear that what
was sound protection policy then would not De
equally sound now Let us review some of the
facts in the situation.
The total amount of sugar consumed IN the
United States in 1900 was 2,13o,6io tons. In
the same year the production OF beet sugar IN
the United States was 1858 tons; that OF cane
sugar in Louisiana and other Southern States
was 1882 tons that of Hawai- Zoo'ooo tohs'
and that of Porto Rico $4,000 tons Ihese made
a total of domestic and semi-domestlc produc-
ton OF 500 335 tons, or less than one-fourth OF
the amount required. The United States had
therefore TO get 1,61O335 tons, or more than
three-fourths of its supply, from foreign lands
Let US grant, however, that because OF bad
weather in Louisiana and hurricane in Porto
Rico our domestic production last year was
below the average, and let lis take for the OASIS
of consideration the most liberal possible esti-
mates Of the present years crops. THESE, as
already made in our columns, show total
tatf, Of
100000 tons against an estimated consump-
ton of 1890, ,5S5 tons. There is still deficit
of 1,36O,5s5 tors. Whence is it to be supplied?
1t must come from some foreign lands. And 1t
must come not only this year, but every year
for an indefinite period. since there is no rea-
sonable promise OF meeting the demand with
domestic supply. The Louisiana product Is
increasing very slowly Its average for the
last twenty years has been about $4,000 tons
and last year it was 1882, while It's maxi
mum to date, in 1894, was 325,62l-we mean
Louisiana and all the other cane sugar States
AS for beet sugar, we remember the confident
promise eleven years ago that in five years we
should be supplying all our own demand and
exporting 100000 tons year; yet seven years
after that promise the total production was only
II 110 tons, and ten years after, in 1900, only
IS 963 tons. and that in the face of the fact that
with national protection and State bounties beet
sugar is getting about 40 per cent Of protection
Whence, then, is our supplementary stock Of
sugar to come-more than one-half of our whole
supply? There are two available sources. One
is Europe Germany. Belgium, Austria and
other lands, with their bounty system and their
unconcealed aversion TO the entry of American
goods into their markets. The other is Cuba
lying right at our doors under tutelage. and
deSirouS of the closest possible COM
mercial relations with us. Surely it should not
take long to decide between the two especially
when one of them is Enthusiastically indicated by
both national morality and national interest At
any rate, it does not seem reasonable to let the
procuring of 80 per cent of our supply be con-
trolled and dictated by interests Which repre-
sent only 315 per cent.