Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-01-04

try. appeared on the editorial page OF
the New York Evening Post of Dec
II, and as every household in the land
is interested in sugar the article win
be OF universal interest:
The Evening Post bids the hearties+
| welcome to every American Industry
that can stand on its own bottom ana
make its way without leaning on the
| poor rates. Among these self-support.
ing industries, we are glad to know 10
| the production of beet sugar At all
| events, it was such two years ago. We
| publish elsewhere a letter written N
1899, and signed by Mr.. Oxnard and
! Mr.. Cutting, the chiefs of this indus.
| try on the eastern side of the Rocky
| Mountains, showing that this was the
! happy condition of the trade at thar
time. If parties masquerading as beet
| sugar producers are besieging the Pres
| ident and Congress at this moment. and
pretending that they will be ruined If
Cuban sugar is admitted for six
months at half the present rates or
| duty, their false pretenses ought to be
exposed.
1.-THE letter of Messrs Oxnard and
Cutting was probably written for the
purpose of inducing the farmers of the
Mississippi valley to so 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 manufac-
turer If the industry were persevering-
ly and intelligently prosecuted. To this
end 1t was pointed out that farmers
could clear $65 per acre by cultivating
beets, and might even make $500. But
in order to assure the cultivator that
he would not be exposed to reverses
by possible changes in the tariff, they
proceeded to show that the industry
stood in no need of protection.
"The beet sugar industry, these gen.
tlemen say, stands on as firm a basis
as any business in the country They
point out the fact-a very important
one-that their product comes out as a
finished article, refined and granulat-
ed. 1t is not, like cane-sugar grown
In the West India islands, a black and
offensive 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, alongside
a beet sugar factory which turns out
the refined and graduated article at
one fell swoop. Indeed, the advantages
of the producer of beet sugar for sup
plying the domestic consumption are
very great. We have no doubt that
Messrs. Oxnard and Cutting are with
in bounds when they say that sugar
car oe produced here cheaper than it
can be in Europe The reasons for
this are that
The sugar industry is, after all,
merely an agricultural one. We can
undersell Europe in all other crops, and
sugar is no exception.
1t follows as naturally as the max
ing of -four from wheat. If we can
produce wheat cheaper than Europe,
then naturally we can produce -four
cheaper, as we do.
But the writers of the letter do not
depend upon a-priori reasoning to prove.
that they can make sugar at profit
without tariff protection. They point to
the fact that under the Mckinley tariff
of 1890, when sugar was free of duty,
the price of the article was cents per
pound. Yet net profit of So per ton
was made by the beet sugar factories
under those conditions, not counting
any bounty on the home production of
sugar. They boast that they made this
profit while working under absolute
Tree trade, and they have a right to be
proud of this result of their skill and
industry. Many beet sugar factories
lad been started in bygone years, back
n the sixties and seventies of the nine
zenith century, and had failed, because
he projectors did not understand the
business. Since then great progress
las been made, both here and abroad,
II the cultivation and manipulation Of
he beet. What was impossible thirty
ears ago is now entirely feasible. The
is already on a solid and en-
luring basis. There are factories in
he United States, these gentlemen tell
IS in their letter. capable of using $50,
90 tons of beets per annum at profit
t So per ton, and this would make a
rott of $1,050.000 as the income to be
armed under absolute free trade.
1t must be plain to readers of this
etter' signed by the captains of the
Get sugar industry, that the people in
Washington who are declaiming
galnst the temporary measure which
he President of the United States
rges for the relief OF the Cuban peo-
lie. are either grossly ignorant of the
Inject. or are practicing gross decep.
on. The tenable ground for them is
say: Other people are having prOtec-
on that they do not need, and there
re we ought to have more than we
eed.' This would be consistent with