The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-01-07
Beet Sugar Industry.
New York Evening Post.)

The Evening Post bids the hearticst
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. il was such two years ago. W.
publish elsewhere a letter written in
1899. and signed by Mr.. Oxnard and MI
Cuttinfi. the chiefs CT this industry on
the eastern side of the Rocky Noun
tains, showing that this was the happy
condition OF the trade az that time. If
parties masquerading al beet sugar pro-
ducers are besieging the President and
Congress- at this moment. and pretend
ing that they Will be ruined If Cuban
sugar is admitted for six months at half
the present rates OF duty their false
pretences ought to be exposed
The letter of Messrs Oxnard and Cut
ting was probably written for the pur-
pose of inducing the farmers OF the Mis-
slssippi valley TO go more largely into the
cultivation Of beets for the sugar fac
tories This was a laudable motive for
telling the truth and showing the large
profits which awaited both the beet
grower and the manufacturer If the ir-
dustry were perseveringly and intelli,
gently prosecuted. To this end it was
pointed out that farmers could clear Sos
per acre by cuitivating beets, and might
even make 800. But in order to assure
the cultivator that he would not be ex-
posed to reverses by possible changes in
the tariff, they proceeded to show that
the industry stood IL no need of pro
lection.
The beet sugar industry, these gentle
| 4a,> a.. -
any business in the country" They
| point out the fact--a Very important
one-that their product comes out as
| finished article, refined and granulated.
1t is not, like cane sugar grown in the
West Indian Islands, black and often
| sive 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 q
| costly refinery, and then shipped by
! ra'l to the consumer, who may posi- bly,
! be in Nebraska, alongside beet sugar
! factory which turns out the refined and
granulated article at one fell swoop
! Indeed, the advantages of the producer
OF beet sugar for supplying the domestic
| consumption are very great. We have
no doubt that Messrs. Oxnard end Cut
ting within bounds when they say
/ that sugar can be produced here
| cheaper than Europe, tken naturally we
can produce flour cheaper, as we do.
But the writers Of the letter do not
! depend upon apriori reasoning to prove
| that they can make sugar al a profit
| without tariff protection. They point to
the fact that under the Mckinley tariff
/ OF 1880, when sugar was free of duty.
the price of the article was four cents
J
| 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 free trade.
and they have a right to be proud Of
! this result OF their skill and industry
! Many beet sugar farms had been started
! in byGOne years, back in the sixties and
| seventies Of the nineteenth century, and
! had failed because the projectors did
not understand the business. Since then
| great progress had been made, both
! here and abroad. in the cultivation and
| manipulation of the beet. What was
/ impossible thirty years ago is now en-
tirely feasible. The, industry is already
on a solid and enduring basis. There
arc factories in the United States these
gentlemen tell Us in their letter, capa bic
Of using $50, 900 tons of beets per annum
at a profit Of SO per ton, and this would
make a profit of s1,050 600 a. the income
/ 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 declaiming against
the temporary measure which the Presi-
dent of the United States urges for the
relief Of the Cuban people, are either
grossly ignorant Of the subject, or are
practicing gross deception. The tenabe
ground for them is to say "Othcr peo-
! pie are having protection that they do
not need and therefore we ought 70
have more than We need" This would
be consistent with the letter Of Messrs
Oxnard and Cutting. but nothing else is