The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-01-24
Tie Beet Sugar Industry.

A most important article giving
Nfcssrs. oxnards and Cuttings views
on the beet sugar industry Ia this
country appeared on tho editorial page
of the New York Evening Post Of De
cember - last and as every house
hold In the land Is interested in sugar
the article viii be Of universal interest
THE BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY.
The Evening Post bids the hearuest
welcome to every American industry
that can stand on rs own bottom and
make rs way without leaning Oh the
poor rates. Among these self-support-
ing industries we are glad to know, Is
the production Of beet sugar. AT all
events, IT was such two years ago We
publish elsewhere q letter written In
1890. and signed by Mr.. Omard 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 tho trade of that
time. If parties masquerading as beet
sugar producers are besieglrg the
President and Congress at this mo-
ment. and pretending that they will BIO
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
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 persever-
ingly and intelligently prosecuted. To
this end it was pointed out that farm
ers could clear $50 per acre by cult
waiting beets, and might even make
S100. But in order to assure the Guilt
vator 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 gem
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 graduated.
1t Is not, like cane sugar grown in the
1 West India Islands, a black and often
/ slye PASTE which must be carried in
wagons to the seaboard and thence by
ships to the United States, where az.
ter another handling, II is put through
a costly refinery, and then shipped by
rail to the consumer, who may posi-
bly, be in Nebraska. alongside beet
sugar factory, which turns out the re-
fined 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 and Cutting are within bounds
when they say that sugar can be pro-
duced here cheaper than 1t can be in
Europe" The reasons for this are
that
"The sugar industry Is, after all,
merely an agricultural one. We can
undersel Europe in all other crops,
and sugar is no exception"
1t follows as naturally as the making
of -four from wheat II we can pro-
duce wheat cheaper than Europe, then
naturally we can produce -four cheap
er, as we do
But the writer's 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 four
cents per pound. Yet a net profit of SO
per ton was made by the beet sugar
factories under those conditions, not
counting any bounty on the home pro,
duction of sugar They boast that
they made this profit while working
under absolute free trade, and they
have right to be proud of this result
of their skill and industry. Many
beet sugar factories had been started
in bygone years, back in the sixties
and seventies of the nineteenth cen
fury, and had failed, because the pro
jectors did not understand the bust
ness. Since then great progress has
been made, both here and abroad, IL
the cultivation and manipulation of th,
beet. What was impossible thirty
years ago is now entirely feasible. Tit
industry Is already on a solid and en-
during basis. There are factories il