Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1902-01-02
The Beet Sugar Industry,

A most important article, givln:
Messrs. ONnard's and Cuttings views
on the beet sugar industry in this co,ln
try, appeared on the editorial page OF
the New York Evening Post of Dec
~, and as every household in the land
is interested in sugar the article will
be of universal INTEREST,"
The Evening Post bids the heartiesl
welcome TO every American industry
that can stand on its own bottom and
make its way without leaning on tht
poor rates. Among these SELF Support
in. industries, we are Glad 10 know is
the production of beet sugar All all
events. it was such two years ago. MG
publish elsewhere a letter written IN
1892 an signed by Mr. oXnard aud
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 that
1llle lf parties masQllerading as bee,
sugar producers are beSieging the Pres
ident and Congress at this moment, and
pretending that they will be ruined Il
Cuban sugar is admitted for SIX
months at half the present rates OF
duty. their false pretenses ought to be
exposed.
The letter of Mcssrs Ovnarl ana
Cutting was probably written for tho
purpose of inducing the farmers OF the
mississippi valley to so more largely
into the cultivation of beets for the
sugar factories. This was laudable
motive for telling the truth and show
ing the large profits which awaited
both the beet grower and the nanulac
turer il the industry We're pcrsevering
Is and intclligently prosecuted. 10 ths
end it was pointed out that farmers
could clear $50 per acre by cultivatng
beeiS, and might even make SlO0 Eat
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.
"1'he beet sugar industry, these gen
tlemen say, stands Oh as firm basis
as any business in the country they
one that their product comes out as Il
finished article, refined and granulat-
ed. 1t is not, like cane-sugar grown
in the West India islands. Il black and
offensive paste, which must be carried
IN wagons to the scaboar,l and thence
after another handling, it is put
through n costly refinery, and then
shipped by rail to the consumer, who
may possibly he in Nebraska, alongside
Il beet sugar factory which turns out
the refined and granlllatcd article AT
one fell swoop. Indeed, the advantages
Of the producer of beet sugar for srp-
plying the domestic consumption are
Very great We have no doubt that
Messrs OXnard and Cutting are with
in bonn4ls when they say that sugar
can be produced here cheaper than it
can be in Europe The reasons for
this are that
1.-The sugar industry is, after all.
merely an agricultural one We can
undersell Europe in all other crops, and
sugar is no exception.
lit follows as naturally rs the MAX
ing Of -four from wheat If we can
produce wheat cheaper than Europe.
then naturally we can produce -four
cheaper, MS we do.
BIT the writer's Of The letter do MOI
depend upon priori reasoning TO prove
that they can make sugar at n profit
without tariff protection. they point TO
the fact that under the Mckinley tariM
of 1890, when sugar was free of duty
she price of the article was 4 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 I
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 nine
teenth century, and had failed, because
the projectors did not understand the
business. Since then great progress
has been made, both here and abroad.
in the cultivation and manipulation of
The beet. What was impossible thirty
years ago is now entirely feasible The
is already on solid and en-
Turing basis. There are factories in
he United States, these gentlemen tell
is in their letter, capable of using 35O,-
400 tons of beets per annum al profit
If So per ton, and this would make
profit of 81 .050,000 as the income to be
earned under absolute free trade.
at must be plain 20 readers of this
etter. signed by the captains of the
,eet sugar industry, that the people in
who are declaiming
gainst the temporary measure which
he President Of the United States
lrges for the relief of the Cuban peo-
lie. are either grossly ignorant Of the
ubtect, or are practlcing gross decep-
ion. The tenable ground for them IS
o say: other people are having protec-
ion that they do not need ,tand there
ore we ought to have more than we
nc1 This would no ooncjc+or+ witt,