The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-06
Beet-sugar Production.
Portland Oregonian.


 Inasmuch as the manufacturers of beet sugar is an Oregon industry. The Ore gonian has asked the La Grande factory for any statement of it's views 1t might wish to make concerning tariff conces- sions to Cuba and the Philippines. In reply, the La Grande people have sub mitted an article contributed by Colo rado beet-sugar man to The New York Evening Post. They request its publica- tion. and we cheerfuily accede. It will be found elsewhere in today's paper.
 The desires of any given industry for protection do not supply all the factors to be taken into consideration. The claims and needs of our beet-sugar in- terests must be taken into account. but the claims and needs of Cuba and the Philippines and also the claims and needs of the home consumers must also be taken into account. Not only that, but the mere assertion of a manufacturer as to the extent and prolongation of pro- lection he needs cannot be accepted with out question We must have more evi~ dence.
 MT. Carey says his company will need protection for ten years in order to over come the difference between 26 cents day wages Gin Cuba) and $1.75 day Gin the United States). But this won't an- swer, for we know that our farmers sell wheat in Liverpool in competition with equally low comparative wsg's in India and the Argentine. Other things may offset the disparity in wages. Maybe our s175 labor is cheaper. considering its ef' ficiency, than Cuba's 25-cent labor. More over nothing Is offered to show how pro lection in ten years Is to eliminate this discrepancy in wages. In 1912 is Ameri' can labor to be paid 25 cents a day, or Cuban labor $175 a day?
 The question of equity is as to the cost of sugar production. Here the beet-sugar men have put themselves in an embar- rassing situation by their devious course. The cost they figure on when talking tar fir Is very different from the cost they use in trying to enlist capital in their in- vestments. The Michigan protests against Cuba, for example, say that it costs 4.6S per ton to manufacture beet sugar after you get the beets. But MT. Alfred Musy. a sugar expert trying to get a factory started at Chicago. says the cost of man ufacture. in a 5,000-ton factory, is only $1.60 a ton. MT. Carey figures cost of beet sugar on the basis of ten tons per acre, though he admits twenty to thirty tons are sometimes grown. But at Grand Island, Neb.. they figure on twenty tons per acre. Thomas Cutler. a Utah manu- facturer. says that a concession of % per cent. on sugar from Cuba would not hurt beet sugar at all, and that one farmer can easily cultivate forty acres of the beet roots and make more from them than he can on twice as much land devoted to other crops.
 It Is a curious fact that the beet-sugar industry in this country thrived apace under the Wilson tariff. In California the Chino factory made more than twice as much sugar in 1895 as in 1894. The beet acreage around Watsonville increased 50 per cent in a year under the Wilson tar- if. The Ceritos factory issued $450 900 of bonds to duplicate its plant. The Cali fornian gave a detailed statement of the cost of raising beets which footed up to SPOT a ton. including cost of delivery and interest on land at about $50 an acre. At the low price of 8. 50 a ton beets netted $27 an acre.
 Sugar is remarkably well protected. Cuban sugar. sold in New York. sells for S562 cents a pound. of which 1885 is duty, or 9a per cent protection. The steamship Dunottar arrived at New York October P. 1901, from Ilo Ilo, Philippine Islands, with 5000 tons of No. sugar on board.
 This sugar was sold at 2 9-16c per
 pound, duty paid. for S2 test. say. ..2, 5625 The freight and insurance was 3-10c
 per pound ............ ................. 30