The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-01-08
The Beet Sugar Industry.

MeSSrS. OXnarQS ana cutting WE'VE
on the beet sugar industry in this
country appeared on the editorial page
of the New York Evening Post Of De /.
cember II last, and as every house
hold in the land Is interested in sugar
the article will be Of universal interest
THE BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY.
The Evening Post bids the heartiest
welcome to every American industry
that can stand on it's own bottom and
make it's way without leaning on the
poor rates. Among these self-support
ing industries we are glad to know, ID
the production Of beet sugar. At all
events, it was such two years ago. We
publish elsewhere a letter written in
1S99 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 that
time. If parties masquerading as beet
sugar producers. are besieging the
President and Congress at this mo-
ment, and pretending 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
Cutting was probably written for the
purpose Of inducing the farmers Of the
Mississippi Valley to go 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 manufac-
turer If the industry were persever-
ingly and intelligently prosecuted. To
this end it was pointed out that farm
ers could clear S85 per acre by cult.
waiting beets, and might even make
$1O0. But in order to assure the culti-
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 gen.
tlemen say, Stands on as firm basis
as any hssiness in the country" They
point OUT the fact-a very important
one-that their product comes out as
finished article, refined and granulated.
It is not. like cane sugar grown in the
West India Islands, black and often
sive paste, which must be carried In
wagons to the seaboard and thence by
ships to the United States, where, af-
ter another handling, It Is put through
costly refinery, and then shipped by
rail to the consumer. who may possi-
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 it can be; In
Europe" The reasons for this are
that '- X
"The sugar industry is, after all,
merely an agricultural one. We can
undersell Europe in all other crops,
and sugar Is no exception"
It follows as naturally as the making
of -four from wheat. If we can pro-
duce wheat cheaper than Europe, then
naturally we can produce -four cheap
Ell, as we do.
But the writers Of the letter do not
depend upon a-priori reasoning to prove
that they can make sugar a~pFetit
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 net profit OF s.
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 a 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
tury, and had failed, because the pro-
jectors did not understand the busi-
ness. 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
industry is already on solid and en-
during basis. There are factories In
the United States. these gentlemen
tell us in their letter, capable Of using
$4,000 tons of beets per annum at a
profit of So per ton, and this would
make a profit of S1,O50,000 as the in
come 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 President of the United States
urges for the relief of the Cuban peo-
pie, are either grossly ignorant Of the
subject, or are practising gross decep-
ton. The tenable ground for them Is
to say: "Other people are having pro.
lection that they do not need, and
therefore we ought to have more than
we need" This would be consistent
with the letter of Messrs. OXnard and