The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1903-09-30
A FEW POINTS ON
BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY
Facts Showing that the United States
will Soon Produce Enough to
Supply the Home Market.


within a few years.
Much will be said during the coming
special session of congress about the
probable offset of the proposed new Gu
ban sugar duties upon the beet sugar
industry in the United States For this
rea son interest attaches to some of the
points brought out in the report made to
the department of agriculture now re-
viewing the history of the industry and
bringing the facts as to conditions down
to the current year.
The report is made by Charles |. Say
lor, who has had much experience in
watching the progress of the beet sugar
industry. Among other things Mr.. Say
lor's report says:
"A few years ago the beet sugar in
dustry seemed destined to make at best
very slow progress in public favor. Very
little was said about it in the public
press, and this was confined to the spe-
cial agricultural journals. Capitalists
had but a vague notion of it's resources
and requirements, farmers and business
men looked upon it as a fad, and it
looked as if, like other enterprises of
the kind, this industry must necessarily
90 through a long and tedious period
of agitation, education and experiment.
but presently it became subject of
congressional action, and then came
prominently before the country, and re-
ceived thorough discussion not only in
| both houses of congress, but in all the
journals of the country, in clubs and
associations, and in the homes of the
people. 1t would be difficult to find a
person of average intelligence and edu-
cation in the United States who could
no, give some sort of general information
on beet sugar and sugar beets.
THE people of the United States now
| fully understand that sugar is usually
the largest item in the list of imports
into the United States aggregating in
our own sugar every dollar of this could
have been kept homie, giving employment
to our own laborers, farmers and bust
ness men, and good investment for
$3.50, 900 600 of capital.
"The industry today has a bright flu
ture. With the signing of the protocols
of the European sugar-producing coun-
tries and Great Britain, at the Brussels
conference, the artificial stimulus to over
placing the sugar industry of this coun-
try on basis subject to no laws but
those of its own enactment and these
naturally evolved from healthful trade
relations. The cartel of Germany will
no longer place sugar on our markets
at less than cost of manufacturing it.
There is an end to the unnatural ar
| rangement which compelled the. people
of several European countries to pay a
heavy tax on the sugar they consumed
in order to subsidize the sugar exported,
| and thus enable the manufacturers to
sell in other countries at less than the
cost of production.
"In no way are the sugar factories
contributing their influence to a greater
degree than in raising the money values
of lands. With few exceptions the ac-
tual value of lands have largely in
creased Immediately on the establish
ment of sugar factories. In some cases
lands which were renting from So to SO
an acre, in the farming communities
| where factories have been constructed,
have brought rental values of S. to $40
an acre, depending largely upon the loca-
tions and facilities for delivering beets
to the sugar factory. In the arid Sec
tions we find instances where land which
recently sold at the low values given
for arid grazing lands has arisen i'm
mediately upon the installation of
sugar factory to prices ranging from $50
to $1,000 per acre.
Counting three diffusion stations as
factories, we had ready for operation in
the campaign of 1902, 46 beet sugar fac
tories. Adding to this list o now build
ing for the campaign of 1908, gives us
a total of 50 factories as compared with
8 at the beginning of 1897. The CON-
bined daily capacity of these factories
is $4,000 tons of beets, as compared with
$3.50. The combined capacity for a