Holbrook argus., 1903-03-07
THE SUGAR INDUSTRY
IT IS NOW APPROACHING A SEM-
 OUS CRISIS.
The Effect of the International Sugar Convention of Brussels Will Reduce the Tax on Sugar Consumption in France

ParlS-Ine sugar industry IS ap
 preaching a crisis, which in the olin
 ion of specialists, will have tremendou
 consequences at home and abroad. Th
 effect of the international sugar con
 vention of Brussels vii reduce the ta,
 on sugar consumption in France iron
 f.64 to t.25 100 kilograms, or to $5 t'
 22O1a pounds. It is now discovered
 that the cost of production and manu
 facture of sugar is f.5, or $l greate
 in France to 100 kilograms than il
 Germany or Austria:Hungary. Conse
 quently the German and Austrian sugar producers, by merely making sacrifice of one centime to the kilogran or one-tenth of a cent per pound, car flood France with foreign sugar anc
 undersell the foreign sugar producer in their home market.
 It is with consternation that tho great French producers, who under tht bounty system have enjoyed a monop oly under sugar laws enacted during the reign of Napoleon III, view tho crisis. Sugar producers, sugar refiners sugar dealers, beet growers and all who earn their livelihood directly or indi' rectly. by means of the sugar industry in it's manifold notifications, have held meetings and consulted with min isters of finance, of agriculture and ol commerce. Committees in the Senate and in the Chamber of Deputies have been closeted together endeavoring to seek means of asserting what sugar men describe as the impending ruin of a national industry. Tbe supposed rem edy has been found in an exhaustive study of the subject made by Lewis Ware, who suggests that all sugar en- tering into the composition of jams and preserved fruits should be taxed, not as sugar as at present but as glu- cose. Ware demonstrates that sugar is by a chemical inversion transferred in the process of jam making into glucose, and that by scientific and log g'cal ap- plication of the fiscal laws, sugar Tn the form of jam or preserves, should be taxed only f.7 50 centimes to 100 kilograms Cor $l.50 to 2201a pounds, ) which is the regular fax for glucose. This measure, in the opinion of the specialists, will enable France to pro- duce jam and preserved fruit of a quality superior to those of any other country in Europe, and at far less cost. It should be noted that England, which now manufactures 70 per cent of the jams used in Europe, does so almost exclusively with fruit imported into Great Britian from France and uses for the purpose French or German sugar. It is admitted here and abroad that France produces fruit in greater abundance, and of superior flavor than is the case in any other country on the continent, and the utilization of this fruit for jams and preserves will con- sume under profitable conditions, the present overproduction of French sugar.
 With the laws of the Brussels con- ference in force, it is expected that the export of French sugar which was formerly "bounty fed" will cease altogether. The gravity of the situ- ation is dis .losed by the fact that last year France only consumed 42O,- GOO tons of sugar, while during the same period production exceeded 1.050,- GOO tons. With tho probable cheap ness of sugar there will doubtless be an increase in consumption, but. allow ing for a reasonable increase, there will be something like half million