Arizona republican., 1906-01-15
CHIEF ITEM
 IN IMPORTS
Sugar to the Amount of
 $l5O,OOO.OOO
The Steadysand Rapid Increase of Production at Home is Outstripped by the Demand.

Washington, Jan. 14.-Of the more | than 1,200 million dollars worth of merchandise brought into the United States durirg g the last year more than 150 million dollars worth was sugar Sugar formed by far the largest single item in this largest importation which the United States has ever made in any single year.
 These figures as to the value of merchandise brought into the United States and the share which sugar formed of it are subjec- to slight mod ificatiOns. since they include the mer- chandise from our own noncOntiguous territory and are an estimate as to the month of December; but the fact that the value of merchandise, brought into the country during the eleven months ending with November was Cincluding that from the noncontig- uous territory more than 1,1O0 mil lion dollars and that sugar formed 14S million dollars of this. justifies the as sertiOn thar he record for the twelve months will reach the figures above stated. Considering only the meTchan- disc brought from foreign countries and not including the figures of that brought from our noncontiguous ter Titory. the total imports of the year will doubtless aggregate more than 1,150 million dollars, and sugar will form more than 100 million dollars in that total of foreign merchandise only.
 The value of sugar brought into the country during the year 1905 will far exceed that Of any earlier year. State ments just prepared by the department of commerce and labor. through it's Fbureau of statistics, show that the value of sugar brought into the, cOun- try during the eleven months ending with November was S14S.575.345. of which $51,4S5.256 or more than one third of the total value was from the non -ccn tiguoUs territory of the United States. and it is quite clear that the 1 figures of the remaining month of the year 1905 will bring the grand total Of sugar imports considerably above 150 million dollars, while the highest fig ure in any fiscal year prior to 1905. was 127 millions in the year 1904. when l the unusually large quantity O. sugar was brought into the country in antici- l patton Of q change in the tariff on that article
 The United States is increasing steadily and rapidly it's consumption
 of sugar. The sugar producers at home are increasing their output of
 both cane and beet sugar, but even
 
 not keeping pace with the increasing home demand, and as q consequence the quantity Of sugar brought into the country increases from year to year L has doubled in the last twenty years,
 while population meantime increased
 but 30 per cent. The annual average importation during the five year pc
 riod ending with 1885 was 1,031,1f9
 tons and during the five year period
 ending with 1905 the annual average
 was 2.106,O43 tons. despite the fact
 that the sugar production a home had grown from 176 ,O35 tons in 1885 to ap- proximately 6OO.OO0 tons in 1905. the
 exact figures for the full year being not yet available.
 The United States is the largest sugar consuming country in the would
 though the per capita consumption in this country is not as great as in the
 United Kingdom. The to,al cOlsUmp- ton in 1904 aggregated ?, 767.OO0 tons.
 making an average consumption for } each individual for the year of about 75 pounds The estimate of Willette & Gray. acknowledged authorities in sugar production and consumption, ! puts the consumption for the year 1905 at 2.632, eco tons. though this doubt less represents a larger value than
 that of the preceding year, by reason of the increased prices waich prevailed
 in the various sugar-producing coun-
 tres of the world.
 A comparison of the figures of our , own cor sumption with those of the
 worlds total production indicates that the United States consumes about one
 fourth of the sugar production of the , world. Comparing our consumption
 with the accepted authoritative state ment Of tle worlds production for a
 term Of years, the figures indicate that in the five-year period ending with 1880 our consumption was about 26
 per cent of the worlds product, in the five years ending with 1890, a little over 2S per cent, and in the five years
 ending with 1905, about 26 per cent. , Nearly all of the sugar brought into
 the United States. whether from for ! eign countries, or from OUT non-cCnu- l, guous territory, is produced from cane an dit may be said that the United States consumes fully one-half of ,he cane sugar produced in the world. The r accepted figures of the worlds pro- . ductior of cane sugar in the year 1904 - are 4.224000 tons and as the quantity t of cane sugar brought into the United 9 States in that calendar year was 2.-
 III OO0 tons and the domestic produc
 323,G49 tons, it is quite apparent tha
 the people of the United States con
 sumed prac ,ically one-haif of the cam sugar recorded in the official figure s of the worlds production of that ar | ticle.
 Cane sugar is forming at present . larger propor ton of the worlds suga
 supply than was the case during tn ? period from 1890 to 1902. Tn 1890 bee
 sugar supplied 63.7 per cent of th
 worlds product; in 1900, 67.7 per cent
 in 1902, 62.9 per cent; but in 1903
 fell to 5S per cent. and in 1905 was bu
 51.6 per cent of the total.
 During the half century prior
 1890, however, beet sugar formed ,o much smaller proportion of the world
 sugar production, the percentage whic