The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1908-10-02
BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY
Prospers Under Protective Tariff
Legislation.
Democratic Tariff for Revenue Plan
Would Destroy United States
Sugar Industry.


cratic promise to destroy their industry
if that party should be successful?
That it's pledges would, if carried out,
destroy the beet sugar industry nobody
can for a moment doubt The tariff
plank of the Democratic platform of
1908 says: Articles entering into COM
petition with trust controlled products
should be placed upon the free list"
and the sugar refners of the United
States are among the first group of
business men named by Democratic au-
thorities when they enumerate the
great trusts of the land Therefore,
according to their platform-and Mr..
Bryan says in his speech Of accept
ance that a platform is binding upon
a candidate and that it's pledges must
be carried out-sugar would be one of
the first articles put upon the free list.
That the effect of admitting sugar
from all parts of the world free of
duty would be the destruction of the
beet sugar industry in the United
States cannot be doubted The average
cost per pound of sugar in the country
from which we import that article has
steadily fallen from between and
cents per pound in the seventies to less
than cents per pound in 1902, 1903
and 1904; and in view also of the
steady reduction in freight rates on
the ocean, it goes without saying that
.f ntyy, -tIYn p
duty would put the beet sugar producer
Of the United States out of business.
Democracy Disregards Labor.
Cheapness has been, and is the sole
tariff theory. 1t thinks nothing, APP
parently, of the earning power of labor
| in the United States, whether agricul-
tural labor or otherwise. The McKin-
ley tariff act authorized the payment
of a bounty on sugar produced in the
| United States and admitted machinery
| for manufacturing beet sugar free of
duty. Prior to 1890, the year Of the
enactment of that law, the beet sugar
production of the country had never
reached 1000 tons. In the very next
year, 1S91-1S92, it amounted to over
| 5000 tons; in 1S92-1S93, to $1,000, and
| i'm 1894 1895 to 10000 tons.
When the Democratic party came
into control in the White House and
| Congress it promptly repealed the law
| which gave a bounty on homegrown
sugar. Fortunately, that industry had
| attained sufficient strength to be able to
| three years in which the Democratic
| tariff was in force, and when the Re
| publican party again came into power
| and established a protective tariff the
beet sugar industry again showed rapid
| gains, the production of beet sugar
| jumping from over $4,000 tons in 1896
| 1897, the year of the enactment of the
| Dingley law, to $4,000 tons in 1899
| 1900, $4,000 tons in 1902-19O3, 219,OOO
tons in 19O5-19O6, and 49,, 900 tons in
| 1906 1907.
Thus under the stimulus given by the
| Mckinley act in a bounty on beet sugar
and the free importation Of machinery
| for it's production, followed by the pro-
| lection granted under the Dinghy act,
the beet sugar product of the country
has grown from 1000 tons per annum
| to $4,000 tons, and its value from a
| few thousand dollars to between forty
| area in which it is now successfully
| produced stretches from New York to
California and the section west of the
Mississippi to-day actually produces
more sugar than it consumes, and en-
tirely from beets
The United States is the worlds
greatest consumer Of sugar. 1t con-
| sumes between six and seven billion
pounds of sugar per year, an average
| of over 20 pounds per capita; so that
| it NAV be truthfully said that the aver
| age individual in the United States
| consumes more than One-half his own
| weight of sugar every year. This enor-
nous quantity of sugar costs at retail
| Quitting the average price at only >
| cents per pound) 1896, 100000 a year,
and with the rapid growth in popula-
| ton and consumption Of sugar, it may
| be safely said that the value of sugar
| consumed in the United States WILL
during the next decade, average more
| than a million dollars a day, and even
more than that as the years proceed
| and the population grows.
Bright Future for Industry.
Can our farmers produce all the
sugar for which our consumers are
now paying and will doubtless continue
| to pay in the future an average of a
million dollars a day? Yes.
What class of sugar producers will
supply this enormous demand? Clearly
and unquestionably, the sugar beet
| growers.
Why? The answer is found in the
following figures: The cane sugar pro-
duction of the United States has during
| the last decade fallen from $4,000 tons
in 1878 to 2360O0 tons in 1867;
while beet sugar production, with the
same degree of protection given to cane
sugar, has grown from $4,000 tons in
1878 to 49,, 900 tons in 1906-1907.
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