The Holly chieftain., 1908-10-02
Prospers Under Protective i'll
Legislation.
Democratic Tariff for ReveGr Plan
Would Destroy United SIS
Sugar Industry.

nat It's Pledges would, II e" d out |
destroy the beet sugar indus uubody
can for a moment doubt rariff
plank of the Democratic p, IN of |
1908 says. Articles entering nrr com
petition with trust controll, ruIucts
should be placed upon the list"
and the sugar retiners of ru, nited
States are among the frs p of
business men named by Dcln".- C au- |
thorities when they cnUlG .r the |
great trusts of the land. fore, |
according to their platform and Mr..
Bryan says in his speech NJ .cept-
ance that a platform is bi.d upon
a candidate and that its p.1-. must
be carried out-sugar would p ne of
the first articles put upon the list.
That the effect Of admit sugar ;,
from all parts of the word ee of
duty would be the destruc.Oa # the
beet sugar industry in t0n Tnited
States cannot be doubted. l.u rerage
cost per pound of sugar in u 'untry
from which we import that arr lie has
steadily fallen from bctwc,U and q
cents per pound in the scvrutu. to less
than cents per pound IN nm2, 1908
and 1904; and In view u-. If the
steady reduction in frcight Ces on
the ocean, it goes without sarUg that
the admission of foreign sug.pr rec of
duty would put the beet sugar 1oducer
of the United States out Of Jus ness.
Democracy DisreEnrds Labor.
Cheapness has been. and Is ne sole
cry of the Democratic party in its
tariff theory. 1t thinks nothing, APP
parently, Of the earning power 4 labor
in the United States, whether agricul-
tural labor or otherwise. The McKin-
ley tariff act authorized the uayment
of bounty on sugar produccd In the
United States and admitted mdchinery
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 12,O00, and
i'll 1874 1870 TO IU,UUU tOnS.
When the Democratic party came
into control in the White House and
Congress it promptly repealed the law
which gave bounty on homegrown
sugar. Fortunately, that Industry had
attained sufficient strength to be able to
maintain itself during the less than
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 10000 tons in 1899
1900, 10000 tons in 902-l9o3, 279,OO0
tons in 1906 1906, and 432, 600 tons in
1906 1907
Thus under the stimulus given by the
Mckinley act in Il bounty on Deet sugar
and the free importation OF machinery
for its 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 n
few thousand dollars to between forty
and fifty million dollars Il year. The
area in which it is now successfully
| produced stretches from New York to
California and the section est of the
Mississippi to-day aCtualIN produces
more sugar than it cousuGS ), and en-
tirely from bcets.
The United States is the worlds
greatest consumer OF su-Ir. 1t con-
sumes between six and zen billion
| pounds of sugar per year an average
| of over 70 pounds per caDlta; so that
| it may be truthfully said nat the aver
| age individual in the lied States
| consumes more than one half his own
weight of sugar every year This enor-
| nous quantity of sugar Dsts at retail
quitting the average pre-" at only 5
cents per pound) S335 1900 4 year
| and with the rapid srow'N in popula-
ton and consumption Of ;ar, it may
| be safely said that the y.'Ie Of sugar
consumed in the United 5tates will,
during the next decade, ayerage more
than a million dollars a dhy, 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 cousumers are
now paying and will doubtless continue
to pay in the future an average of a
million dollars day? Yes
What class Of sugar producers will
supply this enormous demand2 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 31G 600 TONS