Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-12-19
Average Man Consumes
About Half His Weight.
6,OOO,OO0,0O0 Pounds Used In
America Each Year.
Three.quarters Of Our Supply
Comes From Foreign Fields.

| Washington. D. c.. Dec. 1S-It takes
more than 5000. .00O, 900 pounds of sugar
to keep the American sugar bowl well
filed for a period of twelve months
Apportioned per capita this means that
an average man consumes not less
than one-half of his weight in sugar
every year of his life. Obviously, says
a writer in the New York Times, Is
sugar a question of prime import not
only to the body of man, but to his
purse as we'll; for when, at the present
time. not less than IS per cent. of all
this sugar must be brought from for
eisn countries, every pound that helps
| to fill every sugar bowl on every table
| in every home in the United States
must pay both an import duty and its
tribute to the foreign producer out of
the purchase price that comes from the
| pocket of the American consumer.
Stupendous as these figures may
| seem, even casual study of the sugar
question will show that they are en-
| tirely correct. AS a nation we spend
| more money for sugar every year than
| for any one of the many articles which
| are imported from other sections of the
globe. Moreover this national sugar
bill IS growing greater every year, and.
strangely enough, this more general
demand cannot be explained by the
natural increase in the population of
the country.
Some ten years ago the American
people We're consuming only trifle
more than 2,00O,000 tons of sugar an
nualiy. This was at the rate of about
61.5 pounds for each man, woman and
child in the United States. This year
to quote the estimates of the most
conservative sugar experts, it will re-
Quirc no less than 100000 tons to fill
the sugar bowls Of the American
households. In other words. the actual
consumption of sugar in the United
States has increased no less than 30
per cent. during the past ten years.
1t now takes fully IS pounds of sugar
every year to meet the demands of
each individual citizen. whatever his
age or station in life. whereas in 1898 a
per capita portion of about e1 pounds
per annum met all requirements. Ap
rarently the American people are
learning to eat more sugar. and the
more they cat the more they seem to
want.
While the national consumption Of
sugar is reported to be increasing by
leaps and bounds. or at the rate OF
about SO per cent. every ten years, the
production of sugar in this country has
by no means kept pace with the de-
mand. Today, in spite of the protec-
ton given by the revenue tariff. only
-; 900 TONS or not more than % per
cent. of the sugar used by the United
States. is produced within its borders.
and. in view of this fact, it is easy to
sct. that there Is some truth in the as
sertion that it is not the American
producer who derives the greatest
benefit from the s400. 100000 that is
srcnt annually in the purchase of
sugar AS nation. America is Justly
proud of the fact that its farmers are
SO productive that it is able to ship an
enormous quantity of breadstuIfs t"
other lands each year, yet the com
bined value of all the wheat and corn
annually exported would be entirely in
adequate to meet the bill for sugar
that the foreign producers collect from
the United States.
TO saw that there has been a so per
cent increase in the demand for sugar
when for many years this country has
been unable to produce more than %
per cent of the total amount 1t has
consumed simply means that the for
cien producer must be called upon to
supply the deficiency, regardless OF the
fact that this requires an unnecessary
| expense to the purchaser of nearly
| two cents per pound-which amounts
to something when it is required to
| supply the needs of the worlds mar
kets. the United States alone now uses
more than half of this amount, and
| there seems to be no reason to fear
that there will be any difficulty in dis
posing of the 100000 tons which. ac-
corting to the Willett & Gray estimate.
will be sent to the markets Of the
world this year In character this
crop will be about equally divided be-
tween the cane and beet sugars, the
production of cane sugar for 19oS-9
having been estimated at 7,21S.00O tons.
| As cane sugar producing countries.
Cuba and Java stand at the head Of the
list. as each will harvest a crop that
will be considerably in excess of 1.100,-
600 tons. In fact. no single country in
the world produces more cane sugar
| than these islands, with the possible
exception of British India; but as prac-
tcally all the sugar grown in that
country is used for local consumption.
its product is of little consequence in
the general market.
With the exception of the few thou
! sand tons that are grown in Spain. Eu-
rope-the consumer of the bulks of the
worlds sugar-produces no cane sugar
OF its own. What it lacks in this re-
spcct. however. it more than makes up
in it's production of beet sugar, for
while the entire beet sugar output of
the United States has never been much
III excess of 100000 tons per annum.
Germany alone makes more than 2,000,-
900 tons, while Austria Hungary.
France and Russia will each produce
; considerably more than 100000 tons
this year. In fact. Of the entire world $
Supply of beet S,lgar-YlOW estimated 81 I