Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1908-10-01
beet SUGAR INDUSTRY
Prospers Under Protective Tariff
Legislation.
Democratic Tariff for Revenue Plan
Would Destroy United States
Sugar Industry.

If that party should be successful2
That its pledges would, IL carried out,
destroy the beet sugar industry nobody
can for 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
States are among the first group of
business men named by Democratic au-
thoritles when they enumerate the
great trusts of the land. Therefore,
Bryan says in his speech OF accept
ance that a platform is binding upon
a candidate and that Its pledges must
be carried out-sugar would be one OF
That the effect of admitting sugar
from all parts of the world free OF
duty would he 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 q
cents per pound in the seventies to less
than = cents per pound In 1907, l9o3
and 1904; and In view also of the
steady reduction In freight rates ON
the ocean, 1t goes without saying that
the admission of foreign sugar free OF
Il nTnIIIppr
of the United States out of business.
Democracy Disregards Labor.
Cheapness has been, and Is the sole
cry of the Democratic party IN It's
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 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-lS92, 1t amounted to over
| 5000 tons; In 1S92-1S93, to 1000, and
in 1S04-lS9 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| Congress it promptly repealed the law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 hao
| attained sufficient strength to be able tc
maintain itself during the less thar
three years In which the Democratic
tariff was In force, and when the Re
publican party again came into power
and established protective tariff thu
| beet sugar industry again showed rapid
gains, the production Of beet sugar
jumping from over $4,000 tons In 1916
| 1897, the year of the enactment of the
Dingley law, to 10000 tons In 1899
1900, $4,000 tons In 19O2-19O3, 219,OOC
tons in 1905 1906, and 10000 tons IN
19O6-19O7.
Thus under the stimulus given by the
Mckinley act in bounty on beet 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 annun
| to $4,000 tons, and its value from q
| few thousand dollars to between forty
| and fifty million dollars a year. The
| area In which ii Is now successfully
/ 1tp
California and the section west of thu
Mississippi to-day actually produces
more sugar than 1t consumes, and Ell
tirely from beets.
The United States Is the world:
| greatest consumer Of sugar. 1t con
sumes between six and seven billion
pounds of sugar per year, an average
| of over 70 pounds per capita; so thai
it may be truthfully said that the aver
| age individual In the United States
| consumes more than one-half his OWL
| weight of sugar every year. This enor
nous quantity of sugar costs at retail
quitting the average price at only
cents per pound) $335,000,000 year
and with the rapid growth in popula
| ton and consumption of sugar, 1t may
| be safely said that the value OF sugar
| consumed I'm the United States will
during the next decade, average more
| than a million dollars day, and ever
more than that as the years proceed
and the population grows.
! Bright Future for Industry.
| Can our farmers produce all thu
sugar for which our consumers are
now paying and will doubtless continue
to pay i'm the future an average of ;
million dollars a day? Yes.
What class of sugar producers will
supply this enormous demand? Clearl!
and unquestionably, the sugar bee
growers.
| Why? The answer Is found In thu
following figures: The cane sugar pro
duction of the United States has durin:
the last decade fallen from $4,000 ton!
in 1918 to 100000 tons in 1906-7
while beet sugar production, with thu
same degree of protection given to cane
sugar, has grown from $4,000 tons IL
1918 to $4,000 tons in 1906-l907.
Does anybody need further evidence
that II is the sugar beet grower who l!
going to supply the sugar for which thu
people of tae United States are pay