The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1909-05-22

In response to q resolution of in
quiry which passed the Senate April
8, Secretary Wilson has forwarded a
report on the beet-sugar industry in
the United States. This report con-
tains an interesting summary of facts
and figures relating to this industry.
In 1896 there were beet-sugar fac
tories in operation and one building,
having altogether a capacity for slicing
4 900 tons of beets daily. In 1903 there
were GA factories, with total capacity
of $4,000 tons of beets daily-more
than a twelve-fold increase.
From 1898 to 1906 our production OF
beet sugar grew from $4,000 tons to-
4S4, 600, an increase of more than thir-
teen fold in eight years
In 1896 41,00O acres of beets were
harvested; in 1906 $4,000 acres, or
more than nine times as great an
area
The price of beets, like prices of
other farm crops, has risen steadily.
In 1896 the factories paid $4.lO per
ton; now they have to pay $5.35
In 1898 the farmers had S54 900 tons
of beets to sell to the factories, for
which they received $1,564, 0OO In 1906,
just eight years later, they had 4,236,-
600 tons of beets to sell, and received
for them $21 ,604 000-a twelve-fold
increase in beets and fourteen-fold
increase in money returns.
The total amount paid out by fac
tories for beets during the past twelve
years amounts to 1921 100000.
The total capital invested in beet
sugar plants in this country is about
$40, 100000 and this does not include
Investments made by factory owners
in farm lands, irrigation works, etc
Among other things the Senate call
ed on the Secretary of Agriculture to
state how much beet sugar can be
produced in the United States. The
Secretary replies that we have demon
strated conditions of soil and climate
favorable to beet culture i'll an area
of at least 274 million acres, and that
it will only take one acre out of ev-
cry 200 of this to produce all the SUI
gar we now import from foreign sour
ces.
He estimates that if the sugar beet
were grown throughout those portions
of the United States adapted by ma
ture and with the aid of irrigation
to its culture, with a system of TO
tation including the cultivation of the
beet every fourth year, 10 million tons
of beet sugar could be produced in
the United States annually, or more
than the worlds total production OF
sugar at the present time"
1t appears from this report that the
people of European countries have to
pay good deal more for their sugar
than we do. For the years 19O4-19O7
the average retail price of lump SUI
gar in Naples and Milan was 13 IL
cents per pound, in Amsterdam ga
cents, in Madrid nearly 8 cents, in
Stockholm IL cents, in Vienna and
Budapest IA cents, in Paris Ia
cents, in Dresden and Bremen nearly
6 cents, and in Brussels "a cents
The prices given are for lump sugar
because that is the grade most uni
formly quoted in the European stats.
tics. This grade appears to be much
more generally consumed than granu.
lated in most countries of Continental
Europe
The Brussels Sugar Convention
which went into effect September l
1903, caused radical reduction of tn,
: price of sugar in many European
countries. In Belgium the fall in thu
retail was IA cents per pound, il
the German cities ga cents, and il
Austria-Hungary 1 IA cents.
The Secretary gives a flattering ac
2 count of the progress made in devel
9 oping the beet-sugar industry, anC
, takes very cheerful view of its fu