The Ordway new era., 1910-02-11
The Beet-Sugar Industry
In The United States

which passed Tie SENATE ApTil o.
Secretary Wilson has forwarded u
report on the bect.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 SIX beet-sugar
/ factories In operation and one build.
Ing, having altogether Il capacity for
slicing 1900 tons OF bects daily. In
1908 there were 81 factories with n
total capacity of $4,000 tons OF beets
daily-more than Il twelve-fOld In
crease.
From 1898 to 1906 our production OF
bcet-sugar grew from $4,000 tons to
4si 900. an increase OF more than thir-
teen-fold In eight years.
In 1896 1000 acres of beets were
harvested; In 1906 $4,000 acres. or
more than nine times rs great an area.
The price Of beets, like prices OF
other farm crops, has risen steadily.
In 1896 the factories paid $40 per
ton; now they have to pay $50
In 1898 the farmers had 1854, 900 tons
OF beets to sell to the factories, for
which they received sl,5G4.OOO. In
1906, just eight years later, they had
l., pc, 900 tons OF bects to sell and re-
ceived for them $2l .6Ol, OO0-a twelve
fold increase in bects and fourteen
fold increase in money returns.
The total amount paid out by fac.
tories for bects during the past twelve
years amounts to 1921 100000.
The total capital invested In beet
sugar plants in this country is about
sc, 600 900, 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 bect-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 in an area
OF at least pa million acres, and that
1t will only take one acre out OF every
200 OF this to produce all the sugar we
now import from foreign sources.
lie estimates that il the sugar beet
we're grown throughout those portions
OF the United States adapted by
nature and with the aid OF irrigation
to its culture, with a system Of rota-
tion including the cultivation Of the
beet every fourth year, Is million tons
Of beet-sugnr could be produced in the
United States annually, or more than
the worlds total production of sugar
ut the present time"
1t appears from this report that the
people of European countries have to
pay a good deal more for their sugar
than we do. For the years l9O4-l9O7
the average retail price of lump sugar
in Naples aud Milan was 13i cents per
pound, in Amsterdam 9.4 cents, in
Madrid nearly o cents, in Stockholm
/! cents, in Vienna and budapest Il
cents, in Paris Ct cents, in Dresden
and Bremen nearly 6 cents, aud in
Brussels 81 cents.
The prices given are for lump sugar
because that is the grade most uni.
formly quoted in the European statis-
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 |.
1903, caused a radical reduction of the
price of sugar in many European
countries. In Belgium the fall in the
retail price was 34 cents per pound, in
the German cities II cents, and in
Austria-Hungary 1t cents.
The secretary gives tattering ac-
count of the progress made In devel-
oping the beet-sugar industry, and
takes very cheerful view of its
future prospects. He comedies that
some failures occurred among the
earlier factories. but shows that the
later factories have been quite uni
formly successful. He says that wher-
ever factories have been successfully
operated the values of farm lands
have risen very decidedly, especially
lands under irrigation in the far
West. He says beet culture improves
the land and educatcs the farmer
The operation of factory leads to
the Investment of capital in many in
dustrics more or less related to beet
sugar production. The by-products-
pulp and molasses-are fed to stock.
and their use has largely increased
the amount of live stock kept and fed
in most factory districts.
Beet-sugar factories are now 10
successful operation in IS States.
| "a IL, al ct ar INT