The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-10-10

sources
P,,c.-,is.
Of tafu
Domestic beets ....... ....... ia:
Domestic cane ............ .,........ ~ -
Maple sugar OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. -
Hawaiian cane .................... I1A
Porto Rcan zane ................. -.
Philippine cane ..................... -
cuban cane ................ ......... $50
An other ............. stI
In lsoS about - per cent. Of our supply
was imported. The increase in the cane
and beet output NJ the United States proper
and the acquisition 81 Hawaii. Porto Rico
and the Philippines have now reduced that
percentage To about ~. In the last fifteen
years the requirement 81 the country has
increased nearly rs per cent in total guam
tity. and the per capita requirement has
increased from siXty-two pounds 10 eighty
two pounds. In a generation the per
capita requirement has doubled. II is
quite impossible to say just what may ne
properly regarded as a reasonable limit
81 individual requirement. hut II may be
assumed that the present consumption il
no; far from that limit and that hereafter
increase in total consumption will depend
more than IL has hitherto on increase
sugar from the dutiable To the free list
would result in reducing the retail price
ot the commodity by about u, cents a
pound. with a marked increase in con
sumption as a result ~ lower prices. n
IL probable. however. that such a step
would not work out exactly along those
lines. Free sugar would Close some ~
the present channels ~ supply. II would
destroy a part of the domestic ind,istr ~ and
a part of the industry In Porto Rico and in
Hawaii: and Ivy increasing the demand on
tho general world supply IL would. for a
time az least somewhat increase the pound
price of that supply.
An interesting hattie has been going
On between beet sugar and cane sugar
for the last fifty years. and while At the
immediate tim. the cane forces Of the
world appear ~ lse successful the contest
is nv no means ended The earliest
figures available report the beet supply
a. p , per cent u tho worlds total pro-
duction In IssS. The heet gained until
II reached its ma Nlmum ~ A. : per cont.
IN 1871 The subsequent years show de
cline To ~ per cent in lPo9 Since isaj
the world supply II sugar has l-,en mu.
tiplied hy eight. the I. t0O DlO. 40 pounds
81 that year having grown tn ~ j0o. Ono an
pounds in 1909 In lsaS the United States
consumed IaS per cent of the orld total.
and in 1919 an estimated ~ per cent. OF
nearly one-quarter 81 the whole.
Under a tariff sufficiently high the
United States could undoubtedly supply
the full domestic requirement IL ~
evident. however. that the present pro-
lection IL 50 ample and liberal that pro-
ducers a re- not compelled 10 make the most
of their opportunities. and the rest 81 ~
must nay for their shortcomings in that
respect The Department report shows
that the average yield in this country l.
ten tons 90 heet- To- tire acre. while in Ger
many the average - n little over thirte~n
tons. 10 gives what II calls the ideal
vield the possibly sttnina hlc maximum
in this country as forty-thrre tons 20 the
acre. The report SAYS
This difference ~ thirty three IONS between the
a~'gal and the ideal constitutes the farmers
eewAy for Improvement That he can Increase
his actual yield 20 overcome considerable part
% ihis difference gors Without saying The more
ne reduces " me more viii he have performed
his part
To the DEVELOPMENT of this industry
y
and 10 paying special attention II re-
q rds the sugar industry as "a strife for
supremacy between the luNu-
riant conditions Of growth and -emi-civil-
red. poorly paid labor in the tropics on
one side and the highly developed aEri.
cultural lands and high pric"d labor II
the central temperate zone On the other
IL IL contest between intelligence
and ignorance the lat'cr reinforced with
especially favorable natural conditions
This view seems % ignore entirely what
may We, become the controlling factor
in the strife. the intelligent rr"nfor,,-
inent Of thos- favorable natural condi-
tinns The cans growers Of Cuba. of
Porto Rico. Hawaii and other sugar pro-
ducinR countries arc by no means idle.
a-Ieep or Indifferent to their interests
They are experimenting with scientific
ms,hod- and improved appliances They
too employ the chemist. and Intelligent
direction il increasing the efficiency ~
their -semi-civilized' laborers.
The henefits Of improved methods thus
far may be regarded a. having fallen
in fair part to the consumers ~ sugar
While the price 81 nearly all other food
substances has increased greatly. the
price 81 sugar shows only nuctuation
due to temporary conditions 81 supply
since 1897 In 1910 the wholesale price
81 graduated sugar in New York was
49,, cents a pound. In Tsso IL was es
cents: in lsoO. n cents; in ISOo. $50 cents.
and in 1914. "a cents. During the free
sugar period OF the Mckinley bill the price
dropped 60 az cents. and short crops in
other wears since isoO have carried the
price above S cents. hat sugar stands
as q striking exception in the movement
81 commodity prices in the last ten years,
A. prices are based on world supply.
and that supply now eNce~ds A,coOO
tons a year. the inhuenc" 81 the American
OUTPUT ~ $1,000 tons II l-~et sugar IN
world prices 10 inconsiderable. In its
place in this country as a highly pro-
t.c,ad industry the beet product indi-pu-
tably affects very materially the price Il
sugar IN the American market.
n the tariff hoard in its investigation
- the sugar schedule shall consider what
the product " l-eets ought TO cost In this
country. rather than what " dos-s cost
tbere will - gome wild excitement In the