The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1911-05-19
Sugar Consumption in the United
States.


The people of the United States con-
sumo half their own weight in sugar
every year. This may seem a startling
statement, but if we take the quantity of
sugar produced in the United States and
add to this the quantity brought from our
own islands and the quantity imported
/ from foreign countries, and subtract
! therefrom the amount exported, we get a
grand total of considerably more than :
! billion pounds consumed in the country;
and by dividing the population into this
| grand total, we get an average OF SIH
pounds per capita, speaking in round
terms, for 1910, and about like quantity
for 1909. 1t is not assumed. of course,
that each person necessarily consumes
sugar equal to one-half his individual
weight; but taking the total consumption
and comparing it with the total popula-
ton in the section known as continental
! United States, the average yearly con-
sumption of sugar is found to be about
S11l pounds per capita.
In fact, the people of the United States
are larger consumers of sugar per capita
! than those OF any other country in the
world except England, for which the
! latest figures show a consumption aver
aging So pounds per capita, against our
own average OF SI1a pounds per capita.
/ The next largest per capita consumption
is in Denmark, 7615 pounds; followed by
! Switzerland, 81 pounds Sweden, 81
pounds, and Germany and Holland, each
about 4315 pounds.
Not only is the United States the sec
ond largest sugar consumer per capita,
but the total amount consumed annually
is much greater than that of any other
country, aggregating, as above indicated,
/ more than billion pounds per annum.
! against about billion pounds in England
and about 5 billion pounds in Germany.
About one-half of the sugar consumed
/ in the United States is brought from for
! eigu countries. about one-fourIh from our
own islands. and the remaining one
fourth produced in this country The
! total production OF sugar in the United
States now amounts TO 81 billion pounds
year, of which more than one billion
pounds is beet sugar and about three
quarters OF a billion cane sugar. 1t is
only recently that the production of beet
sugar in the United States has come to
exceed that OF cane sugar In 1900 do
nestle production OF cane sugar was
twice as great as that of beet sugar. and
| 20 years ago was more than 90 times as
great; but the growth of beet sugar pro
ducton has been very rapid in recent
years, and in 1907, for the first time, ex-
| ceeded IN quantity that produced from
| cane and has so continued since that
time.
OF sugar brought from other countries,
nearly all is made from cane While
about one-half of the worlds sugar is
made from beetS, most of it is produced
IN Europe and consumed in the country
OF production or in other parts OF that
grand division, while most of the world
outside OF Europe obtains its sugar sup.
ply from cane, grown of course, in the
tropical and SubtropiCal sections. OF the
cane sugar which we consume, most of
that coming from foreign countries is
drawn from Cuba, the Dutch. East
Indies, and smaller amount from the
West Indies, Mexico, Central and South
America. All of that coming from our
own islands-Porto Rico, Hawaii, and
the Philippines-is cane sugar, while of
the dome lie product about 40 per cent.
is produced from cane. he beet sugar
OF the United States is grown chiefly in
Colorado California and Michigan, and
some in Utah, Idaho and Wisconsin,
while most of the cane sugar is produced
in Louisiana, with smaller quantities in
Texas, Florida, Georgia and South
Carolina
The sugar habit" is evidently a grow
ing one with the people of the United
States and probably with those of other
countries, since the total work produc-
ton of sugar, including all countries for
which statistics are availa HE has in
creased so per cent in the last decade and
about doubled in IS years. In our own
case the consumption has shown a rapid
growth, the per capita consumption hav
ing been, in 1880, 10 pounds; in 1890. 50
pounds; and in 1910, approximately SI13
pounds.
What is the cost of the enormous guam
tity of sugar consumed in the United
States? This is more difficult to answer
The valuation of that brought from for
eign countries and our islands is set down
at about IFS million dollars; though this
comparatively high figure when con-
sidered by the price per pound. is due to
the fact that the valuation is based upon
the refined article. VII e that of the
sugar from abroad is the value OF the I'M
refined article in the country of produc-
ton IT, however, we accept a general
average Of sc. per pound as the retail
price paid by our people for I3 billion
pounds of sugar consumed by them in
1910, We should get a total of S565, ooo, 900,
or an average of approximately 81, 900, 600
a day paid for sugar by the people of
the United States.