The Delta independent., 1911-01-27
The Price of Sugar Beets.

The Price of Sugar Beets.
A fair price for beets makes
them a desirable crop in Colorado.
What is fair price? The answer
to this question calls for some in
qulry concerning the prices paid
by sugar companies in other states
and countries. AT Wallace burg, On
tario, last year $500 acres of beets
were raised. The yield was 7.46
tons per acre and the sugar content
12.SS per cent. For these beets the
growers received $3.50 ton. The
factory there paid s2.29 per ewt
for the sugar as it was in the
freshly dug beets. 1t is reported on
good authority that the beets sliced
at the Longmont, Colorado, factory
for the seven years of its exis-
tence have averaged 1857 per cent
sugar. The price paid to the
growers was S. ton. This equals
about sl.60 per cwt for the sugar
in the beets.
Comparing these two cases. it
will be found that if the Great
Western Sugar company had paid
its Longmont growers 81 a ton
for their beets. it would not have
then paid for them as much as
the Canadian growers received at
Wallace burg. Add this to the fact
that the tariff protects the Long
mont factory in common with
other United States sugar makers
and it viii be seen that the local
ma gin of profit is still larger than
that in Canada, where tarins are
not so high.
The average cost OF the manu-
facture OF sugar in l1S German
factories is as follows:
Average capital invested in each
factory ............... Sl93,400.
Total receipts for sugar. molasses
and pulp for each ton of
Deets OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. S11.1O
Average cost of beets, $3.50; sal
aries for each ton of beets, 20:
labor, .73; interest on investment,
80; coal. .6S; miscellaneous ex-
penses, SO or total of s7.S4. max
ing the profit on each ton of beets
s3.26. The average profit for each
factory was sS4,24o. The price
paid for beets is in most cases
fictititious. The beet growers own
the factory and prefer to share in
the general profits rather than
charge a high price for the beets.
These figures show that at these
German factories the average net
profit was a little over seventeen
per cent. The German does not
enjoy the benefits of protective
tariff. So when il is said that our
factory owners may make a profit
as high as thirty per cent on the
actual money invested in their busi-
ness, the statement is not likely to
be far wrong. Ii is probably too
low an estimate of profit. II our
growers could share in the general
profits as the German growers are
reported doing, they too would not
be so much concerned in the price
received for their beets.
The Great Western Sugar COM
pany at Denver has declared two
quarterly dividends of /. per cent
each on its common stock; the
first payable July end on stock
of record June 18th; the second
was payable October 3rd, on stock
of record September 18th. The
company has declared quarterly
dividends on the preferred stock
for one year to come. The first
is payable July ., to stock of
record June Is; the second October
3. to stock of record September Is /;
the third January ., 1911, to stock
of record December 10: the fourth
April 8. to stock of record March
18th, 1911. There is S1S,1S0, 900
preferred and s1O,544. 900 common
stock outstanding. The company has
paid dividends on the preferred
stock since 1905 at the rate of
seven per cent. The first dividend
on the common stock was paid in
January of this year at the rate of
five per cent-Field and Farm.