The Detroit times., 1911-04-15
MICHIGAN BEET
SUGAR INDUSTRY
A Crop That Would Pack a Train
545 Miles in
Length.

tories in Michigan have, this season,
sliced 10000 tons OF beets, for
which they have paid the farmers
over $7,000,00000. and have produced
from these beets from 260,00o,0OO to
21O,O0O,000 pounds OF sugar, the
figures convey very little meaning.
The average person fails TO grasp the
significance OF such figures II we
were TO translate these statistics in
10 those that one can more readily
grasp, We might say that, IL these
beets, used by the factories in Michi-
gan in making sugar the past season,
we're loaded in freight cars, with the
minimum load OF twenty tons 10 the
car. they would make a solid train
load OF beets $40 miles in length, or
nearly double the distance from De
troit to Chicago. Ii the money paid
the farmers for these beets was
changed into dollar bills, and these
bills placed end 10 end they would
cover, continuously, the four rails OF
a double track railroad from Detroit
TO Bay City, and the two rails OF
single track railroad from Bay City
TO Mackinaw: or TO use another illus
tration, the money paid Michigan
farmers. this season, for beets would
carpet a twenty-five acre field with
one dollar bills.
II the coal, used this season in the
sugar factories OF Michigan, was
loaded in cars, with thirty tons to a
car, it would make a continuous train
load OF coal reaching from Detroit 20
Jackson.
II the sugar made from these beets
was loaded in box cars, with thirty
thousand pounds to the car, it would
make a continuous train load Of sugar
eighty-fve miles in length, or IL pack
ed in barrels, and these barrels placed
end TO end, IL would make a row OF
barrels reaching from Grand Rapids
to Detroit, and from Detroit to Bay
City, and from Bay City to Mackinaw
The value OF this sugar delivered in
the cities in which II is marketed is
1900, 100000 greater than the combin-
ed capital of all the banks in the City
of Detroit.
Such are the figures with reference
TO this seasons output of beet sugar
in Michigan. Judging from the acre
age already contracted for next sea-
son next falls crop will greatly sur
pass this seasons output. When one
considers that this entire business has
been developed in Michigan within
the past ten years, he begins TO com
prehend the Importance OF this indus
try to the state. II man is a bene-
factor, who makes two blades of
grass grow where one grew before,
certainly those men who, in a single
decade, have created an agricultural
and manufacturing industry, which
adds sl3, 900, 100000 a year to the re-
sources OF the state, have reason 10
feel proud of the results Of their eff
forts
the state. farm mortgages have been
paid farm buildings have beeen erect
ed; bank accounts have been Great
ed; land values increased; business
conditions improved, and general
prosperity enhanced by this industry.
No one has been crippled, every citi.
zen Of the state, whether he raises
beets or lives in the city has been
benefited by virtue OF securing his
sugar at lower price than he would
have obtained 1t had not this indus
try been established in Michigan. The
freight bills paid by the Michigan
sugar factories TO the railroad com
panies, this season, approximate 81
00O, 100000. Collections throughout tho
beet districts, In every line of mer-
camille pursuit have been improved
by the distribution OF this vast
amount OF ready money within the
borders OF the state.
Aside from paying their full share
Of local and state taxes. the beet fac
tories OF Michigan have been furnish
ing enough molasses TO a chemical
company. located at Bay City. to pro,
duce alcohol for the arts and sciences.
which pays into the National Treas
ury S2,000,00000 year In internal
revenue tax,
From every factory good gravel
and stone turnpikes have been built
radlating into the country, until, I'm
/ the beet districts, we now have the
best highways found In the state
! Not least among the benefits deriv.
ed from the industry, Is the indirect
/ influence IL eXerts upon every other
agricultural crop, Instead OF i'm
provishing the soil, beets improve its
| fertility. The system OF rotation.
adopted by good beet farmers. has
resulted in increasing the yield of
oats, wheat, beans, potatoes, corn and
clover per acre. The land near the
/ beet factories, which ten years ago
could have been purchased for $50 90
! per acre now brings from s125.00 20
| En An NOR aara and tho rautal vaiue,