The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1912-12-06

dlng TO the farming poulatiOn and i'm
proving the land by a more careful
cultivation. Usually these men make
the best of farmers and the best of
neighbors
The factories employ 5000 men dur
ing the season. The workmen are
brought from the cities for the most
part and are well paid. They are fed,
housed and clothed in the country and
Of course help to make business good
in the neighborhood, for the payroll
Of each factory will average from 500
600 to $4,000 month.
The managers Of the sugar beet fac
tories have done much to help the
farmers to realize the full possibili-
ties of the industry. The system of
paying for the beets according to the
amount of sugar that the roots con-
tanned has enabled the farmer to get
the benefit of all the improvement he
could make in the quality of his beets
by careful cultivation. Hoe the sugar
into the beet" was the slogan adopted
by the factory men, and the results
soon showed in the larger checks that
went into the farmers pocketboOks.
In the ten years in which the industry
has made its greatest development the
average sugar content of the Michigan
beet has increased from 13 per cent to
16 per cent. And the benefit. of that
increase, because Of the testing system
of the factories, went into the pocket
Of no 20 ha fa
indirectly by the Improvement in get
ting more sugar from handling the same
quantity Of raw beets. which meant n
saving in the cost of operation.
The beet sugar factories of Michi-
gan use from 250,O00 to 100000 tons
of coal year, which is practically all
taken from the mines of the state. The
railroads alone get 100000 a year
for hauling the sugar and its byprod
ucts. the workmen and their belong
ings. the coal and lime which are used
in the process of manufacture and all
the other necessities Of the industry.
The hyproducts of sugar manufac-
ture are also an element of wealth.
One of the most important is the pulp
remaining after the sugar is extracted.
which is splendid fodder. All the
sugar plants have installed equipment
for drying this pulp, and in addition
to what is sold to neighboring dairy
men It is shipped to live stock owners
in New York. Pennsylvania, Virginia
and even SO far south as the Carolinas.
Michigan sugar is sold throughout the
middle west and has reached the At
lantic coast in New Jersey, almost in
the shadow of the great trust refineries
at New York.
Another byproduct of Importance is
alcohol for use in the arts. Michigan
has the only plant in the United States
for manufacturing alcohol from beet
molasses This factory alone pays the
United States government 100000 in
internal revenue on its output, a mere
side issue Of the Michigan beet sugar
industry. @,
At the present time Michigan ranks
among the three greatest beet sugar
producing states of the country, being
excelled in the number of acres devot-
GU W tulo CIOD Ouiy ny OOlOtuuO. w hiiN
1t costs little more to produce sugar
in Michigan than 1t does in Colorado
and California. the nearness Of the local
fields and factories to the great con
Stunning centers largely offsets this dis
advantage If the policy Of encourag
ing the growing within the United
States Of sugar to feed the American
people continues to receive the encour-
agement Of the federal government In
the future as It has for the past fifteen
years there seems to be little doubt
that Michigan will continue among the
leaders Of the industry and will add
millions Of dollars year to the returns
from her beet fields and factories. No
other state has more at stake in the
preservation and development of sugar
production In the United States. That
this is important to the consumers o.
well as to the producers of sugar was
shown plainly enough year ago, when
sugar. which had gone skyrocketing up
to 10 cents a pound and was being sold
at Wholesale by the trust and other
refiners at from $6.T5 to $3.50 per hun
dred pounds. came tumbling down to
It's normal level ms soon as the yield Of
Michigan and other beet fieldS reach
ed the market.