The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-01-05
SUGAR FROM
SAWDUST The
LATEST THING
MOOD REFUSE, ONCE NEGLECTED
PRODUCT, NOW MADE EDIBLE
AND DRINKAsLE AS LATEST
ADDITION TO WORLDS BILL or
FARE.

New York, Jan. 4.-That sawdust
ray vet become an article of food in
&C mmon use is probably the most
startling bit OF news which the New
Year brings to this country from Eng
land. Not only will human beings
consume this new diet it is said, but
so will horses and other live stock,
and as a result of experiments already
completed the request to pass the saw
dust may become so common as to
evoke no surprise or comment at the
breakfast table. The new discovery.
epoch making as it Is, is likely to have
one unexpected effect. the possibilities
of which have not yet been reckoned
with. 1t may result in the practice of
kind of near eannibalism calculated
to cause much woe to juvenile hearts,
for with sawdust actually an article
of food many a parent might lack the
strength of character necessary to re-
frain from consuming plump doll
nicely filed with the succulent prepa-
ration.
OF course professional makers of
Jokes have been assuring us ever since
The new style breakfast foods super
seeded the old style morning mush and
oatmeal that we have been consuming
shavings unaware. and 1t is curious to
note that as a result Of the new dis
covery it will be possible to sweeten
one's morning dish by sprinkling saw
dust on Ii.
This latest discovery, however. has
nothing to do with the inventions Of
humorists, but Is one Of the most re-
uarkable developments of science.
Sawdust in its generally known form
will not or course be eaten as such.
Instead. and this makes the achieve
ment no less wonderful, 1t Will by
!. modern wizardy be changed into every
Ray sugar, one of the foodstuffs OF
most general use in the world. Neither
viii the new product be known by any
such plebian name as. sawdust Sac
chulose is the name which its discov-
erers have given to 1t, but no matter
what its name it will be sawdust Just
the same and he world win have to
accept the fact that this by-product
has been made not only edible but ex-
tremely palatable as WELL
Its Ability to Compete.
The difficulty in the way Of repiac-
ing the time honored processes of pro-
ducing sugar from the cane, is not in
turning out a satisfactory sweetener
has been accomplished. The real de-
,cision as to the practical value of the
new discovery will depend upon its
ability to compete in price with the
product of the beet sugar factory and
the cane refinery. At present the
vsugar cane of the tropics and the
ksugar beet of the temperate zone are
running a neck and neck race for pos
session of the worlds sugar market
and in this tremendous competition
sugar occupies the unique position of
being practically the only important
food staple that has not advanced in
price in recent years. Ofacial Stats
tics collected for the United States
show that while the average wholesale
price OF all food products increased
nearly forty per cent between 1906
and 1910 the price of sugar actually
decreased seven per cent. The rapid
growth OF the beet sugar industry in
the United States. the output of this
produc increasing over 1900 per cent
In the past dozen years. has tended te
keep prices down and results every
year In cutting the wholesale price al
the time when the product OF the beei
fields comes upon the market. Thai
this development has to a great extent
eounterbalanced the influence of the
tariff is shown by the situation pre-
vailing in the sugar market at the
present time. II the full amount Of
the tariff were added to the worl6
price of raw sugar it would make the
price in the United States over foui
cents a pound instead of which the
actual price is well below four cents
So we'll recognized an authority or
this subject as W. p. Willett predicts
that hereafter the American price o.
sugar will remain below what the