The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-10-29
KilIiinr American Industry.

tariff has had on sugar production
in this country plainly exemp1nes
its effects on the general industries
OF the United States. AS has been
said one OF the plainest object les
sons OF the destructive character OF
the Underwood-S Simmons tarin oln.
which was constructed for the pur-
pose OF reducing the high cost OF NV
ing: fs the effect 1t, had on the sugar
production of this country. The reR-
son the, Republican party protected
this industry was to make this coun-
try independent OF foreign producers,
and at the same time maintain tue
American standard of wages FOE en-
ployes engaged in sugar ma klns,
and prosper the american t Iarin q 81 =.
beet growing. Why was this neces-
sary? The American plants were as
good as the best European plants
better than the average, because they
were larger and more modern, DGI
they could not successfully compete
with cheap foreign labor. Here IS
the comparison taken from the OF
fetal records:
'.In 1911 our average factory
wage was $500 per day as compared
with the European average OF 69.c
cents per day. Our average earn
i1gs OF field hands was $2.6Ojper day
as compared with their maximum OF
65 cents and minimum OF 249 cents
per. day. The beets in Eurone are
TILED better thar, they. are in the
United states, hence yield more sugar
per ton, but the beets cost the rae
tories much less per ton there than
they do here. In 1912-19l3. 100
pounds Of extractab1e raw sugar IN
the beets; before being sliced by the
factory. cost $2.25 in the United
states. $1.47 in Germany, $1.65 III
France. and $40 in Holland.
When the Dingley bill was passed
in 1897 SIX struggling beet factories
were operating in the United States.
producing 10000 tons of sugar
wear. The Dingley bill provided q
duty OF $1.6a1s per 100 pounds OF
&c degree sugar, and due to this duty
and to the exploitation of the indus
try by the United States Department
of Agriculture, capitalists who haa
not even seen a sugar beet soon
were attracted to this new field ZOE
investment. Factories costing from
a half million to million dollars
sprang up almost over nIgnI. as. as
MANY as fourteen huge plants We're
erected in a single season. In l9Os
the United States Department OF Az
Iricultufe issued bulletin In wh1cis
was given the location and detally
concerning eighty-six projected new
beet sugar plants. which Were 20 DS
erected in nineteen states at q coss
of $4,000, 900. With a combines
producing capacity of approximately
400 900 tons of sugar a year. IL
appeared fas though we would sooE
produce at home all the sugar we
consumed, and thus distr1 butte
among our own people the 500
OOO. 900 a year which we were sens
ing abroad for the purchase OF su,
gar. n.,,
The industry. continued to grow
and thrive under the Republican pro-
tectiye tariff until in 1919 the Amer,
lean beet sugar factories employees
90 600 men during the campatgn.
distributed over $$0,0O0.00O among
10000 farmers in payment for tnt.
beets used, produced Toe, 00Q tons o.
sugar ready for the table, ana
marketed 1t from the Pacific to the
Atlantic coasts. All was going long
Iswfmmingly. and If well enough had
been let alone, in few years we
would have defied such calamity as
the European war But the Demo
cratic party accidentally slipped into
power, and IN conspiracy with the
great sugar refining interests prac
fficaiIy destroyed this great American
industry. How? The present Con-
gress, proclaimed by the present as