The Spectator., 1915-04-20
SUGAR SUPPLY HIT
War Affects Geography of the
 Worlds Production.
Fffty-Three Per Cent of Sugar 10 Grown in Countries Now at War and Their CoIonies-United
 States Affectee.

Washington, D. C.-The effect of the present war in Europe on the ge- ography of the worlds sugar produc- tion is strikingly shown in a state ment just issued by the National Ge- ographic society This statement is as follows:
 'Fifty-three out of every. hundred pounds of sugar produced in the world is grown in the countries now at war and their colonies. The total pro- duction of the world is estimated at approximately 1S,000000 tons. This production is made up of cane sugar and beet sugar the total yield of cane sugar having been 9,545,0OO tons. and of beet sugar, S,43S,000 tons in 1913.
 One of the peculiar facts connect ed with the sugar map of the world is that while Europe produces more than 93 out of every hundred pounds of beet sugar grown, it yields only one pound out of every six hundred of cane sugar Of Europes total produc- tion of beet sugar, amounting to 7,S0S,- 900 tons, 5,666,000 tons grew in bellig- erent territory in 1913. Nearly all of this product is now entirely iso- lated from the outside world, being grown mainly in Germany, Austria- Hungary and Russia What this means to the world is revealed by the fact that more than two-thirds of the worlds sugar is not consumed in the country of its origin, this condition arising from the fact that the great sugarusing nations are principally outside of the belts of sugar produc- tion.
 Any scarcity of sugar, growing out of the war, will affect the United States more seriously than any other country, for the reason that American people are per capita the heaviest users of sugar in the world. With one-sixteenth of the worlds popula- tion. the United States consumes more than one-fifth of it's sugar. How rapidly this country is becoming na- tion of sugar-eaters is revealed by reference to the tables of sugar con- sumption of the past half century. Fifty years ago the people of the United States ate IS pounds of sugar per capita. Five years later in 1870, they were using B pounds per capita. In 1880, the per capita consumption had gone up to 40 pounds. Twenty-Five years ago it had risen to 51 pounds. In 1900 it had climbed still higher to 59 pounds. By 1910 the mercury In the sugar consumption thermometer reached so. Today the per capita con- sumption is upwards of S5 pounds.
 Tt appears that the cane sugar in- dustry will suffer very little in tho matter of the total crop yield as a re- suit of the war. On the other hand the beet sugar business will suffer very heavily. The present Russian crop has been almost entirely tied up by inability to get exports out of the country, while next years crop is threatened with a shortage resulting from the destruction of the industry in Poland, where so much of Russia's sugar is produced. The reports from France indicate that the rich sugar beet lands of the northern section were harvested last season under the
 
 direction of the Germans, and that most of the sugar factories in this ter ritory have been dismantled to securaz their copper for the manufacture of war munitions.
 Information from Germany ind cates that the empire will plant on three-fourths of its normal area sugar beets this year. This would suit in cutting down Germany's suN yield by more than 650.00O tons.
 Of course the prospective sf age in beet sugar production will somewhat offset by the falling ( sugar consumption incident tcs financial stringency of the
 caused by the war. Great Brita nually buying nearly 100000 tN sugar, will probably cut down ~ sumption as much as Germs cut down her production.~