Evening star., 1916-12-31

ly, when compared with the schemes
and shifts by which some other stu
dents lived.
Il met a dusty youth with buck
saw across his shoulder he told the
writer. He had walked from New York
to Michigan. saving wood in villages
and on farms. l asked him if he had
any money. Not much he replied. 4
mean he said, to saw my way through
the university with the trusty impie-
ment on my back
Another student. famous chemist
at present worked in the packing houses
of Chicago during vacations. coming
back to Ann Arbor each autumn with
his hands SCARED by knives and sharp
bones. This man. Russian immigrant
long ago has won medals in chemistry,
and is member of scientific societies
in this country and Europe.
Young Townsend taught school, and
with money thus earned took a course
and obtained a degree at the University
of Leipsig. His interest in sugar beetS
began while he was in Germany. nine
teen years ago. He saw crops growing
and factories in operation.
1t was Andreas S. Marggraff. a great
German chemist, who discovered. in
1747. that wild beets along the Med
iterranean contained sugar. factory
was not built, however. until the year
1901. The protector of the factory,
Franz Carl Achard. had been pupil
under Marggraff at the Academy of
Sciences in Berlin. The portraits of
these two men hang on the walls or
DIR. Townsends office.
Beet sugar was not successfully
manufactured" DR.. Townsend said,
until after 1880. Factories were then
built in Germany and France. There
were 400 of them in Germany at the
beginning of the war. Sugar was be-
ing sold to other countries. At one
time considerable quantities were eX-
ported to the United States. The 400
mills We're making 2.S55.o00 tons an
nually. Russia was making 2.325,000
tons and Austria Hungary 1,619,0o0
tons.
Many years ago attempts were made
in Massac chusetts. at Northampton
and in Illinois to manufacture sugar
from beets. The undertaking. however,
was not successful. The industry real
ly started in this country with the fac
tory--still in operation, although built
in 1S79-at Alvarado. Cal.
There are now eighty-four factories,
sixteen of which are in Michigan, fif-
teen in Colorado thirteen in California.
eight in Utah. five in Ohio and four in
Wisconsin. The others are in Arizona.
Idaho Indiana. Illinois. Iowa. Kansas.
Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska. Nevada.
Washington and Wyoming. Seven new
factories have been built during the
past year
.The business, them must be highly
profitable" said the writer.
There are several ways of figuring
profits" DIR. Townsend answered. Men
make fortunes on paper in the matter
Of hens--so many eggs per day and SO
MANY chickens at the end of the sea-
son and so on. year after year. until
the earth contains nothing but poultry.
If the sugar content in beets is IA per
cent sa. some Of the mathematicians.
then q ton of beets will make 2S0
pounds of sugar.
But the content. when the beets go
through the factory. is likely to fall
far below IA per cent. Furthermore.
the quantity of salts in the beets will
not remain negligible, and salts
retard and often prevent crystalization.
Nevertheless, the profits just now are
ga tisfactory In normal times they
average with other lines of manufac-
turing. Formerly factories were not
always wisely located. Some had to be
closed or moved to other locations. Trans
portation charges, if beets are hauled
long distances. hurt the grower and
the sugar maker.
Factories now are built in the. midst
of regions already planted in beets.
Capitalists who purpose to establish a
factory in a certain territory begin by
getting the farmers interested in beets
as a crop. They may even have the
first beets shipped to factories several
hundred miles away and give the farm
ers some concessions in the matter OF
freights.
'Once the growing Of beets is we'll