Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-01-06

Copyright, 1918. by Frank G. Carpentsr.)
E1HE sugar industry has gone I'M
II der the control Of the govern
ment, and the food administra-
q ton urges that each of us cut
down the amount of sugar heis using
in his tea and coffee ard in candies and
cake. so that we may have greater
supply to send to our allies in Europe.
There Is a sugar famine in France.
England and Italy, and the ration now
given to the French soldiers in the
trenches Is not more than small lump
per day Many of the people of France
have no sugar at all. and Mr.. Hoover
has promised to ship them 100000 tons
as soon as the stuff can be sent over
the ocean The amount the English
are using now averages only about one
ounce every twenty-four hours and the
Italians have a still shorter supply
1t is strange to think of sugar as
war asset. but it has been found to be
a vital necessity to the men in the
trenches and to the soldiers engaged
in all sorts of labor. II is one of the
most easily digested of foods and the
ranidity with which IL goes into the
system enables it to ward off fatigue
This is one of the reasons why sugar
is so much relished by children and by
men doing muscular work. The farm
ers eat great deal of sweets and the
same is true of all those who WORK
hard in the open air. Not long ago
studies in the winter camps of the
Maine woods showed that the lumber
men eat enormous quantities of cakes.
molaSSes and sugar, and th3t ~ per
cent of their energy comes from that
diet. Sugar is also valuable to Keep
out the cold of the trenches. 1t is a
great heat producer and is always
taken as a part of the outfit of polar
expeditions. 1t is used also by noun
tain climbers and especially the guides
of the Swiss Alps
The value of sugar to the soldier in
the field is well known to the Germans
Long before this war began they made
experiments which showed that the
men could do more work and stand
more hardship if they had liberal al
lovance Of sugar. On the long marches
K was found that it appeased hunger
and mitigated thirst, and that while the
neu without sugar dropped on the way,
none of those supplied with 1t were
overcome by exhaustion. The sugar
users were found to have better pulse
rate and their breathing was less af-
fected by overexertion.
1t was on the basis of these expert
nfents that the German surgeons recon-
mended that the sugar ration for the
army be increased. and that it be given
the men in their coffee and in pre-
serves or honey or in Sweetened food.
At the beginning of this war the Ger
mans tried to reduce the size of their
sugar crop in order to use more of the
ground for potatoes and cereals. The
result was Il shortage of sugar. which
affected the army. The second year they
planted more beets and they have now
resumed the old sugar rations.
Indeed. the beet industry
started owing to the sugar needs of an
army. 1t was when Napoleon Bonaparte
was at war with England and the ports
of France were SO b1ockaded that there
was no sugar for the French soldiers.
Some years previous to that scientist
named Margraf had discovered that
beets contained sugar. and later on a
pupil of his named Achard established
the first beet sugar factory. He an
nounced the success of his experiments
to the Scientific Institute OF France in
1899. and a little later Napoleon tried to
sweeten his army with beats. At any
. rate he offered d prize of 100000 francs.
or $4,000. to any one who would make
q success of extracting sugar from
beets, and the result was a number of
factories During the next decade the
same lines. and their government offer
ed bounties of so much per pound on all
beet sugar made in their country. The
movements formed the foundation of
the beet sugar industry of Europe,