The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-07-13
SUGAR INDUSTRY HAS NOW
 REACHED BILLION DOLLAR MARK

The sugar industry may be hkened to a bowlful of jelly or a spiders web-touch any part and the whole i is affected.
 If the United States were cut off from the seas, as the Teutonic Pow CTS were before the collapse of Rus sia, our sugar situation would be pre- carious, We would have to depend on our domestic mainland crop of ap- 1 proximately one million tons, one , fourth of which is Louisiana cane and three-fourths Western beet. This would gvie us but twenty-two pounds a year per capita. The Allies being in control of the seas, however, we have been able to bring sugar from Hawaii and the Philippines sufficient to add fifteen pounds ot our individ- uaI yearly consumption, and from Gu ba and Porto Rico over forty pounds sufficient for an annual consumption of over egihty pounds, This indicates the vital importance to us of sugars from overseas. One-third of the worlds sugar sup ! ply comes normally from beet lands within the present battle lines of Flu rope, Before the war, England pur- chased most of her sugar from the Central Powers. With that region cut Diff, she turned to sources which sup ply the United States, principally Gu ba,
 In view of the demand upon Cuba i for her supply, it was apparent that the mobilization ef the industry would have been ineffective without the CO., operation of the Cuban people. The island supplies the United States with about ene-half the sugar consumed here, While Cuba has always been of vital importance to us, since the outbreak of the war this has become emphasized. Just before the estab- lishment of the United States Food Administration Cuba was besieged by anxious buyers, and the price was rap idly rising.
 To Stabilize the price in this country for refined sugar-which hinges upon the price of Cuban raws-it was nee- essary to stop the spirited bidding for these raws, and the competition end- ed by the establishment of the Inter national Sugar Committee, represent ing all the principal Governments now at war with Germany.
 The principal event of the year to the sugar industry was the execu- ton as of December 24, 1917, of an agreement between the International Sugar Committee, the Royal Com mission on the Sugar Supply, of Lon don, and all the refiners of the United States on the one side, and represen- tatives of Cuban interests on the oth- CT. This agreement involved inter national and diplomatic questions of extreme delicacy, financial difficulties of the first magnitude and shipping problems of huge proportions. It pro- vided for the sale of or an option upon the entire crep of Cuban sugars for the present campaign, with the excep- ton of COCO tons reserved for Spain or Pan-American countries. The deal was the largest of its kind in the his tory of sugar, involving as it did the purchase in one transaction of over I $500, ,09O,000 of sugar, and reflects much credit upon all parties signatery to the contract. In order to finance the Cuban crop, a syndicate of bank
 
 fered te advance any part or all of the s1e0, 0,Oee,ee0 which was required. Sugar may be called a bili: H-dollar industry: The amount of capital in vested in the industry in the United States and nearby islands is roughly a billion dollars, and the amount of business done annually is estimated at that amount.
 The ramificatipps of the sugar in dustry embrace almost every line of business. Our old third readers had a story that we'll illustrated these in- ter-relationships. The story was called: :"The Pudding That Took a Thousand Men to Make.'' The boy who looked at it was astonished to find an ordinary plum pudding, enough for but single meal. But when he was asked to figure up the lnurnher of men Required to gather the