The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1918-07-26
SUGAR Industry IS.
OF WIDEST EXTENT
Ramitications Extend, In All Di-
'rections and Control Is ES-
sentiaI At This Time

bowlful Of jelly or spiders web
touch any part and the whole is af-
fected.
! If the United States were cut Off
from the seas, as the Teutonic Powers
! were before the collapse of Russia, our
| sugar situation would be precarious
! We would have to depend on our dome
site mainland crop Of approximately one
million tons, one fourth of which IS
Louisiana cane and three .fOurths West.
ern beet. This would give us but TWEEN
! ty.twO pounds a year per capita. The
! Allies being in control of the sea, how.
ever, we have been able TO bring sugar
from Hawaii and the Philippines suf.
fieient to add fifteen pounds to our
! individual yearly consumption. and
from Cuba and Porto Rico over forty
pounds, sufficient for an annual con.
! sumption Of over eighty pounds. This
indicates the vital Importance to US
of sugars from overseas.
one-third Bee:
One.third of the world 3 sugar sup
ply comes normally from beet lands
| within the present battle lines of En.
! rope, Before the war, England purehas-
ed most of her sugar from the Central
Powers. With that region cut off, she
turned to sources which supply the Uni
| ted states, principally Cuba.
In view of the demand upon Cuba for
her supply, it was apparent that the mo-
bilization of the industry would have
! been ineffective without the cooperation
! OF the Cuban people. The island sup
| plies the United States with about one
half the sugar consumed here. While
| Cuba has always been of vital import.
ance to us, since the outbreak of the
war this has become emphasized. Jus I.
before the establishment of the United
States food administration Cuba was
besieged by anxious buyers, and the
price was rapidly rising.
Cuban Control Necessary
To stabilize the price in this country
for refined sugar-which hinges upon
the price of Cuban raws-it was neces-
! sary to stop the spirited bidding for
these raws and the competition ended
by the establishment of the Interita;
tiOnal Sugar Committee, representing
all the principal governments now at
war with Germany.
The principal event Of the year to
the sugar industry was the execution
as of December "a, 1917, of an agree.
ment between the International Sugar
Committee, the Royal Commission on
the Sugar Supply, of London, and all
the refiners of the United States on the
one side, and representatives of Cuban
interests on the other. This agreement
involved international and diplomatic
questions of extreme delicacy, financial
difficulties Of the first magnitude, and
shipping problems of huge proportions.
II provided for the sale of or an option
upon the entire crop of Cuban sugars
for the present campaign. with the ex.
ceptiOn of $4,000 tons reserved for
Spain or Pan American countries. The
deal was the largest OF its kind in the
history of sugar, involving as it did the
purchase in one transaction of over
$500 900 900 of sugar, and reflects much
credit upon all parties signatOry to the
contract. In order to finance the Gu
ban crop, a syndicate of bankers and
others was formed, which offered to
advance any part or all of the 800 OOO,-
600 which was required.
Sugar NAV be called a billion 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 bust
ness done annually is estimated at that
amount.
Many Ramificationn
The rami flea tons of the sugar indus
try embrace almost every line of bust
ness. Our old third readers had story
that well illustrated these intcr.rela
tionships. The story was called: "Thp
Pudding That Took Thousand Men to
Make" The boy who looked at it
was astonished to find an ordinary
plum pudding, enough for but a single
meal. But when he was ask ed to fg-
ure up the number Of men required to
gather the wheat, the plums, the spices
and all, the number needed to makes
the harness for the horses that drew
the plough that cultivated the land
that produced the ingredients of whi"|
the pudding was made, he soon found
that the estimate of one thousand men
WAS far too low.
Even the Zone cup sugar" snecified
in the recipe for the plum pudding was
produced in the melting pan Of diversi,
fed industry.
The refinPriNs themselves use quaint
tics Of coal. barrels. iute and cotton
bags. boneblark. acid, auto trucks. de
livcrv Wagons. horses. harness. feed
hr""mS-in fact the purchases of the
rcfirPrs run the whole .pamut nf the
supply fiPld.-New York Evening Post
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