Republican farmer., 1919-10-24
! DRY SPELL HAS
 SENT COUNTRY
 ON SUGAR SPREE

The assertion that the United States has gone on a sugar spree" since the advent of prohibition lends interest to a series Of com piIat5oas by the National City Bank of New York which compare our sugar cousump- ton in 1919 with that of previous years. They show that the quantity of sugar consumed in the United States in the fiscal year ending with June, 1919. was greater than in any year in the history of the country and the sums paid for it double those in the year preceding the war.
 The quantity f sugar consumed by our people, says the banks statement, aggregated nearly 100000 pounds in the fiscal year 1919 against about 5000, 900, 900 last year, 8,5O0,- 900, 1000 pounds in the year prior to the war, a little over 7,5OO, OOO 900 ir 1910, 6,0O0,0OO,000 in 1905,, 5,OOQ,- 000.000 in 1902, and 4,500, 100000 in 1900, all of these being, of course, in very round terms. Thus the 1919 cOnsumpttve is about double that of 1900, although the population mean time has increased only B per cent. The average per capita consumption in 1919 was 83 pounds against TT pounds per capita in 1918, 7S in 1916, 59 in 1900, 50 in 1890, 40 in 1880, and 33 pounds per capita in 1870. In fact, our 1000, 900 people, although forming about 6 per cent. of the worlds population, consumed last year nearly 25 per cent. of the worlds sugar production.
 The sums paid for sugar by our people in 1919 were far in excess of those of any earlier year. The aver -,- brought in from foreign countries av- eraged a little more than , cents per pound (excIusive of duty) as against an average of ? cents per pound in 1914, and the sums paid by the con- sumers for all sugar purchased dur ing the year will approximate $1,0e0, 000, ,330 as against a little more than one-third of that sum in the year prior to the war.
 About one-fourth of the nearly g. 100000 pounds of sugar cor sumed in -he United States in the fiscal year 1919 was, according to the bank g statement, produced in the United States, another One-fourth was produced in our islands and the re- mainder drawn from foreign coun- tries. chiefly Cuba About three fourths of the quantity produced in cur own felds was from beets. and only one-fourth from cane, while all of that brought in from our islands or from foreign countries was pro duced from cane. The average inn port price paid for the raw sugar coming from Cuba was sole per pound (exclusive of tariff) as against Pc per pound in 1911; the average price paid for that entering the coun- try from Hawaii in the fiscal year 1919 was Gle per pound and from Porto Rico 6.8c per pound, these figures being in all cases those Of inc raw product, which is refined in the United States before entering consumption.
 The above figures, says the banks statement, are necessarily in very general terms. The exact figures or consumption, bastng the aggregate upon production at home, quantities brought from our islands, imports from foreign countries, minus the quantity exported after refinement, was 8.S50. 100000 pounds; the import value. exclusive of duties, $435 ,00O,- 900. and the quantity exported in the refined state 1 ,11G, 900, 900 pounds, and n the unrefined state about 5000, 900 pounds Of the 1919 exports about one-third went to Great Britain, one third to France, and the remainder chiefly to Belgium, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, with smaller quantities to Argentina and certain other South American countries.