Paragould soliphone., 1921-08-19

unknown, and package sugars were not yet thought of; the sugar was dispended by grocers in large Jumps
 slabs or loaves.
 | Sugar prices ranged astoundingly l according to early chronicles. Loaf
 sugar seems to have retailed for
 75 cents a pound in Colonial days, ibut Mrs. John Adams writing to
 her husband i'll 1797, complained that sugar cost S4 a pound and that l molasses was commanding $20 a
 gallon. Possibly the high price of the commodity accounted for the low per capita annual consumption
 which was about 7s1-2 pounds in 1880. The possibilities of the Amer ican sugar industry were realized by Congress at an early stage, for a tariff of l cent a pound was placed on imports in 17S9 This tariff was
 raised gradually until in 1916 there was an impost of 3 cents a pound lon raw sugar and 12 cents pound
 on loaf or refined sugars The re- tail price was about 20 cents pound.
 l ''fhe growth of the industry can
 be measured to some extent when we ,cn Io,, ha ,f ] city refineries for 1916, 9,000,000 pounds. Today the largest refinery Iof the American Sugar Refining Company is able in AS hours to Iequal the whole yearly supply fur nished by the CIV York refineries lof about centruy ago. Efficiency lhas grown with production. In 1916 HOO pound of raw sugar produced |only 30 pounds of refined, along with 25 pounds of molasses and 25 bounds of bastard sugar" Today 1 100 pounds of raw sugar makes from 92 to 93 pound of the best Ikinds of refined.
 I The course of any industry is de- itermined by the mechanical devices (which are perfected for it's improve ment. Soicil's invention of the pol Iariscope in the early part of the Nineteenth century made it possible to set up definite and uniform stan Idards by which to test raw sugars. lThe introduction of steam power into lLouisana sugar mills in 1922 meant the end of tine old system of cattle power. In the first quarter of the |country may be said to have had it's industrial revolution
 With labor costs almost negligible Ithe sugar cane plantations of the lSonth flourished. Florida, according ito some chroniclers made tremendous tprogress between 1880 and 1860, all {, though it is doubtful whether the supremacy of Louisiana ever was se Iriously challenged. In 1853 there were 1,500 plantations in the South, with an average area of 19S acres This was the high point of the pre-  i war sugar era Many historians maintain that the industrial system founded on slavery had already be- lgun to give way a decade before the lCivil War put an end to it; there lis evidence in favor of this conten- tion in the fact that the sugar in- ldustry in the South did no more Ithan hold it's own after 1853.
 Just before this time the highest lprice ever paid for sugar was record ed. A New Orleans man and his wife fought their way into California Ialong with the hopeful thousands
 who joined in the gold rush of l184S. The Indians in the Far West
 had never seen refined sugar, and they were fascinated by the glitter 'of the granules. They offered a
 cup of gold for cup of sugar
 and, according to statistics the New Orleans couple sold some of their sugar at the rate of '$2, 400 a pound
 ''Refineries had sprung up in
 several Eastern CltleS, ana even III some inland towns. Cincinnati lboasted small factory in 1893, ac-
 cOrding to MT. Freeman. In 1858, however, the custom of building su-
 gar refineries along waterfrOnts be-
 came definitely established In this year Frederick c. Havemeyer moved
 his New York refinery to Brooklyn
 It was a daring venture to leave
 the New York sugar center and to
 erect q large structure in rela- lively suburban place, but the new
 refinery was successful. and refin- I |NI1|AANNI'I I||hNhIR||IlAbhAIh||lnmH'!lH'AllmMA