The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1921-03-11
THE SUGAR BEET-FlRST AID
TO THE FARMER.

From the Detroit Free Press
The agriculturalist is the one man
in the cosmic scheme Of things whom
society cannot afford to see close
out" on his job. He is pre-eminently
the "key industry" that must be kept
going even though the rest of the
world is temporarily obliged to shut
up shop.
1t is therefore of the highest i'm
portance that the agriculturalist's
occupation should be made as con-
sistently profitable as it is possible
for governmental polity and human
provision to make it. To stabilize
his calling in this respect is to take
a long step toward the sterilization
of world industry-the supreme need
today of our sadly shattered civiliza-
ton.
e. While the Free Press holds no
brief for the beet sugar companies
of this state, it nevertheless feels
; bound to say that they are doing
more to safeguard the farmers posi-
ton than any other industry in
Michigan. They provide the ele-
ment of stability which is essential
to his prosperity. Ordinarily the
farmers income is the most variable
quantity in nature, but the beet su-
gar factories give him the assurance
of fair return on his labor and
capital. Whatever else betide, he can
rely upon his beet crop to get him
"out of the trenches by Christmas"
or at least before the taxpaying pc
Rod expires.
In these times the certainty of a
remunerative return from the most
important Of his root crops is veri-
table godsend to the farmer. More
than ever has he cause to be thank
full for the existence of the sugar
beet industry, which has leaped to a
premier position not only agricultur-
ally but economically. For it is not
only an indispensable factor in pro-
noting more scientific cultural meth
DDS and consequently in increasing
crop productivity lin Europe the
crop rotation introduced by the beet
sugar industry has nearly doubled
the acreage yield of cereals), but its
decisive influence during the war in
stabilizing the domestic sugar mar
ket proved that it is as necessary
to the well-being of the nation as it
is to that of the farmer. 1t was only
the existence of this industry that
saved the American people from the
most outrageous gouging at the
hands of the foreign sugar interests,
who invariably took advantage Of the
recurring scarcity consequent on the
early exhaustion of the domestic sup
plies of sugar to boost prices to the
most exorbitant figures.
No other leading American indus
try came through the wartime pc
riod of systematic and colossal pro-
fiteering with cleaner record than
the beet sugar industry. The gov
ernment's attitude toward it fur
nished one Of the few instances of
the strict enforcement of the anti
profiteering provisions of the fed
eral food control act. Almost from
the beginning of the war, the gov
eminent regulated the price and dis
tribution of domestic sugar. In some
cases the initial prices were fixed to
low that actual losses were sustained
by many Factories state Of things
that was only remedied by the tardy
action of the government in grant
ing increases.
A somewhat similar unfortunate
state of things exists today, owing
to the fact that the beet sugar COM
panies paid the farmers last fall a
higher price for his beets than seems