OCR Text |
Show Miscellany Sugar. Before the war Europe produced onc-half onc-half of the world's output of sugar, and two-thirds this half or one-third of the whole wja produced in Germany and Austria-Hungary, now within the battle lines and practically cut off from the rest of the wo rid. The European output is ali i beet sugar, bounty-fed to enable the farm- I ers and refiners to compete with the cane I sugar of the tropics.- As far aa sugar consuming- countries which do not produce that article are concerned the war cut the open market supply in two and the tropical cane fields have been unable to make up the deficiency. Political disturbances in Cuba have been accompanied by considerable destruction of sus;ar mills and plantations, and the loss will be felt no matter how small it may be because the available supply falls short of the demand. The prosperity of a country and the standard of living1 of its people are measured meas-ured by the consumption of sugar. Only in recent years have the great food value of sugar and its comparative cheapness been fully recognized. ' Sugar forms an Indispensable part of the nourishment of children. A body can digest and assimilate assim-ilate it in the fiist months of its existence when nil other forms of food, except milk, are rank poison to it. It is the most concentrated con-centrated fond available and it is the chief element in t he emergency, rations for soldiers sol-diers on i lie battle front. Only pure edible fats and oils compare with it in caloric value and easy assimilation, and they are not substitutes for sugar. Sujrar is height for and distributed animv, the people and soldiers of Great Britain. France and Italy by the English royal commission, which thus practically controls the international trade. This commission buys enormous quantities of it from American refiners, and exports of sugar are now one of the important items in our foreign trade. Tn l'2 our exports amounted tn ST.oon tons; in 1013, S.nou tons; in 1014. 1,3.0'"") tons; in 10K, -ion.onii tons, and in 1&16 they reached a total of TOo.Sri.'i tons. Luckily for domestic consumers and for our foreign tranp. the sugar refining business busi-ness of the T'nited States was wet organized or-ganized in larsre units IWore the war began. be-gan. The pri'-e ef refined sugar in the countrv has remained lower than in other Open markets because the leiiners have been able and willing to hold out enough to meet the Me.-ii demand no matter how hsh the KngHsh ro a I commission bid for the total supply. As Earl P. Babst, president of one of the largest sugar refining re-fining rcmi anies, says: "This export business busi-ness has be1!! n welcome addiiiun tj the domestic business and by increasing the volume of the re I i n: s h"3 re has been one of the fitments cent i i ni t !rg to the lower priee ef su.ir in this country than abroad. No be:ter i!iustrat;nn eould be given of t i,p e vi-c-ss uf siar rei'i nine capacity in the I 'nit ed Slates than the ease with whi'h tins lare foreign demand has be.'u met. 1 n fa.-t . so la rse is this ex- s Marjtv H at the 'cited States could I'jiiUc aiUiUally piul'lt at iyust a lUii- lion tons of sugar for export.' This proves the advantage of organization and ample capital and the benefits consumers and the country derive from such a condition. condi-tion. New York Commercial. |