Show The Land of Sugar = = A Visit to Louisiana Biggest Pltmtuttod anil Itj Iinmoriso Sugav lloiliiory = = = = = The Soiy ot loll Godchaux the Sugar Ataf Who Ptgan Life as a Peddler and IMo it J Kino orth Hit Millions His noimous riaalilma and 1 Its Army of WorkingmcnAH About How Sugar Cane is Grown Cut and Ground Up for Our rMaRwm of SdieetntsS Oceans of Syrup and Taffr Jar Millions Molasses at One Cent a Gallon and Sugar at Pour Cents a Jound rhe Changerm Sugar Mating and the Ptaspects for the J attire Something About Labor and n 1 f ages en a Big Plantation Lie a Copyrighted Sets by Frank G Crpor perlil Car pdere of the Nail s RACELAND La November iStli 1896 11 WRITE this letter I let-ter on the biggest I sugar plantation I i Ie I of the south bur 5tj J rounding me are Af 1 miles 0 f sugar el I cane I can stand ik t 71 B In Ihe fields and IX I see nothing but sugar sugar sugar as far as my eyes can reach I am oil the chief sugar rlantatlon of Leon Godchaux and Godchaux is I the sugar king of the south lie has more sugar lard than any other nnn in LouUiara Ho I owns 2700 acres here and he has eleven other big plantations aggregating in nil more than 30 ooo acre of which fully 10000 acres are now in cane It takes something like one thousand menlo men-lo lun Urn plantation and his army of employes told U greater than that of Xenophon when he made his famous retreat re-treat Leon Godchaux lives In New Oilcans lie Is I now vvorlh many millions mil-lions or dollars lie came to Louisiana when he was a boy ol seventeen with a peddlers pack upon his back and he sold goods on many of the rich plantations planta-tions which Ie I now owns This was In the daIs before the war when the planters plan-ters had Iheir negroes and money was squandered like water The madams and misses bought of the Trench peddler never dreaming that the day would come when he could buy them out It did come however lie saved his money made good Investments finally established a big dry goods store In New Orleans and he now has the largest establishment ol this kind south ol Ma h soft and Dixons line Ile hasinterests ol 1 many kinds lie own clocks bonds and has gold galore Ills Income from sugar alone has in the past Len nor muus During a single year lie received I am told more than a i hall a million dollars from the government in bounties alone and in the year 01 1891 1 5 last ear he produced more than 27000000 pound of white sugar and turned out enough molasses I venture to float an ocean steamer Today Mr Godchaux is I a man of over seventy > lut he shows the same care in his business that he did uhen lie was a peddler and his plantations planta-tions are ai Atell managed as any In the world Thev have the most cosily m chlnrry There are tntlve miles of railroad upon this plantation where I ammine am-mine and a little fleam engine hauls he i cauelrom the fields to the great refinery re-finery which squeezes out the Juke and turns It into sugar Mr Godchaux has refineries rnnnecleil with nearly all ol his plantations and as his J son told men lie me-n make Ins product as cheaply any one in the world LOUISIANA SUGAR FVRJI Louisiana could easily supply the sugar for the United States II has vast areas of sugar land which an not yt tilltd I rode through half a dozen plantation In comin here lrem Nw Orleans and I am told that the planta tion extend for hundreds of miles to the estward It is I hard without eng it to appreciate the beiutiei of a big 11ld ot sugar cane The stalks are 01 the greenest green They grow tn fet and upward in height and as OU look at them from the cal window they area are-a solid mass of green You may have lfi r J Ys seen fidds of Indian I corn A sugar plant atlon Is not unlike them sae that the crop Ii greener and more luxuriant You ride lor a long distance through fitld of this kind the car track being walled as it were with green save here here and there wide roads cut their wav through the fields Now and then ou see the smoke of a great sugar factory streaming out against the blue sky and between the plantations planta-tions you pus woods leaded down with Spanish moss Some of the forests carry such masses of this moss that the trees have died by the eight The moss hangs from the branches it wraps Itself about the limbs it I covers the trunks and clothes the dead trees as It were shrouds ol oxidized hilver THE COST OK A SUGAR PLANTATION It was from a forest like this that Leon Godchaux made his big sugar plantation hlbx ylanta J r tion The trees I were hundreds a earj old and they stood in a swamp He bought the land for a tong but it cost him I am told something like yon acre 10 clear it He had first to get oil the trees and then to dram the land by running great canals through it Some of these canals are tHrly feet wide and almost a river ol water passes through them The canals have high banks or levees to keep back the water during the tropical rains After draining the stumps uere blown out with dynamite and then the land was plowed and tell d rained HOW SCOAR CANE IS RAISED It takes a great deal 01 work to produce pro-duce a spoonful I of sugar I had this lorced I upon me during I my trip over the plantation I An intelligent Creole was sent with me and we drove behind one of Mr Godchauxs horses We rode lor miles between fields of cane which was ready for cutting and stopped stop-ped for a time where the land I was be red r I planted for the next > ears crop Sugar cane is not grown from beed the stalks themselves are planted and out ol every joint of the cane sprouts up anew stalk OI1h d rr rre new stalk The land I must first be carefully care-fully plowed and great furrows are run at a distance cl seven feet apart Irom one side ol the held to tbe other Then stalks ol fresh sugar cane with their tops cut olf are laid horizontally three side by side m the lumms the pieces over hppmjr I each other until cich furrow has as it were three long pipes i ol cine running from one end ot It la the other Tnea the soil is thrown over these pipes with the plow ThU is I done In the all In th Te spring I all but I one Inch or the eirtn is I siraped off and under the a t it i 1 glee n out t oh out of th t ground making long ribbons of green as it I were a ongh black field They grow rapidly and Irom time to lime the grrow is thrown up to them by Augiin the phnts are Mt Ied11e he anjI height They l grow on until the middle of October when they an reidv to be cut and taken to the rtfioery for the miking of fcugir Sometimes the cane ii I planted in 1 tnV spring but the method ol growing It is I much the same the new cane in all I cases Fprouting Iron the I knots of the ol It take an army of laborers tu raise sugar can and the harvellng It entailusg much l ork that oil the negroes from mils about are called Into I the service of the planters I GANGS OF CANE CUTTERS 1 DUling my stay hr I hundreds 01 men 11 ave been cutting cane They wok in gang under overseers From thirty to forty negr I mn and omell are In each gang tach hand carries i a great Hit knit about as long as a butchers cleaver It has a hook on the end and n saw on the back The cant is It I stands in the field is Irom eight tot fifteen to-t high The pieces which ore carried to the t sugr mill ore i not more than fie feet in length The stalks must be trimmed their leaves They mint be cut olj at < he top and must be chopped off close to the ground as the best of the cugarwatcr is found in the lower part of the stalk It is I wonderful how quick the cutlers do their work As they stand in the fields they lace hio t Ut what looks to be a solid I wall of cane and they chop their way as it were right through this wail You lee their kmvts flashing Every blow counts and they throw the staUs into piles or rather uindros of cane club Astheyork the overseer watches them and a i timekeeper time-keeper goes along beside them and sees that very man and every woman is at fromi he wages are en low they get Irom 60 cents to ft a diy according to ther skill and are boarded on the plantation They sleep in cabins a number ofthem lying on the floor and getticg their rest as best they can The hour are from daylight until dark and there are few slops At Ihe tame time lint the cane is I cut great carts drawn by three mulesaie driven into the liI I Another gang of laborers I throw the 1 cane into them and it is carried off to the railroad track which runs through all parts ol the plantation Here the cane is i hoisted Into the cars by mean of a pull a whole cart load blng put into the cars at one lime When a train load li ready the engine carries Ito the re hnery and it is turned into sugar IIERE IC GET OCR SUGAR I spnt Fome time In watching the processes pro-cesses rof making sugar Irom cane Nearly all the sugar made In the United States conies from cane and about half the sugar used in the orld k I of this nature Within the past lew years a vast amount of sugar has ben manu faclured out ol bet In dillerent parts of Europe and the United States The mo t of our sugar however until lately came Iron cane Tile product now mounts 10 almost 300001oO ton a year and of this fully 250000 tons are produced pro-duced In the United Males In 1861 the product of our cane sugar amounted more than 600coouoo pound and we imported that > ear almost 4000000000 pounds of cane sugar additional We paid In 1 1894 Jill oo coo for the sugar we I Ile and there is i no doubt tnat with the improved methods of making ugar her all or this could be raled in I Louisiana and Texas formerly the United Statts paid bounty to the sugar producers Since these have been cutoff cut-off the business has dropped and at present I am told there is I no money In sugar making With a new bounty and a moderate tariff our sugar Industry ould boom and this section of the United States would rapidly develop It Uges au nomou amount to manago one of these sugar houses Th refinery here cost I am told about f35oooo r Jc dlc It covers acres and Its machinery i is or the most expensive kind At present it It I making sugar hich i sells for between three and lour cents a pound and this Mr Godchauxs son the manager tells me does not pay the cost of running the mills And still not a cent Is I wasted Everything is I done oil the largest scale I here ore no stops the can goes into the will looking life corn stalks and It come out sugarand molasses EIGHT HUNDRED TONS A DAV ThU refinery eats up Boo too of cane a day and each ton produces 150 pounds sugar Think ol thatl Oat ol tins mill comes every day 120000 pounds ol the sweetening which is I used on our table A pound of table sugar a day is I a good allowance for the ordinary lamily This factory grinds out enough dally to keep 120000 families going or more than enough for the table use ol any one ol our cities exceptioG the largest one The cane is I nol touched alter it leaves the car It ort it I I town on to a movable blt or mu roadway which carries it up to c3r the aWle of the mill 1 and drops It between great iron rollers bich he teeth Ikea Ike-a round file These rollers are about as big around as a hoghed and about seven feet f long They are very hay They ore so arranged thai An enormous eight Is addd to them by hydraulic pressure and 23 tile cane is i drawn tbroub them by man of the teeth catching the fibers this great weight I presses the Nice out or it and It comes out almosl dry It It now sprinkled by man 01 machinery and carried 00 too to-o through a second pair 01 rolltrs quite as heavy as the first Now the pitch which 14 leftcontains as little water as a lat Yeats COlli stalk It is I carried on from the rollers upon another e Ic voted railway and emptied Into thee the-e ormou furnaces which run thee machinery the null When the stalks of CAne felt the cars thy were very heavy They ucreas full of juice as a halloaked sponge it 01 water Thy H CQme out as dry ns tineet anel you cOllld light then m Ith a match RAIN 01 SWEET WATER Come Tilth me below the great roller presses and see where the I nice roes to ou set it pouring down in clients from Ilic lower parts of the rollers It lalls in the sh ipo of a sweet rain into a trough about a foot t1deand this flow In 0 tady tream both dy and flight os lone I m the mill is I I running 1ut your fnrer in this Water nod take a taste 011he bquld os It I comes from the cane The aUld h 01 a grnih 1 10IV r It look drrty It reminds jouol i dish water und the taste is almost sick cnin bill out ol that sweet Urn tilth water the pure white sugar must meTle water however must lift be dallied I Every bit 1 ol I dirt must betaken be-taken of it It must be bleached until it is as clear as crvstal before it Is lea Jy for boiling down into sugar HOW SYRUP IS MADE It 13 first run into great Iron tanks I each lioldn 2oeo gallons and eici laving pipes tunning throu ll them These pipes admit I a gis made > of sulphur sul-phur which Ii blown about through the water The gai 1 ale s the juice bubble and a yelluw loam almost like soapsuds stands on Its top I Lime I 11 also al-so put u1rs in ordcrto beille I the dirt on the same principle ai It Is i used in Clarifying water and ut the same time the s < lIn iisbkfinimcd i OIL After thil the water having passed through several tank bas become clearer and c car ra and it is now ready for boiling Ii 3idnfreatbke117 nnlhi Indow i lf This is done in real kettles or vats of copper These have steam coih in thThsweet thi z and the sweet fluid Is I soon raised to i boiling heat fts seethe a scum lisestathetop This lit I brushed oil by men with great wooden ladles It flows from one tank to an Ot her groiog eler and clearer and th0err still thicker Ta < teitnow I I It Is I the purest ol syrup and its color has become alight a-light > ellow TAFF FOR MILLIONS Look at the syrup as it seethe in the lankl What RII enormous amount there is i of ill Follow inn those pipes which cany it to the floor above and look at the enormous vats which ae filled with the sweet fljld There is I enough syrup hr 10 give a whole stile a tally pulling There Is I one big barrel which contains forty thousand pounds and in which the syrup is boiling boil-ing and seething in the process ol bring turned into sugar Come on to that great vat and see the half granulated nalasses which fits it Wlat a fines fine-s lank it would make It Is I forty feel long and no deep I that if > oil fell In Ion would b drowned in the svteetfljid Take up apoonlul the mix lure It is i now a sort 01 mush or su nr and molasses and It only neeIs the drjing machine to take out the I sugar fh sepArate the molasses from tile sujar and lf you will walk on into that loom over there voumaysee the pure while grain falling down Irom the clllng In all almost endletis strearn You may see ako two mn shoveling back the sugar III order that it may be evenly spread over the room Tneir sleeves are rolled up and their legs are baretotlicknee Ititystaud wllh their bare feet covered by the warm Mine sugar and shovel about t as though it t mcre and From here tile sugar i is barreled up ready for shipment going almost directly from the factory to thereat the-reat wholesale houses by which it Is I distributed over the country MOLASSLS AT ONI CENT A GALLON In Ihe above I have used the word mo asses in some places where I should have said svrup here is a great difference dif-ference boteen molae and yrull Syrup is made from the fine juice of Ihe cn Molas is I the use from Ihe Making 01 sugar It contains the poorest poor-est part 01 he ju ceo It IS not Ire from the dirt and It Is only allowd to remain in the state of molasses when no nlore suar can possibly be squeezed from it There are in this refmey hot rooms filled with greatjArs 01 molasses which are left for weeks in order that they may grantUte Into sugar U hat remain alter all the sugar possible has beeh taken out Is sold for one cent and upward per gallon Cheap Isnt iif one cent a gallon lor molasses It is sold so cheaply ID fact I that It d Oes not pay to put it I In barrels for the barrel would lie l orlb more than the srup It contains sc It is carried from one put or the country to another in tank cars like coal 01 and Is buuJht largely III bulk There ore 01 course oUrent grades of molaises and I Am told 11at much Nw Orleans molasses Is made direct Irom the can and 01 course bring much higher prices than the refuse re-fuse at the sugar refinery CHANGES IN SUGAR MAKING A great change however is I going on in sugar making trroughout this whole section The sugar kings of the clays before the wr have disappeared Told T-old sugar mill which used to tun by horse pdwer Is I a thing ol the past and the sugar ol today is produced alter as careful business methods as those of making iron and steel A great many men Irom the west east and middle stales have succeeded to the ownership ol the sugar plantation A number of the estates have brought up by corporations corpora-tions and the great sugar landlords grow I a In numbr every l ear In 1890 there were twelve hundred and sevent four producers lam told that there are now less I than five hundred and like all great business the sugar seems to be going Into the form of a trust 1 his 10 not a much so In re gard to sugar planters as to sugar makers The big tefiueries all buy cane and the small planter of the future will sell his cane to the refineries A large part ol the Godchaux cane is I purchased 01 man planters I and the managers 01 the refiner here told me that Ihe planters plant-ers were getting nil the money out of the business Now that McKinley is I elected there will probably be a njovc ment organized to put a bounty on sugar If this Is i done the busimss will boom and prosperity will come to Louisiana and other sections whete sugar is I raised qTVi1k Al CA4kz |