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Show SUGAR BEET PROSPECT. On the passage of the reciprocity bill with Cuba through Congress, a near contemporary, which is sometimes suspected of partisan proclivities, pro-clivities, heralded the event with the scare head lino of "Crushing Blow Dealt Sugar Beet Industry." Indus-try." Lest a panic follow we give below a few figures touching sugar and the sugar beet industry. in-dustry. The figures are compiled from an extended ex-tended statement of the whole subject by Secretary Secre-tary of Agriculture Wilson, and are as follows: The world's production of sugar last year (1892) was 8,800,000 tons, of which about 60 per cent was beet sugar. The consumption of sugar in the United States was 2,250,000 tons, about 26 per cent of the world's production. These 2,250,000 long tons mean 2,552,000 short tons. If the average factory in the United States produces pro-duces annually 5,000 tons it would require 500 such factories to produce that amount. If the cane mills of the South produce 500,000 tons, which is an over-estimate, then 400 factories would still be required to meet the home demand. de-mand. But the average increase in consumption is 151,000 tons, which would require the erection every year of thirty new 600 ton per day fac tories. There are 61 factories now built or in course of erection in the United States. The sugar imported into the United States annually to meet the demand costs this country $125,000,000, or say 180,000,000 bushels of wheat, at 70 cents per bushel, or 250,000 bales of cotton cot-ton at 12. cents per pound, or $50 a bale. It will be seen that the danger of the crush is not imminent. Then the moimtains draw a protective protec-tive tariff all around this Great Basin. Finally at the present price for sugar the present factories fac-tories in this vicinity are doing pretty well. A factory that reduces 60,000 tons in a season yields the farmers at $4.50 per ton $270,000. To convert that tonnage into beets costs $60,000, or a total of $330,000. At 260 pounds of sugar to the ton the yield would be 15,600,000 pounds, whfch, at 5 cents per pound, would foot up $780,-000, $780,-000, or net $450,000, or 75 per cent on the cost of the factory after paying the farmers as much per acre for their crop as their land would bring in the market if no market had ever been provided pro-vided for beets. Before the Spanish war Cuoa's average crop was about 500,000 tons annually. If she could double that crop and send it all to the United States, still this country would nave to purchase abroad 1,500,000 tons annually from foreign countries. The outlook for the sugal beet in this country Is still encouraging. |
