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Show THADE, AND F1U3E TRADE. I thought one time that Roosevelt was tho thing with which to break up tho solid south. But I am coming to the conclusion that the best means to j that desired end is tho election of a Democratic president and a Democratic control of both houses ' of congross. Hore is tho New Orleans Item, long and effectively effective-ly a Democratic paper, printing the cartoon of tho Democratic party In tho form of a, donkey and' ( seomlng to bollevo tho representation Is truo. Hero j is tho New Orloans IMcayune accusing Prosldont I Wilson of party betrayal. And horo are papors all over tho cane and beet roglons- of tho south tolling . tho powors, at Washington some of tho plainest truths that havo over come across Maapn ,nd Dixon's line. I Ono of these papers frames its opposition to I fiee sugar In tho promise that tho Democratic son- j ators and representatives from the south will jdln 1 tthe Republicans of tho north In defeating tho pro- posQd.tariff. bills. It looks llke ttyo entering WQdjge.- ' And maybe the best way to breajt tho solid south will be to oleot another Republican president and congrass and so give them a fair chance for their products and their trade. In passing, 1 may bo excused for trying to correct cor-rect an Impression .that "seems to exist in Louisiana. It is to the effect that cane sugar is superior to j beet sugar, and that the latter is not favored by I housekeepers who want to make jollies and that sort of thing. All this is a mistake. Pure sugar is pure sugar whether obtained from cane, beet or sawdust. The people of Europe use beet sugar almost exclusively, ex-clusively, and France and England use it in tho production of enormous quantities of jams, jellies, etc., for domestic consumption and export. Tho Germans use 1,200 000 tons or more yearly; the French, 050,000 tons or more; the Austrians, 600,-000 600,-000 tons; and the British people, about two-thirds !of their total requirement of nearly 2,000,000 tons. The Dutch, tho Belgians, the Danes, Swedes, Ital-iaps Ital-iaps and Russians all use it. It is coming into -constantly greater use in this country. From tho ,73,000 tons produced in 1900, the domestic output 1 1 of beet sugar has increased to an estimated 625,- 000 tons at the prosont .time. It Is reported that $100,000,000 is invested in the business. The census cen-sus of 1.009 shows 364,000 acres planted in sugar beets that year, or nearly 600 square miles. The value of tho crop, as beets for sale to the sugar mills, was $20,000,000. They are grown in twenty different states, with Colorado leading in acreage and ton production; and with Michigan and California Cali-fornia practically tied for second place. There Is good reason to believe that the present tariff rate on sugar can be considerably reduced without disaster to any producer who has a right to be in the business; that is, to any whose business busi-ness does not depend absolutely upon an exorbitant tariff rato. For such, being injured, tho community com-munity will have little concern. That some would . bo injured by a reasonable reduction is quite cer- j tain. A reduction in price must mean some cur- j tallment of profit, but that involves a loss that probably all could rucover by proper business moth-j moth-j ods, by more efficient system in production. Even - 'the proponents of free sugar admit tho general " disaster to American Interests .that would follow tho success of their efforts. Figures of cost of production show that under such conditions most of tho. cane planters of Louisiana, and noarly all of the boot Industry, would bo wiped out. |