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Show i Tfe 5fer y 0 i? 5War fe I ASK the average Salt Laker why the little suburb sub-urb to the southeast of the city Is called "Sugar House" and it is doubtful if lie can tell you. Certainly Cer-tainly he will not be able to relate unless he be an exception that it was because the first sugar factory of this section, yes, oven of this country was operated there. It was in 1852 that the first sugar plant was brought from France, John Taylor having been instrumental in bringing the apparatus appar-atus over. The product made in this plant was called "massecuite,"- which was the entire mass boiled down without any chemical process. At that time a method for extracting the salts was unknown and the resultant "sugar" was too strong to be palatable. The venture was a failure and its backers lost a total of about $40,000, the only thing they saved being the melted-down metal which had composed the vacuum pans, etc., which formed a part of the fllant that had been imported. import-ed. This plant by the way made fifty-two wagon loads which had to be hauled here from the Missouri Mis-souri river. At that time the freight charges from Missouri river points to Utah were $500 a ton. This venture at Sugar House marked the beginning be-ginning of the sugar industry in America, at least the factory was the first of which there is any record to be found anywhere. Almost forty years later, in 1891 to be exact; the Utah company ran its first factory and was the first plant to make white sugar from irrigated beets. This sugar was made with the first beet sugar machinery manufactured in the United States, although a year before the Oxnards were operating a factory at Grand Island, Nebraska, with machinery that had been imported from Germany. Ger-many. Since its inception a quarter of a century ago the Utah-Idaho company has seen a steady increase in-crease in its business until this year a total of ten factories will be operated, seven in Utah and three in Idaho. The Lehi factory, which was the first constructed by the company, had a capacity the first year of 500 tons and at the present time the various plants of the organization have a capacity ca-pacity of 850,000 tons. Last year the actual output out-put of the company reached a total of more than 630,000 tons. Ten per cent of all of the sugar manufactured by the company is sold in the Rocky mountain states and the balance is shipped as far east as Chicago and throughout Texas, Oklahoma and Iowa. The present plants of the company are located at Elsinore, Sevier county; Payson, Utah county; Spanish Fork, Utah county; Lehi, Utah county; cutting station at Pleasant Grove, moved from Spanish Fork; West Jordan, Brigham City; Garland, Gar-land, Bear River valley; and three others located at Blackfoot, Idaho Falls and Sugar City, Idaho. The promoters of the first sugar factory in this state went through all kinds of vicissitudes to put it on its feet. Most of those who subscribed sub-scribed for the stock did so with a desire to see home industry fostered and very few believed it could be made a financial success of any great magnitude. During all of that period the ever present tariff question has been the source of agitation, a question which caused the investing public to be more or less timid. However in the matter of beet seed the Utah-Idaho Utah-Idaho company has been exceedingly fortunate due to the foresight of its management. All of the factories of the United States have for years depended upon Germany for their seed because that nation has perfected from thoroughly pure pedigreed seed the commercial seed now in use. In more recent years Russia, Austria and some other European countries took up the growing of seed with considerable success. Some years ago, however, the officials of the Utah-Idaho company determined that it was best to obtain if possible at least a part of its seed at home. To this end experiments were started until finally a total of more than $40,000 had been expended before success began to crown their efforts. Consequently when the 191G season came on the company had in its bins sufficient seed to take care of Its Increased demand. There has been considerable discussion during the past few montliB in regard to the price of sugar, a price which is declared to be abnormally high, due to the war conditions that obtain in Europe. Numerous magazines and newspapers have taken up the subject and in some instances bitter fault has been found with the producers of beet sugar in this and various other states of the west. In 1915 the farmers of this region received approximately ap-proximately $5 a ton for their beets. Unlike many other crops the beet growers do not have to wait for a market and then wait for their money. The market was established before the beets were planted and the cash was paid practically upon delivery de-livery of the beets to the factory designated "The money thus received comes also at a time when it is usually most needed by the farmer, along in the fall and early winter .thereby enab- ling the average grower to retain other crops for a more favorable market. Last year also the beet average was larger than ever before in the history of the intermoun-tain intermoun-tain country, but the yield from the beets was lower than in some other years on account of the dry weather which prevailed last summer for such a long period. The crop for this year is estimated to show an increase of about one-fourth to take care of which additional plants were erected. In a recent discussion of the prices obtained for sugar and the prices which are paid to farmers farm-ers for the beets, C. W. Nibley, an officer of the Utah-Idaho Sugar company, said: " An inexorable law of supply and demand de-mand controls the markets with respect to wheat and potatoes and every other commodity and product. prod-uct. The farmer will not sell his wheat for 70 cents a bushel if the market price is $1 a bushel. He demands and gets his $1. He is entitled to it by every law of trade and right. Of course, it is his privilege to say to his neighbor, 'Wheat has gone up 50 per cent and it is a little high. I am 'B willing to give you some wheat for 80 cents a bush- H el, though I could go into the market and sell it H for $1 a bushel.' At that moment the farmer do- H parts from the realm of .trade and enters into the M realm of charity. It may be commendable of him H to give to his poorer neighbor, but he is not sell- H ing his product for what it will bring in the mark- M ets of the world. H "It might be asked why don't the sugar com- ;H panics reduce the price of sugar, or why do they H exact these high market prices? The answer is M that these corporations have stockholders all over M the United States. These stockholders own the 9 property. If the managers or directors were to fl engage in dispensing charity by giving away their H product, or any part of it, instead of selling it at JM the market price, the stockholders could go into H court and restrain, and rightfully restrain, the M managers or directors from such a course of ac- JM " It is always difficult to get an exact M justice between man and man, between buyer and M seller. But it is absolutely necessary to approxi- H mate to justice just as nearly as by human possi- H bility it can be done. It is true the farmer in H California, where beets run very high in sugar H cpntent as compared to Utah, receives a higher H price for his beets than does the Utah farmer. This is true also as compared with the prices ob- taining in Colorado and Montana. But it will be M remembered that the price of beets in Utah has M been increased during the past year. Formerly H the price was $4.50 per ton. Now there is a flat M rate of $5 per ton to be paid, plus an additional M price for excess sugar content, so that the beets H will probably average the farmer about $5.25 a M ton this year. J'l is possible also, and very prb- M able, if the war continues and the price of sugar M beets keeps up that there will be still a further in- M crease in the price paid to Utah farmers for beets H "It is well to remember, however, that only J two years ago sugar was selling at the lowest M price it had ever been sold at by our company. H So it is clear that changes occur rapidly. But H these changes do not affect the beet grower. They H affect only the manufacturer because the beet H grower has a price fixed for his product which H he can absolutely depend upon. He knows befpro ,H he plants the seed what price he is to obtain for H his product." H |