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The Farmer And The Sugar Schedule

The Farmer And The Sugar Schedule image
Parent Issue
Day
1
Month
September
Year
1897
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

We liave alrpa-ly referred to the general purpose hm 1 plan of the new tariff law to lienetii Ihe agricultural interests of the country. Thi.s can be done ü either of two ways; l!y diminishing the compelition from without, or by creatiug new demanda from within; and we must add to these two, by opening up new and profitable Jines of agriculture, and thereby draw off competition from the existing lines now overcrowded and depressed. The most noteworthy of the latter class of attempts made by the new law is the effort to increase and develop the beet sugar industry, so as to use millions of acres of land now lying unused or unprofitable, and by diverting into this new industry the agricultural labor which haa been rendered unprofitable by over-competition. In order to bring this about it was absolutely esseutial that the refining of sugar sliould be done in this country. It would not only be absurd, it would be impossible, ander any system of free trade, for the American farmer to produce beets for raw sugar, to be shipped abroad, to be there reflned and then returned to the United States. In order to keep the refining in this country it was neeessary to put bucIi a defferential m refined .sugar imponed that American reflnera could compete witli the Germán and Frencli refiners. This defförential is the protection which the American refiner receives and which oonslitutes the key-stone of the arch of building up a great Atnericfin agricultural industrv, in raisina sugar beets. Tlie consutnption of sugarin the United States is greater than tliat in anyother country in tlie world. In fact, nearly one-third of the sugar of the world is cousumed to this country. The average to eaoh inlmbitaut is about 60 pounds per annuui, or more than 4,000,000,000 poimds. Of this vast amount more than ninetenths is imported. To pay for this we send abroad in gold or merchandise, about .f 100,000,000 aimually. Much of ;he imported article is beet sugar, (Iiiceil m Germany and r ranee, and under the stimulus of government aid and jrotection. It is claimed by tbose who have investigated that we have the suitable land and climate to proiuce the wliole of this under a proper system of protection. Under the most avorable circumstances it will require 20 years to develop the industry to ;he point of supplying the entire deinand. By that time our population vould reach at least 100,000,000 and vould require not less than 6,000,000,000 pounds of sugar to supply it. Should öiily one-half of this be produced from sugar heets, it would require not less hun 15,000,000 tons of beets, vvorth approximately $70,000,000, and utilizing upwards of 2,000,000-acres of land, and giving woik to an iinnv of men in the mmediate production of the beets. Bnt this is not all. ïlie developnient ofthisgreftt industry would créate a Iemand íor an enormous amount of coal, machinery, chemicals, and transortation. The preparation and irrisation of the land, the erection of tlie actories, the provisión of the uecesary transportatiun, would give emloyment to another arniy of meehancs, minors, railroad men and farmers. Tliis was the grand object kept in view n franiing the sugar schedule of the ariffbill. It depends, as we before said, upon i-etaining the refining indusry in this country. Is it worth while? Shall tlie law be condemned because t became necessa'ry to give a uneasnre of protection in order to retain the refiniug Iiere? It wil! be remembered that in 1890 there was no feature of tl) MoKinley law sq lieartily condemaec and scouted by free-traders as tlie dut mi tin plate. They ridiculed the idea that we could build up a tin plat industry in tliis country. But it lias been done. Ithas j?iven employmen to many thousauds. It Ims kept a lióme inillions that would otfferwis have gone abroad. It luis Vindicatei tself. So wil] it prove with the suga sch dule.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Courier