412 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



was .")(! ((Mits a (lav, cxo'iit in time of liaivcsl. 1 (incc heard the Sir 

 Orarlc of oni- viUajie lav down the law to a ^ronp of laborers in these 

 words: "Fifty cents a day is fair pay for a man who works from sun 

 to sun. If a young man earns 50 tents a day and salts it down, he will be 

 a rich man Ix'fore he dies." The ci-owd p;ave ueuei-al assent to these 

 words of wisdom. But the ])rice of labor soon bej^an to rise, and for 

 forty years has «one upward until it has become impossible to hire a 

 man to work from sun to sun for 50 cents. In 1849 «;old was discovered 

 in Califoi-nia. and men jxiuied into the mines from all paits of the 

 country in such numbers that a golden stream began to flow back from 

 the golden shores of the Pacitic, and the addition of this precious metal 

 gave a marked increase to the volume and stability of our circulating 

 medium. Sound money may be called the artei'ial blood of our indus- 

 trial system. The increase of our circulating medium gave such an im- 

 petus to every industry, cheapening products yet enhancing the price 

 of labor, that we would shudder to be thrust back into the industrial 

 and social conditions of fifty years ago. 



If the introduction of the 180,000,000 mined in California since 1849 

 has done so mucli for our people, what will be the result, on the same 

 lines, of retaining .flOO,000,000 yearly in our county in further building 

 up our industries and increasing the wages of every class of our workers? 



The reduction of one cent a pound in the price of sugar is a blessed 

 boon to our people. But the retention of |100,000,000 a year in our 

 country, through its incidental benefit, is more significant still. It is 

 not merelv the saving of so much monev, but it is the increase of manu- 

 facturing capital, and this, poured in good part, into the pockets of 

 those who most need this working capital. This we hope to see accom- 

 plished through the sugar beet industry. It is not a mere question of a 

 cent a pound; it a question of building up and expanding every legiti- 

 mate industry in our country. For this we ask the sympathy and sup- 

 port of the intelligent public. 



R. C. KEDZIE. 



Agricultural College, ^Michigan. 



CUBA, BEET SUGAR AND THE FAR^MER. 



There is one phase of the beet sugar question, which Prof. Kedzie 

 overlooked in the very able argument he presented to the i-eaders of 

 Ihe Free Press, Sun<fay, a phase wiiich relates to the vitally important 

 matter of the annexation of Cuba. In discussing- the benefits to be 

 derived from the manufacture of beet sugar in this country, he says: 



"The reduction of one cent a pound in the price of sugar is a blessed 

 boon to our people. But the retention of f 100,000,000 a year in our coun- 

 try^ through its incidental benefit, is more significant still. It is not 

 merely the saving of so much money, but it is the increase of manu- 

 facturing capital, and this, poured in good part, into the pockets of those 

 who most need this working capital. This we hope to see accomplished 

 through the sugar beet industry.'' 



