416 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



There is ()iil\ <iiie answer to these (inestions. CANK Sl'dAK AND 

 VA'A'Vr srcJAli are THP: same, it is not a (incstion of similarity, but 

 of identity. (Micinists, the world over, are aj^reed as to the identity of 

 cane and beet snuar, and all statements of difference in i)roperties — of 

 inferiority or snperiority in these sngars — are made either in ijinoraiiee 

 or for deception. We sometimes say ''as like as two peas;" but no two 

 peas are exactly alike; such comparison does not hold on this subject, for 

 it is not a (piestion of likeness but of identity. 



The suspicion was aroused by the suj^ar trust that beet sujjar was 

 inferior to cane sugar, and this suspicion has been carefully nourished 

 by the sugar trust, and the statement has been so often repeated tliat 

 numy folks have believed it. ^^'hat are the facts? For the last three 

 years the ju'ople of the northern stales liave used beet sugar almost 

 exclusively. Look at the world's sugar production in 181)8. \Ve were at 

 war with Spain and little sugar was produced in Cuba and P(»rto Kico, 

 and less still was exported. None was obtained from the Philip])ine 

 Islaiuls; the sugar from the Sandwich Islands was r(M]uired for our 

 people on the Pacific Coast; Louisiana could not make enough sugar to 

 su])jily herself and the Gulf States. Where could we get enough sugar 

 to su]»ply the millions of tons required for the world's consumption if 

 we depended on sugar from the cane alone? The supjtly of sugar from 

 sugar cane. has been insufficient to fill and replenish the world's sugar 

 bowl, and for three years past we have been In large measure cut off 

 from that source. If it had not been for the beet sugar of Euro])e the 

 world would have gone hungry. Beet sugar at this very time furnishes 

 two-thirds of the world's supply. The supply of refined sugar for our 

 own use for three years past has consisted very largely of beet sugar 

 from (rermany and France. 



SHIPLOADS OF BEET SUGAR. 



When Prof. F. S. Kedzie returned from Germany in December, 1898, 

 he took passage at Hamburg on the large freight steamer Pennsylvania, 

 and her entire cargo (lO.OOO tons) consisted of raw beet sugar from Ger- 

 many for the sugar refineries in New York. This was only one shi]»load 

 of raw sugar, and cargo after cargo was brought from the same source 

 and for like purpose, viz., to be refined by the sugar trust and then sold 

 for ''pure cane sugar." Did the sugar trust ever inform us that they 

 were selling beet sugar, and that their vaunted cane sugar was in large 

 part only refined beet sugar? I trow not. And these are the parties 

 who are warning us about the inferior qualities of beet sugar and the 

 superiority of cane sugar! 



\\hy such deception? Because the American manufacturers have 

 brought the process to such perfection that they turn out from their 

 factories refined sugar, and nothing but refined sugar, requiring no 

 aid from the sugar refiners of New York. If this superior process 

 comes into general use "Othello's occupation is gone" in this country, 

 and our own factories will furnish our people with pure sugar "fresh 

 from the mint;" and the sugar trust, with its peculiar methods, may 

 retire from the scene. ''Hence these tears I" 



R. C. KEDZIE. 



Agricultural College, Oct. 26, 1901. 



