61 
— 
as in Europe, flourishing towns and villages will spring up upon prairies that are 
now without population or improvement, and an impetus will be given to all 
other business by the successful manufacture of a raw product, taken from ad- 
jacent fields, involving the supply of an imperative want of every class of our 
eople. 
is pene feature of the business is worthy of attention. The production of 
the sugar beet by farmers, for sale ina dried state to manufacturers of sugar, 
may be made to yield an immense revenue to rural industry. The beets are 
cut in small pieces, after washing, and dried by artificial heat, by which pro- 
cess from eighty to eighty-four per cent. of their weight is expelled, leaving a 
residue containing fifty-five per cent. or more of sugar, which is extracted by 
infusion, often after months of delay and transportation to distant factories. A 
specimen of this dried beet can be seen in this department, made by Thomas 
Gennert, of Chatsworth, Illinois, who claims about eighty per cent. of sugar in 
it. As an illustration of the extent of such a business, a record may be cited 
of an establishment for obtaining sugar by infusion of dried beet, at Waghau- 
sel, near Carlsruhe, in the duchy of Baden, in which 3,000 people were em- 
ployed, a capital of eighty millions of franes (or sixteen million dollars) used, 
and twelve acres of land covered with buildings. 
The large and increasing quantities of sugar and molasses required for con- 
sumption in this country, and the amount of money paid for foreign labor in 
its production, can be appreciated by a glance at the following statement of 
imports for five years, which is in addition to a small domestic product of cane, 
maple, and other sugars, and large quantities of sorghum sirups; a small 
amount, also, by indirect trade, is not included, on account of incompleteness in 
the official statement of imports : 
SUGAR. SIRUP AND MOLASSES. 
Year. 
Pounds. Dollars. Gallons. Dollars 
| 
TSUN! a = BROS CO RR, 8 Bs SE ee 557, 137, 529 20, 357,090 | . 25, 157, 280 3, 427, 813 
Bere Peo Sos ule ke de: 518,594,861 | 19,082,017 | 31,206, 986 4, 732, 378 
ihr) eee Re eee 632, 230, 247 29, 660, 076 33, 571, 230 7, 256, 064 
Pe ae eek 608, 855,989 | 25,248,999 | 42, 309, 003 7, 471, 467 
Tels] tiem Been ata se el ae EE 977, &85, 449 39, 595, 677 47, 768, 343 7, 227, 351 
Here is a total of $133,943,159, gold value, paid for foreign sugar in five 
vears, and $30,115,073 for the molasses, an average of about $33,000,000 per 
year, and more than $50,000,000 in currency, the most of which, if not all, 
should be retained at home. In view of the great success of the business in 
Europe, the American people owe to the world’s estimate of American enter- 
prise a determined and persistent effort for its establishment here. I see no 
reason to despair of its complete accomplishment. I shall therefore deem it a 
duty to encourage and forward this result so far as official means and opportu- 
nities may permit, and I would respectfully call the attention of Congress to 
the importance of practical investigations among the factories of Europe, tend- 
ing to exhibit, especially, the comparative economy of processes of manufac- 
ture, and to show how the peculiar difficulties attending the experiment here 
may be overcome. 
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
HORACE CAPRON, 
Commissioner. 
Hon. §. M. CuLLom, 
Member of Congress. 
