136 SUGAR 



freely quoted even by statesmen of the highest rank, 

 and was eagerly swallowed as an indisputable fact. 

 They must have been quite surprised to find that supply 

 and demand went on governing market prices just the 

 same as usual, and, as there happened to be too much 

 sugar, prices went down instead of up. Then a most 

 fortunate accident happened for the alarmists. The 

 European beetroot crop of 1904-5 suffered from a 

 severe drought and produced 1,200,000 tons less sugar 

 than the estimate. Prices naturally rose and the 

 alarmists cried, "We told you so." The rise which took 

 place was, in fact, a clear proof of the danger to con- 

 sumers in having to depend on one crop, confined to a 

 small portion of Europe, for their supply of sugar. And 

 this dependence on one crop was the direct effect of the 

 bounties. So it was the bounties that were really the 

 cause of the scarcity and the high prices. Europe, of 

 course, sowed a large acreage in 1905, on the strength 

 of the good prices, and had a fine season and a bumper 

 crop. In August, 1905, we were back again at the old 

 price, a price even below the cost of production. 1 

 The beetroot sugar industry still keeps up its pro- 

 duction, and even continues to increase, but not to 

 such an abnormal extent as during the bounty period. 

 The industry has been firmly established and will 

 continue to flourish, but it can no longer sell for export 

 below cost price. Cane sugar now has a fair chance. 

 The figures in Appendix III show that cane sugar is 

 now forging ahead, and it will continue to do so, 

 keeping pace with the constant increase in the world's 

 consumption. The new fair fight between beet and 

 cane will be an interesting study for many years. 

 1 See Appendix XV. 



