THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



413 



and industrially, almost independent of 

 the other nations of the world. Hence 

 any trade combination which may be ef- 

 fected against us will count for nothing. 

 Whenever we get ready we can come pretty 

 near starving any other nation. Therefore 

 an effective combination against us will be 

 an impossibility. 



"The principal product purchased is 

 sugar, which comprises nearly one-fourth 

 of the total of products imported. The 

 department in the past has been making 

 experiments to ascertain in just what sec- 

 tions of the country sugar can be raised to 

 such an advantage as to obviate the neces- 

 sity of going to foreign markets to com- 

 plete our supply. We want to raise beets, 

 as therein lies the principal source of the 

 sugar product. Within the United States 

 there will be over forty beet-sugar factor- 

 ies in operation by next fall. They will 

 be situated in almost every state along the 

 northern border from New York to Cali- 

 fornia. I believe that within a few years 

 we will produce all the sugar we require, 

 and we will then be in a position to ignore 

 the foreign product. Our experiments 

 have shown that the sugar produced from 

 our quality of beet is much richer than 



that manufactured in foreign countries. 

 Our product, therefore, will be much more 

 desirable. When this result shall be at- 

 tained the sugar trust will, in my opinion, 

 vanish for the reason that the trust refines 

 imported brown sugar, while all the Amer- 

 ican factories will finish the product and 

 placo it ; n entire readiness for sale on the 

 markets. 



"We are now succeeding admirably in 

 the production of tea in the United States, 

 it is only a question of a short time when 

 we will be able to raise all the tea de- 

 manded for use in this country. Our new 

 possessions will aid greatly in the produc- 

 tion of some of these tropical products." 



The New York Times says: 



"It was the opinion of George Washing- 

 ton that the farmer who grew what he and 

 his required was the happiest and most 

 independent man on earth. It is good, 

 too, for this nation to be independent of 

 all sources save its own for the actual 

 necessities of its life and activities. Its 

 political independence is helped and as- 

 sured by the possession of lands so dis- 

 tributed among the climates that ships 

 may find in it own ports the various car- 

 goes that supply its wants." 



