Cane vs. Beet 



by forbidding commercial communi- 

 cation between England and the 

 entire continent of Europe. 



When this decree was issued and 

 all British and Colonial goods were 

 confiscated, England sought reprisal 

 by prohibiting ships of any nation- 

 ality from approaching French har- 

 bors on the penalty of confiscation; 

 whereupon Napoleon, in turn, de- 

 creed that any ship which had either 

 submitted to English examination or 

 had paid dues in English harbors be 

 confiscated. 



With both sides engineering bitter 

 blockades, shipping came to a stand- 

 still and sugar prices on the conti- 

 nent went up, and up, and up to 

 prohibitive figures. 



Meanwhile, the lack of sugar be- 

 came an important war-time problem 

 which demanded immediate and vig- 

 orous action. Napoleon set about, 

 at once, to find substitutes for cane 

 [39] 



