256 The Sugar- Beet in America 



If there is a sugar factory in the community, it uses a 

 great number of men in the winter and the congestion is 

 relieved. Those who would otherwise be idle are given 

 employment and the entire winter wage scale for the com- 

 munity is advanced. 



CENTRALIZED POPULATION 



Sugar-beet raising calls for intensive farming. A given 

 area of land producing beets will give employment to 

 several times as many men as the same area devoted to 

 hay or grain. With sugar-beets as an important crop, 

 the farmer does not require so large an acreage in order to 

 make a living as would be necessary with many other 

 crops. This means that sugar-beet farming promotes a 

 denser population. This has many advantages. It 

 makes possible better educational facilities and more 

 desirable social opportunities, thereby reducing to a 

 minimum some of the chief disadvantages of farm life. 



i 



INCREASES OTHER BUSINESS 



The raising of sugar-beets and the manufacture of 

 sugar from them bring increased business to many other 

 industries not directly connected with the farmer or the 

 sugar factory. Thus, every community in which the 

 beet-sugar industry is established has the pulse of its en- 

 tire business quickened thereby. Railroads receive much 

 traffic in transporting beets, lime, sugar, machinery, and 

 the many other commodities that are incidental to sugar- 

 making. Bank clearings are increased by the money 

 paid for beets and supplies and that received for sugar. 



