260 AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILL, 1924. 



Mr. Anderson. That is whas I am getting at. 



Mr. Paine. Thcv arc trviii": to «rot a rofining-iii-transit rate. Thev 

 expect to get tliat in Texas, and that will facihtate matters greatly. 



Mr. Buchanan. Is it possible to take this invertase and use it at a 

 little mill in manufaetiiring this sirup and preserve the sirup? 



Mr. Paine. Yes, sir; they can do that. A great many mills are 

 using it that way. 



Mr. Buchanan. That is the practical way, and it is the only prac- 

 tical way. 



Mr. Paine. I want to say this, however, that I am convinced that 

 tlie only salvation for the cane sirup industry is through concerted 

 action of organizations of farmers who will get tt)gether and furnish 

 a sufhcientlv large volume of uniform sirup to create a stable com- 

 mercial outlet. If they do not do that, there is nothing to be hoped 

 for, so far as extending the market for cane sirup and increasing 

 the acreage of sugar cane is concerned. 



Mr. Anderson. I think you are quite right. A man will wo down 

 to the grocery store and he will buy some cane sirup. It does not 

 taste just right. Then he will go down and get another can and it is 

 all right. But once he ^ets one of these cans that is not right, he will 

 (|uit buying that kind of sirup. 



Mr. BuciiAN.\N. Of coui-se, if you want to pay for sirup produced 

 at a little mill and ship it to a central plant and remanufacture it in 

 order to get everything tasting just riglit — -if you are willing to pay 

 for that, go ahead. But I am talking about the practical part of it 

 now. 



Mr. Paine. I think that is the most important part of this matter, 

 reilly. In talking to farmers in Texas, a number of them told me 

 that they would rather extend their acreage of sugar cane than that 

 of any other crop they grow; that if they can get a reasonably stable 

 return, there is more money in it than in any other crop thev make. 

 If they grow 1 acre or so they can sell the sirup to the neighborhood 

 market and there is no trouble, but if a man wants to grow 20 or 50, 

 or perhaps 200 acres as one man told me, he has got to have some 

 stable commercial outlet, and he has got to sell through established 

 commercial channels. There are a great many people who want to 

 extend their acreage of cane. There are large areas of cut-over pine 

 land in southern Mississippi, northern Florida, southern Georgia, 

 and Alabama where the lumber companies are trying to find some 

 good ciop to grow on that land. They are paying a great deal of 

 attention to sugar cane at the present time. There is a tendency to 

 increase its acreage. 



But whiil is (he use of trying to incretise the acreage of sugar cane 

 or bother al)out the problems of growing it iniless you can sell the 

 sirup '. And you can not sell it successfully unless you can create a 

 a uniform article, and if you have not a stable, uniform article you 

 can not sell it to consumers thi'ough established commercial chan- 

 nels. That is (he key to the whole thing. 



Mr. Anderson. That is the trouble, as I ap|)rehend, with (he whole 

 agriculdnal si(ua(ion j)roducing .somediing that nobody wants. 



.Mr. ni< UANAN. The (rouble with us was that W(» could not sell it 

 di»wn honu'. and the thing would not keep: i( would eidier becitnu' 

 sugar oi' sour. 



Mr. Skinnek. Thi- uielhod is going to |)reveu( (hat. 



