1$ .SUGAR 



you should take note that the first beetroot-sugar 

 factories were erected in the Fatherland. 



France was quick to recognize the possibilities of a 

 venture which held forth bright prospects to both the 

 agricultural and manufacturing classes and masses. 

 She threw her commercial heart and soul into the 

 business of founding a rival branch of beet-sugar pro- 

 duction, and, as luck would have it, that rival branch 

 was soon being fostered by strong political support. 

 The master-mind of Napoleon was just then bent on 

 ruining British commerce. In 1806 the powerful 

 Emperor had ordered Europe to suspend trade rela- 

 tions with the British Isles ; in 1807 he had resorted 

 to the extreme measure of singling out as contraband 

 every ship, no matter what its nationality, which 

 touched at any port of Britain or of a British Colony. 

 British Colonies, notably the West Indies, were at 

 this time prominent among the leading producers of 

 the world's sugar — cane-sugar, of course, for the beet- 

 sugar industry was in its infancy. The Napoleonic 

 blockade naturally sent the price of sugar up to famine 

 rates in Europe, and fortunes seemed to be awaiting 

 men who could produce a homeland supply, from the 

 newly discovered beetroot source, to make up to some 

 extent for the lack of imported cane-sugar. In their 

 zealous pursuit of the new industry the French had 

 much direct support from Napoleon, in addition to 

 the encouragement derived from his policy of blockade. 

 He voted considerable sums from the National Ex- 

 chequer to foster beet-sugar production, and made 

 extensive grants of land for sugar-beet cultivation and 

 the erection of factories. As a result of French com- 

 mercial enterprise, backed by political support, by 



