E 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



OCTOBER, 1917 



EDITORIAL 



G0VERN:\IEXT control of the entire 



sugar situation now points certainly to the 



develop lu e n t of 



WAR 



:\IEASURES 



EFFECT 



OX HOXET 



new conditions that 

 will vitally affect 

 price, Cjuality, and 

 quantity, from the 

 cane and he?t sugar 

 fields to th? verj' door of private homes 

 where the refined product is delivered by the 

 grocer. This situation must and will in- 

 volve the question of honey markets and 

 honey's uses. 



The public press of Sept. 11 announced 

 that the entire American sugar industry will 

 be placed under government control Oct. 1, 

 by the establishing of a license system to 

 include manufacture, refining, importing, 

 and distribution. Food Administration offi- 

 cials will have complete charge of this work. 

 If the Government can bring down the price 

 of wheat and potatoes it can of sugar also. 

 As indicating what the price effect of the 

 Government's control of sugar is to be. The 

 Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer 

 of Sept. 15 said : " The sugar markets of 

 the whole country have been paralyzed by 

 the announcement that the beet-sugar men 

 were willing to accept iV^^c per pound for 

 the coming crop of white granulated beet 

 sugar and had agreed to that with Mr. 

 Hoover, the consenting jjarties reaching 

 some 80 jDer cent of the whole prospective 

 beet-sugar crop." 



With the certainty that the sugar busi- 

 ness is to be taken in hand by the United 

 States Government, it is altogether probable 

 that the Government will follow the lead 

 of France and England in sugar regulation, 

 just as it is doing in almost all other de^jart- 

 ments of war preparation and regulation. 

 This will mean, first, that the Government 

 will fix the price of sugar. Pre.ss notices 

 indicate that the wholesale price will range 

 around 7 cents. Hoover and his assistants 

 will probably allow a reasonable profit, but 

 Avill stop all exorbitant war profits and 

 speculation. 



It will mean, foo, that Uncle Sam will 

 limit the amount of sugar available to each 

 consumer. The consumer Avill have to testi- 

 fy fur what purpose the sugar is to be used, 

 and the quantity. It will mean, possibly, 

 that sugar will be barred from going into 

 candy, cakes, ice cream, and soda water. 

 There is a probability that Hoover and his 

 assistants will so regulate the output of 

 sugar that it can be used only to make up 

 a balanced ration which the human system 

 actually requires. The housewife will be 

 admonished, as she already has been, to cut 

 out all frostings from her cakes; to dry 

 fruit, corn, and other food products instead 

 of canning them. Government regulation 

 also will mean that the candy-makers may 

 be compelled to dispense with cane and beet 

 sugar entirely in all candies. If this is 

 the case, honey, the only, substitute, will 

 have to be used. 



The amount of candy consumed in the 

 United States annually is enormous. If the 

 Government stops the large candy-makers 

 from using cane and beet sugar, the only 

 substitutes will be glucose and honey. Glu- 

 cose has but very little sweetening power; 

 but it does excellent service, we are told, 

 in making " chewy " candy, such as gum- 

 drops, that have comparatively little sweet- 

 ening. 



Xow, then, if the candy-maker desires a 

 candy that has sweetness he will have to 

 use honey, because saccharin, the only other 

 .sweetener, a product of coal tar, is a rank 

 poison, and has been barred by the Bureau 

 of Chemistry, Washington, from use in all 

 foods and from all interstate commerce. 

 The pure-food laws of almost all states pro- 

 hibit the use of saccharin. If honey's 

 strongest competitor, cane and beet sugar, 

 should be commandeered in the United 

 States in the manner stated (and that is 

 precisely what the European Governments 

 have done), the demand for honey will be 

 enormous, because it will have to take the 

 place of cane sugar in all confectionery, 

 frosting, and, very likely, in soda water. 



