THE BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY. 3 



Only the yellow races have held their own in our markets. In '97 the sugar 

 Imported into the United States from the East Indies, Hawaii and Africa (Egypt) was 

 double the imports of '95. The full increase was maintained in 1898. The imports of 

 coolie-grown sugar into the United States are now some 600,000 tons per year, compared 

 to only 250,000 so recently as 1892. 



In two years Hawaii practically doubled its shipments of sugar to the United States, 

 which in 1898 were 500,000,000 pounds, compared to 271,000,000 pounds in '95. That region 

 is enormously increasing its output. 



A JUST MEASURE. THE DINGLEY TARIFF, 



aside from the mistake of free sugar from Hawaii (for which it is not responsible), may 

 therefore be said to be quite satisfactory to domestic producers, and is fairly designed 

 to develop a great American sugar industry. For details of its operation, see Table A, 

 appendix. 



The present duties levied upon sugar imported into the United States are much 

 lower than the tariff of any other modern nation, England excepted. The United States 

 tariff on sugar is now only from one-half to one-fourth as much as European tariffs, as 

 shown by Table B, appendix. This country pays no export, bounty on sugar. It 

 now offers less encouragement to domestic sugar production than any other modern 

 nation, England alone excepted, and she is naturally ill-adapted to beet culture. Cer- 

 tainly, it is only fair that this slight measure of protection to our domestic sugar pro- 

 ducers be not jeopardized by favors of any kind to tropical sugars. 



A few more years of this policy, and the home production of sugar in the United 

 States will become so large as to result in still further lowering prices to consumers, 

 although consumers in the United States now pay much less for this necessity than any 

 European people. A continuance of the present tariff policy will in time probably enable 

 our producers to compete in the export trade. This has been the outcome of a similar 



policy regarding steel rails and a variety of manufactures, of which the export is now 

 constantly increasing. Indeed steel rails are now being exported to all parts of the 



world at $15 to $18 a ton, which cost nearly ten times as much to import some years 

 since. 



EFFECT Or THE DINGI.EY T.VRIFF 



on the development of domestic cane sugar and beet sugar production in the United 

 States is shown in detail in Tables C and D, appendix. Observe that in spite of 1893 

 having been the worst season in Louisiana for twenty years, the cane sugar industry 

 shows a gratifying increase. 



A most astonishing exhibit is afforded by the increase of the beet sugar Industry 

 in this country. Prior to the Wilson tariff of 1894, six factories were operating, employ- 

 ing some $4,000,000 of capital, using about 400,000 tons of beets and paying farmers there- 

 for upward of $2.000,000 a year. 



In 1899 these six old mills and fifteen iicir factories are now (January, '99) about 

 ready to run, employing $10,OTO,000 of capital, and have already contracted for some 

 1,250.000- tons of beets, for which farmers are to be paid nearly $6,000,000. 



This statement does not include any of the great number of beet sugar enterprises 

 that are now in the formative stage. Many of these would have been under construc- 

 tion ere this, but for the uncertainties caused by the Spanish war and its results. Some 

 of these enterprises are being rapidly pushed in order to have factories ready to work 

 up the 1S99 crop of beets, and in the confidence that Congress will not lower the tariff 

 on tropical sugars. It is probable, therefore, that numerous additional factories will be 



