tant sugar producer. One of the special difficulties in the islands, however, 

 is the lack of a trained labor supply. The natural market outlet for Philip- 

 pine sugar, because of the distance from the United States, is China. Under 

 normal conditions of prices it seems very probable that Philippine sugars 

 will not offer effective competition in the United States market, but will 

 continue to compete with those of Java, Formosa, and other eastern producers 

 for the large and constantly growing Chinese trade. 



Louisiana and Porto Rico 



Neither Louisiana, Texas nor Porto Rico individually furnish a very 

 large proportion of the total quantity of sugar consumed annually in the 

 United States. We present the figures for the pre-war years 1912-14 and the 

 post-war years 1919-21 for these regions in the following table: 



Per Gent United States Sugar Consumption Supplied by Louisiana and 



Texas and Porto Rico 



Year Louisiana and Texas Porto Rico 



1912 7.3% 8.2% 



1913 5.6% 8.8% 



1914 3.8% 7.3% 



1919 3.8% 7.1% 



1920 2.0% 8.2% 



1921 6.6% 9.1% 



The The su S ar industry of Louisiana dates back to 1751, but 



Louisiana despite this long history it now occupies a position of declining 

 Industry importance. Even with high tariff protection, the Louisiana 

 industry has a somewhat precarious existence. Unlike the great low cost 

 cane-producing regions there are wide differences in climatic and soil condi- 

 tions in Louisiana, as well as in manufacturing processes. Perhaps the chief 

 difficulty is the shortness of the growing season and the cool winters. In 

 Cuba several crops of cane can be cut from one planting; in Louisiana there 

 is one plant and one stubble crop and then replanting. A system of crop 

 rotation with cow peas must be followed for the best results. For these and 

 other reasons Louisiana is a high cost producer. During the past eleven 

 years the maximum production of Louisiana and Texas was 322,000 tons in 

 1911-12, and production fell to only 108,000 tons in 1919-20. For the present 

 season, the estimated crop is 293,000 tons. The competitive influence of 

 Louisiana sugar in the American market is of minor significance. 



14 



