day the industry is mainly concentrated in California, Utah, Colorado, and 

 Michigan. Even though favored by an early start, the industry has developed 

 slowly. In 1895 beet sugar represented about 1% of our annual consump- 

 tion. By 1911 the proportion had increased to 15.1%; and in 1921 it was 

 about 23% of our annual consumption. In the last ten years, the industry 

 has supplied on the average approximately 18% of our annual requirements. 



For the five years preceding 1920 our production of beet sugar declined 

 each year, but high prices and added protection gave the industry a new 

 impetus in 1920 and the maximum crop of 969,000 tons was produced. In 

 1921 the output dropped to 911,000 tons and for the present season our 

 crop will be only about 650,000 tons. This is a liberal estimate as the United 

 States Department of Agriculture has estimated the present crop at 586,500 

 tons. 



Handicaps Important economic and other causes have seriously re- 



of Domestic stricted the expansion of the beet sugar industry in the United 

 Beet Industry states. It is true that certain companies are so situated with 

 respect to natural advantages and to consuming centers that they are able 

 to continue operations at a profit but a large part of the industry has a hazard- 

 ous and struggling existence. Production of sugar beets requires much 

 manual labor, which is often obtained with considerable difficulty. If the 

 American farmer finds that he can make an equal or greater profit with less 

 laborious effort, he quickly turns to other competing crops. Before the war 

 our industry was dependent upon Germany for its seed supply. We have made 

 some progress in recent years in raising suitable seeds but we apparently are 

 not able to produce as cheaply and with as great success as Germany. Ac- 

 cording to the U. S. Tariff Commission, about 20% of our production is de- 

 pendent upon the protective tariff. On the whole, Yankee ingenuity has found 

 that the domestic beet industry, in spite of the protective tariff, is less desirable 

 for exploitation in a large way than the cane sugar industry of Cuba. 



Sugar in Our Eastern Possessions 



The cane sugar industries of Hawaii, the Philippines, Porto Rico, Louisi- 

 ana and Texas supply an important part of our annual sugar consumption. 

 In the pre-war years of 1912-14, these areas supplied on the average approxi- 

 mately 31% of our annual consumption, but in the post-war years 1919-21, 

 the proportion declined to approximately 26%. In the following table, the 

 percentages supplied by Hawaii and the Philippines are shown for specified 

 years. 



12 



