126 THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



same land the year before cost $10,666. Adding $3500 for payroll to labor at factory 

 during the time required to manufacture the crop into sugar, labor got about 

 $15,000 out of this beet crop. In other words, for every dollar paid for labor on bar- 

 ley, there were paid $41 for labor on beets, so that "for every man who gets a job on 

 a grain crop, 41 persons get a job on beets." 



Skilled labor is not required for much of the work of pulling and harvesting, 

 while some of the thinning and weeding can be done by boys and girls. The crop 

 thus furnishes an extremely important home market for a grade of labor that other- 

 wise would hardly be employed at all. Indeed, such labor can be worked to better 

 advantage and more cheaply than Chinese contract labor. James Hopkins, Jr., of 

 Watsonville does not believe in paying $1 per ton of beets for Chinese labor, as his 

 crop last year, worked with white boys and girls, cost him only 75cperton for labor. 

 Of course boys will be boys, and it is necessary to work in the field with them your- 

 self, but under proper supervision boys and girls will work rapidly and well and are 

 to be preferred to the contract system. If 25 or 30 per cent can be saved by employ- 

 ing boys and girls, it amounts to many thousands of dollars each year. 



No other crop is so attractive to the laborer of all ages and grades of skill as the 

 sugar beet. It gives employment not only to the farmer, but to every member of his 

 family, pays them spot cash for this labor and yields a fair profit besides. J. W. 

 Johnson made a study of this point in the Nebraska beet fields in '96 and reports in 

 the State Journal : "The net profits of the growers, in one case amounting to $1400 

 on 80 acres, does not alone measure the importance of the industry. Its value to the 

 community consists chiefly in giving employment to all people who want to work, and 

 to that class who are unskilled and can perform only the simplest kind of labor. 

 Anyone who can handle a hoe or pull weeds can earn money all summer in the beet 

 fields. Anyone who can hold a sharp corn knife in one hand and a beet in the other 

 can top beets and earn $1.25 a day. Any man can load beets into a wagon from the 

 field and can shovel them out of the warehouse at the factory. All this labor is 

 available to those who need labor most. There is $25 worth of cheap labor in every 

 crop of beets produced. A large part of this goes into the pockets of poor people who 

 have no ability to make plans for themselves, or to sustain themselves in any other 

 way except by manual labor of the simplest kind." 



PRICE OF BEETS. 



The price paid for beets is for the net weight of trimmed and washed beets as 

 delivered at the factory. When beets arrive at the factory, an average 50 pounds is 

 taken from each wagon load, thoroughly washed, examined to see if properly topped, 

 and then weighed again, the loss determining the tare. This tare should not be over 

 5 per cent, if the beets are properly harvested and prepared. Two systems of paying 

 for beets are in vogue, a straight price and a graded price. The beet grower who 

 gets a straight price per ton knows what each ton will bring beyond question, and 

 knows that he can sell all of his beets that come up to the required standard, which 

 is usually 12 per cent sugar of 80 purity. Beets poor in quality are refused or 

 accepted at n, much lower price. On the other hand, if paid according to the amount 

 of sugar in the beet, the careful farmer who grows rich beets will get a better price. 



