INDIRECT BENEFITS OF SUGAR-BEET CULTURE. 9 



greater than formerly it had been for four years, and it remained for 

 Napoleon himself to grasp the tremendous significance of a discovery 

 which could be made to serve the double purpose of solving the 

 nation's food-supply problem and freeing it from dependence on 

 Great Britain. 



By reason of Napoleon's Berlin and Milan decrees of 1806, pro- 

 hibiting the importation of colonial articles and establishing the "con- 

 tinental system," the price of sugar had risen to $1 ner pound, and 

 mutterings against imperial rule were heard upon. all sides; but these 

 rumblings in no way affected the plans of Napoleon, now that he had 

 become convinced of the indirect advantages of beet culture. 



On March 11, 1811, Napoleon said in an address before the Chamber 

 of Commerce : 



Commercial relations with England must cease. I proclaim it to you, gentlemen, 

 distinctly. * * * I am informed that from late experiments France will be able 

 to do without the sugars and indigoes of the two Indies. Chemistry has made such 

 progress in this country that it will probably produce as great a change in our com- 

 mercial relations as that produced by the discovery of the compass. 



On March 18, 1811, Napoleon dictated a note to his minister of the 

 interior in which he said : 



The minister of the interior will make a report to be sent to the council of state, in 

 which the advantages of developing the manufacture of beet sugar will be included. 

 All steps shall be taken to encourage this culture and if necessary by modifying the 

 customhouse tariff for a period of five years, or even the possibility of prohibiting 

 absolutely the importation of colonial or foreign sugars. The minister will take steps 

 to make trials in a very extensive manner and to establish schools for teaching the 

 manufacture of beet sugar. 



The minister will apportion among the different departments 60,000 arpents (90,000 

 acres) of land, on which it will be necessary to grow beet roots sufficient for the entire 

 consumption of France. The proper officers will be appointed to see that the cultiva- 

 tors deliver their proportions. 



The minister will also advise the cultivators that the growing of beet roots improves 

 the soil and that the residue of the fabrication furnishes an excellent food for cattle. 



On March 25, 1811, Napoleon issued a decree appropriating 

 1,000,000 francs ($200,000) for the establishment of six technical 

 beet-sugar schools, compelling the peasant farmers to plant 79,000 

 acres to sugar beets the following season, and decreed that l i From the 

 1st of January, 1813 * * * the sugar and indigo of the two 

 Indies shall be prohibited." (Extract from decree attached hereto.) 



On January 12, 1812, Napoleon issued a decree providing that 100 

 students should be selecte'd from the schools of medicine, pharmacy, 

 and chemistry and transferred to the technical beet-sugar schools lie 

 had established the year before; that 150,000 acres should be sown 

 to beets; that financial inducements be extended to scientists to 

 further perfect the process of extraction and to capitalists to engage 

 in the manufacture, and for the immediate erection of four imperial 

 beet-sugar factories. (Copy of decree attached hereto.) 



As a result of the perception, determination, and power of one man, 

 the industry which was to revolutionize modern agricultural methods 

 not only was created but within two years was established on an 

 extensive scale, as is shown by the report of Napoleon's minister of 

 the interior at the beginning of 1813, in which he said: 



During this year the manufacture of sugar which is extracted from the beet root 

 will give us 7,700,000 pounds of this staple. It is prepared in 334 factories, all of 

 which are in actual activity. * * * Nothing has been neglected to naturalize 

 this staple at home, and the conquest is finally assured. 



