30 T H E CUBA RE V I E W 



that the sugar industry has been treated alternately by the government "as a spoiled 

 child and as a dangerous enemy." Touching upon the subject of tariff policy he says: 



"It was, as we see, sugar that made the first breach m England's free-trade policy, 

 which was almost a religion to her. And sugar everywhere plays an important part 

 in tariff controversies. It is the best thing to argue about in a free-trade tariff con- 

 troversy, for it is a clear case and brings out the best points in both positions. Here 

 we have a single and identical commodity produced in both tropical and temperate 

 zones in direct competition. The tropics have the advantage in yield. In Java and 

 Hawaii 4 j/2 tons of sugar can be got from an acre of cane. In continental Europe 1 >^ ' 

 to l^K; tons of sugar can be got from one acre of beets. In the United States only 

 about one ton per acre is obtained. Shall we then give up the attempt to compete with 

 the freer growing cane in the hotter, wetter climes?" 



"But then there is the human element. Suppose we balance a sugar beet com- 

 munity, such as we know it in Colorado or California or Nebraska, its high standard of 

 living and its conditions or work, against a Cuban plantation worked by a type of labor 

 not much above peonage. Shall we not favor our own sort and maintain our economic 

 independence by protecting our beet sugar industry?" 



Extreme or Compromise? 



"Assuming that we can never, even with the aid of protection, grow all of the 

 sugar we need, shall we run to the other extreme? Shall we throw down all the tariff 

 wall altogether at this point and grow none of it? Is there any advantage in a compro- 

 mise pohcy such as we now have? Or taking the question from a world point of view 

 instead of that of national policy, here is a big thriving industry, the fixation of solar 

 energy in the temperate zone by means of the beet. It has been built up by scientific 

 methods and witli the aid of tariff duties and subsidies. It has become so powerful and 

 important as to overthrow free-trade in every country. Should it be now abandoned 

 and left to perish? 



Turning to the social influence of sugar the author makes the following comment: 



"Besides affecting our legislation on tariffs and trusts, sugar has been an important 

 factor in the liquor problem. Before the war the candy store was steadily displacing 

 the saloon. Ice cream, soda water, sundaes, and candy were quietly changing the popular 

 taste and being recognized as a substitute for alcoholics. So the transition to prohibition 

 was effected with comparative ease." 



"About $500,000,000 is spent for soft drinks in the United States every year. In 

 the bottled goods the color and flavor are ordinarily coal-tar dyes, quite harmless but 

 not nutritious. The food value of these beverages comes from the sugar. The ordinary 

 half-pint bottle contains usually about from .4 to .9 of an ounce of sugar, about two 

 heaped teaspoonfuls per drink. This gives between 46 and 103 calories of energy, gen- 

 erally about 70 or 80 calories per half-pint. Besides the water and the sugar you get 

 within every pint some three pints of carbon dioxide gas — if you drink it quickly enough. 

 The expansion of this also cools you off. The nutritive value of the soft drinks is higher 

 than that of most fruits and vegetables for the same weight. Soda water or pop has 

 about the same energy food value as buttermilk and three times as much as watermelon. 



"So you see that the soft drinks industry, which has reached an unparalleled develop- 

 ment in America, has very considerable influences on our dietary and our budget. Its 

 moral influence is also apparent, for it would have been practically impossible to have 

 ousted King Alcohol if there had not been a rival beverage in the field." 



A Supplier of Energy. 



"Sugar is superior to alcohol as a self-starter. Experiments in the nutrition labora- 

 tory of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, show that sugar is absorbed and con- 

 sumed in the body as soon as alcohol, or even sooner. Within four to ten minutes after 

 sugar is taken on an empty stomach the effect is shown in the rise of the respiratory 

 quotient. Milk sugar and fruit sugar begin to burn up in the body quite as soon. 



