THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
PART ONE. 
THE ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF SUGAR. 
THE FARMER, THE TARIFF AND THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
It required every pound of the wheat and flour exported by the United States 
during the fiscal year 1896 to pay for the sugar imported.* The total value of all live 
and dressed beef, beef products and lard exported during the past year barely equaled 
the amount paid for imported sugar. Our immense export trade in cotton represents 
in value only twice as much as our import of sugar. Our vast exports of tobacco must 
be magnified thrice to counterbalance sugar imports. The barley, oats and rye, fruits 
and nuts, hops, vegetable oils, oleomargarine, butter and cheese, pork and hams that 
were exported last year all put together represent in value only two-thirds of the 
sugar imported. 
IT IS AN ECONOMIC CRIME 
to compel American farmers to raise staples in competition with the cheap-land-and- 
labor countries, with which to pay for imported sugar, besides standing the freight 
and commission both ways. No wonder agriculture is depressed, for not only are 
American farmers deprived of the home market for 100 million dollars’ worth of sugar 
annually, but imports of other produce that can be grown within our borders average 
* Table A.—IMPORTS OF SUGAR INTO THE UNITED STATES. 
Expressed in millions of pounds. - 
Countries from which —————Calendar year ended Dec. 31.———-—. __Fiscal year ended—~ 
imported. 1879 1894 June 30, 1896. 
Cuba, ete., 1,360,000,000 Total 2,203,000,000 Total 986,000,000 Total 
West Indies, Mexico, etc., 117,000,000 362,000,000 546,000,000 
Central America, 1,477,000,000 2,565,000,000 1,532,000,000 
Brazil, 63,000,000 258,000,000 191,000,000 
Other South American, 19,000,000 147,000,000 164,000,000 
South America, 82,000,000 405,000,000 355,000,000 
Hawaii, 42,000,000 325,000,000 352,000,000 
East Indies, 167,000,000 420,000,000 701,000,000 
Oceanica, 209,000,000 ‘145,000,000 1,053,000.000 
aEurope, ‘7,000,000 554,000,000 629,000,000 
Other countries, 8,000,000 16,000,000 137,000,000 
Total, 1,783,000,000 4,286,000,000 3,706,000,000 
a Includes for 1894, from Germany 355 million pounds, United Kingdom 49, Netherlands 12, France 
14, Austria Hungary 44 and Belgium 80 million pounds. 
a Includes for 1896, from Germany 450 million pounds, United Kingdom 37, Netherlands 7, Austria- 
Hungary 40, and Belgium 72, other Europe 21 million pounds. 
a 
