Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 25.djvu/644

628 million dollars more than the value of all the gold and silver bullion produced in the same year.

In the year 1882 our imports of sugar and molasses amounted to nearly one and one fifth million tons, costing one hundred and fifty million dollars, nearly one third of which sum was paid as import taxes. There is no other article, or class of articles, upon which our Government levies duty which yields a revenue equal to that obtained from foreign sugar.

This useful staple furnishes nearly one fourth (24·3 per cent) of the amount received for import duties, and more than one seventh (14·6 per cent) of the total income of the nation.

That the demand for sugar is increasing much more rapidly than our population, is shown by the increased consumption per capita. The value of the sugar used in 1882 was fully one sixth greater than the amount in 1881. In 1790 to 1799 the average annual consumption of sugar per person was 9·05 pounds, while in 1882 the amount was not far from fifty-five pounds.

In order to obtain the sugar that we need, we find it necessary to buy of nearly every tropical and sub-tropical country. By far the greatest amount (forty per cent) comes from Cuba. Next in order are the Spanish possessions (three and a half per cent), Porto Rico (two and a half per cent), the Sandwich Islands and the Dutch East Indies (each one per cent), while twenty-seven other countries unite to furnish nearly forty per cent. It will be seen that there remains only about twelve per cent for home production. This is strictly true, for, to quote a recent authority, "From the statistics it appears that, during the past twenty years, the United States have produced less than thirteen per cent of their sugar-supply, and little more than twenty-one per cent of the molasses consumed."

If, therefore, our Cuban sugar-supply were suddenly arrested by insurrection or international complications, we might for a season be in an exceedingly embarrassing position. Possibly some other country would ultimately come to our relief; but it is very probable that, for a time, there would be a scarcity of sugar, which would result in unusually high prices. Such a condition of things would surely direct the thoughts of consumers and capitalists alike to our very inadequate provisions for the manufacture of sugar in Louisiana and adjacent Southern States, and the fact would be evident that we could not extend the domestic production of sugar from the cane to approximate our demands. The reason lies in the fact that the sugar-cane is essentially a tropical plant, and is seldom or never thoroughly ripened in our semi-tropical Southern States. Early frosts compel the planters to harvest the canes while yet considerably short of maturity, and consequently before the development of as large a percentage of sugar as is reached in warmer climates.

This climatic disadvantage is so serious as to confine the profitable