cJ

Cuban CaneSugar-a sketch of the industry, from

soil to saek, together with aSU1fJey ofthe circumstatu:es

which combine to makeCuba the Sv.gar Bowl

of the World

By

ROBERT WILES

INDIANAPOLIS

THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANYPUBLISHERS

1916

CANE CRUSHINQ IN CUIIA

COhri,Ju. 6966

TM BoIJN-M..nll Corrt/HI":1

Contents

I. OUR SWEET TOOTH GROWING

SWEETER-AND WHY.. . . . . . . • . . 1

II. SUGAR MAKING-nOM THE SoIL

TO THE SACK•....•............ 17

III. CANE VS. BEET--THE STRUGGLE

FOR SUPREMACy............... 87

IV. CUBA-THE SUGAR BOWL OF THE

WORLD.••.......•..•.......... 58

V. CUBAN CANE SUGAR-AMERICA'S

OPPORTUNITY.. ••.•.•. ••.••••.• 69

Coogle

I. Our Sweet ToothGrowing Sweeter­

And -Why

OUR grandfathers, in the early'50s, got along well enough

with a family sugar consumption oftwo pounds a week.

Our fathers' families in the '80sate about five pounds a week.

Twenty years later, in 1900, wewere eating more than six poundsa week.

Today every American family con­SUDles between eight and nine poundsof sugar from Saturday till Satur­day.

Not the sugar in fruits, or thesugars which we digest from thepotatoes or beans we eat, or othernatural sugars and sweets, but ofcommercial, store-bought, refinedsugar we eat more than eight pounds.

Eight pounds, plus, of sugar a[ 1 )

·.......... '-----

Cuban Cane Sugar

week to the family-421 pounds ayear--some of us eat less, and someof us eat more. The figures repre­sent our actual national average.

In two short generations we havedeveloped a national sweet toothwhich calls for more than four timesthe sugar it formerly got.

Why?• • • •

H we look for a moment at thesugar consumption of some of ourless fortunate neighbors we may beable to see the reason, and to readthe curious relation which seems toexist between sugar and prosperity.

While we are eating more thaneight pounds of sugar a week, forexample, the average Serbian familyof five (in normal times) consumesbut a bare fifteen ounces; and inBulgaria, Roumania, and Italy, thefamily consumption amounts onlyto about a pound per week.

[ i ]

Our Sweet Tooth

The world over, we will find­with exceptions, here and there, toprove the rule-that the poorer apeople the less sugar it eats, whilethe more spending money it has themore it uses-though, as we shallseelater, sugar is one of the cheapestof foods.

.The use of sugar might well dependupon many other things than pros­perity. It might well depend uponthe propinquity of a people to thesugar market (and consequentlyprice) ; upon the character of otherfoods consumed-for obviously thosewhose principal diet is figs requirebut little store-bought sugar; uponthe quantities of beer or other sugar­producing drinks a people uses; oreven, on national tradition. But, itis interesting to note, from a tablesuch as follows, how closely sugarand spending-money seem to go handin hand:

[ S )

Cuban Cane SugarPer Capita Per Capita

Circulatioa AuuaI~01 Kaaq Couumptioa

United States (19i') •. 18 M.• the.Germany (19IS) 19.i9 U.ISAustria (191S) li.08 19.17Italy (19IS) 8.8i 11.88Serbia (19IS) 6.M IO.OS

England, with a per capita ciI-cula­tion of money less than five-seventhsof our own, has an apparent statis­tical consumption of 98.87 pounds ofsugar per capita 88 against our 84.29.These figures for consumption in­clude, however, the sugar used inthe manufacture of jams, marma­lades and other preserves, much ofwhich products are exported. H theamount of sugar so used and sentout of the country in manufacturedform were deducted, and if our ownconsumption of England's manu­facturea sweets added to our quota,it would, no doubt, appear thatEngland's per capita consumptionwas not so high 88 our own.

[ 4 )

Our Sweet Tooth

1850"18801914

France, with a per capita moneycirculation larger than ours, con­sumes less sugar-but the high costof sugar in France, and the cheapnessof wine, may in a measure accountfor this.

Australia, with $47.18 of moneyper capita as against our eM.18,might reasonably be expected toconsume more 8ugar-and she does-100 pounds per capita per annumas against our 84.29.

The comparison is not only trueas between nations. It is true asbetween sections of the same nation,as could easily be shown; and it istrue as between different periods of• nation's prosperity.

Taking our own case, the com­parative figures read:

Per 1'• ...:...

CircuJa~of :MoDe,yt19.4118.93M.18

[ I J

Cuban Cane Sugar

It would seem, if prosperity sweet­ens our sweet tooth, that adversityshould have the opposite effect.But such is not the case. It is as if,in times of adversity, we were sayingto ourselves, "We cannot affordmore sugar-but we cannot get alongwith less" and so, as always, insuch circumstances, we limit ourexpenditures, but spend, really, alittle more than we can afford.- The figures show this. The de­

cade, for example, between 1890and 1900 was. a period of protractedand general financial depression inthe United States.. At the beginningof this decade the per capita sugarconsumption was 60.7 pounds, whileat the end of the decade the con­sumption was 61.8 pounds. In otherwords, instead of cutting our sugardown to a point where it had for­merly been, we kept it at just abouta constant level.

[ 6 ]

Our . Sweet Tooth

And during the following tenyears-l900 and 1910-a period rec­ognizedas one of unprecedented,general prosperity, we abandonedrestraint, and our sugar consumptionjumped from 66.6 pounds to 81.6pounds per capita per annum.

• • • •It would be putting the cart before

the horse, however, to say that weuse more sugar because we aremore prosperous.

The simple fact is that we havecome more and more to realize thatsugar is a good food; as our pros­perity has increased we have beenbetter able to buy the foods wewanted or needed; in times of ad­versity we have merely cut down onthose foods which cost more andgave us less value.

Where formerly we were told thatsugar exercised an injurious physicaleffect, we know now that it is pos­

[ 7 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

sible for us to assimilate only somuch as is good. for us-no more;and that if we eat too much sugar, thepangs of indigestion wam us of ourerror before any harm can come-ifwe pay attention to the warning.

Where, formerly, we thought thatsugar must be bad for us because weliked the taste of it, we now knowthat sugar is demanded for· thebalanced ration, that it has a heatand energy producing value as greatas lean meat, and that the nitrogenretention of proteid food, such asmeat, fish, eggs and milk, is increased25% when consumed with sugar.

A tabulation of the principal itemsof diet may be of interest:

Available Energy WheD CoIIIumed Aa Food

Meat and Fish 8'71Egg. 89 0

Fruits 90 0Cereals 91Dairy Products 98 0

Vegetablea 9S 0

Sugar 98%[ 8 ]

Our Sweet Tooth

When we realize that sugar costsonly in the neighborhood of five orsix cents per pound and that theother items listed run upward inprice as high as forty cents perpound, most of them ranging be­tween twenty and thirty cents, itwill be seen why economy impels usto eat as much sugar as we can inconnection with the other foodsnecessary to make a perfectly bal­anced ration.

That sugar is no longer considereda luxury can be convincingly read,also, from the statistics of candyconsumption.

Our national candy bill runs wellin excess of $500,000,000 a year.It amounts to more in a singletwelve-month than the entire recentAnglo-French loan. It represents aper capita expenditure of more thanfive dollars a year. For many yearswe have been not only unapproached

[ 9 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

by any other country in the con­sumption of candy, but have con­sumed more than all other countriesreporting candy manufacture.

New York City is our largest candyconsuming centre-the largest con­suming centre in the world-both asto total consumption and per capitaconsumption.

At first thought we might~tNew York is a city of wealth~prosperity and that its enormouscandy consumption represents thegratification of a desire for a luxury.

But New York's candy is not soldto New York's rich-it is sold to sat­isfy the hunger of New York's poor.Where New York consumes onepound of high priced candies itconsumes at least ten pounds of thecheaper grades sucn as are sold onthe push-earts of Delancey Street.

From this we can only judge thatthere must be an economic reason

[10 ]

Our Sweet Tooth

why our poor are the great candyconsumers; their standard of livingis so low, and the food available tothem so inferior, that they feel,constantly, a natural hunger whichthey are most easily able to satisfythrough buying tht> cheaper andmore tempting s\reets.

From the figures, the story of sugarIS~~ we learn more and more the

value of sugar as a food we buy moreand more as our pocket-books per­mit us. Then, in times of depressionlike those we have just gone through,we eat slightly more sugar thanusual, unconsciously, perhaps, be­cause we reduce our consumption ofthe higher priced, less nourishingfood-stuffs.

And, finally, with meats and grainsmounting higher and higher, whilesugar, because of improvement inmethods of production, has steadily

[ 11 )

Cuban Cane Sugar,

gone lower, we turn more and moretoward the consumption of sweets.

• • • •There is still another factor which

may loom large, in the future, ininfluencing the consumption of sugar,and which cannot be overlooked ina general survey suCh as this.

This factor is the prohibitionmovement. ..

A large percentage of all intoxi­cating liquors are made from thesyrup which comes as a by-productin the manufacture of sugar; andall intoxicating liquors, whiskies,brandies, wines, beers, and ales rep­resent only a chemical re-arrange­ment of sugar.

When the drinker stops takingalcoholic beverages, or even cutsdown- on them, he must and does usemore sugar in his tea or coffee andhis general dietary.

Although prohibition has been[ Ii]

Our Sweet Tooth

definitely and steadily growing formore than thirty years, the fact hasnot as yet been reflected in thestatistics of liquor consumption;during the decade 1904-1914 theconsumption of liquors of all kindsincreased nearly forty per cent., whilethe population increased only slightlyover twenty per cent.

Nevertheless, state-wide prohibi­tion has already been enacted ineighteen of the forty-eight Stateswhile local option prevails in sixteen,with several states soon to vote onthe question. Moreover, when theHobson resolution, to submit to theStates the prohibition amendmentto the Constitution, was laid beforethe House, 197 members voted forit, 169 against it.

So we see that the prohibitionwave is a thing of fact, not of fancy.Whether or not it will effectively .stop the consumption of liquor, it

[ IS]

Cuban Cane Sugar

must, if only by reducing it, increasethe consumption of sugar.

• • • •We see, thus, that the advance

of sugar goes hand in hand with theadvance of intelligence and pros­perity; that adversity only slightlychecks the advance; that the highcost of living and the prohibitionmovement, both of which promiseto be with us for many years tocome, tend to increase consumption.

As a result of the operation ofthese factors, our national sweettooth has been growing sweeter andsweeter--not only ours, but that ofour neighbors.

And the sum of this increase in theuse of sugar is indelibly written inthe statistics of world sugar pro­duction, as follows:

In 1870 the total production ofcane and beet sugar in the wholeworld was !l,750,000 tons.

[ 14 ]

Our Sweet Tooth

In 1914 this total had risen to18,778,486 tons-a jump, in a singlegeneration, of more than 600 percent.

As matters stand today we aredigging out of the ground, the worldover, only about one-third enoughgold to pay our annual billion-and-a­quarter dollar raw sugar bill.

All of the petroleum produced inthe world in a year equals hardlymore than one-quarter the value ofthe year's raw sugar crop.

All of the ever increasing quan­tities of tobacco used amount invalue to barely a third of what wepay for our raw sugar.

And coffee, too, growing apacewith tobacco, would have to multi­ply its annual crop by more thanfour in order to be abreast of sugar,while rubber, with more than twomillion motor cars consuming it atan astounding rate, must be multi-

[ 15 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

plied by almost six before it equalsin value the crystals which oUrcanes and beets are producing an­nually to satisfy our sweet tooth.

The world's sugar crop is biggerthan her cotton crop-much bigger.It is exceeded, in fact, only by thegrain crops and the production oflive stock.

• • • •H the demand for sugar increases

during the next fifty years as it hasduring the past fifteen, we mustincrease our facilities for producingit to at least seven times their pre­sent capacity.

But if the demand should notincrease at all, if sugar should cometo a sudden standstill, the import­ance of this crop among the world'sbasic productions has, auring thepast hundred years, been establishedbeyond question or doubt.

[ 16 ]

II. Sugar Making­FrQffi the Soil to

the SackThose of us who have known the

boyhood joy of a maple sugar campin full swing, may think that thegranulated sugar of commerce ismade by the same process-boiling,boiling, boiling, and draining.

It is not. It is not even madefrom molasses as our geographiesused to state. The molasses is, infact, & by-product of sugar manu­facture-not, as many suppose, itsstarting point.

There is an important difference,in fact, between syrup and molasses.The former is the juice or sap of asugar producing plant, boiled andclarified, and containing its entireoriginal sugar content; the latter isthe residue after the sugar crystalshave been extracted from the syrup.

[ 17]

Cuban Cane Sugar

Before going into the details ofthe interesting process of sugar mak­ing itself, it may be said that all ofour commercial sugar is cane sugar.

No matter whether it comes fromthe juice of the beet, or the sap of thebamboo or maple, or from caneitself, chemically and technically itis known as cane sugar.

• • • •There are two classes of sugar in

nature-which, avoiding long Latinnames, may be called single sugarsand double sugars. Cane sugar,milk: sugar, malt sugar, are some ofthe double sugars. Grape sugar andfruit sugar are common single sugars.

If we take a double sugar andsubmit it either to heat, acid orferment, we turn it into single orinvert sugar.

The double sugars are of no useas food while they remain double-­they cannot be assimilated in the

[ 18 ]

From Soil to Sack

body for the formation of organictissue or the production of heat andenergy. Only the single sugars areavailable.

But, practically, this is of no con­sequence since the acidity of ourdigestive juices, the heat of ourbodies and our digestive fermentscombine to form ideal conditions forinversion, and accomplish this chem­ical change shortly after we haveeaten the double sugar.

Cane sugar has two and one-halftimes the sweetening power of fruitsugar and more than two and one­half times the sweetening power ofgrape sugar--which is one of thereasons why all of our commercialsugar is cane sugar instead of themore easily assimilable single sugars.

• • • •There are countless plants in nature

which may be made to yield us canesugar. All fruits contain two or

[ 19 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

more sugars, of which cane sugar,fnrit sugar and grape sugar, are themost important.

For centuries sugar has been man­ufactured from different species ofpalms by the natives of India. Thebamboo is a sugar-producing plantwhich was utilized by the ancientpeoples of Asia and is supposed tobe the first plant from which sugarwas extracted. Sugar is manu­factured from raisins in practicallyall the countries of southern Europeand western Asia. Indian com hasbeen used experimentally in themanufacture of sugar, while Sorghumor Chinese cane, with a high sugarcontent, yields a large syrup crop,but for chemical and manufacturingreasons little or no actual sugar.The saps of many trees besides themaple contain sweets. Sugar andsyrup have even been manufacturedin the United States from wawr-

[iO]

From Soil to Sack

melons:-an industry which wasnipped in the bud by the intro­duction of refrigerator cars and coldstorage, which made a wider andmore profitable market for themelons themselves.

But for practical purposes thecommercial sugar of the world can beconsidered as coming from the juiceof the cane or the beet. The con­sumption of all other sugars amountsto but a small fraction of a per cent.

• • • •Whether our sugar is to be pro­

duced from beets or cane, the firststep is the production of the syrup­the separation of the sweet waterycontent of the plant from the pulpor woody portions.

In the case of cane, the operationis simplicity itself. All that is neededis crushing.

The pioneer methods of millingand crushing in the cane growing

[il ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

countries of the world were crudealmost beyond belief. The firstcrushers consisted of wooden rollers-two adze:hewn logs-usually ver­tical, operated by hand-power.Twenty-five per cent. of the totaljuice represented all that could beextracted by this means.

The first improvement-and thiscame not so many years ago--wasthe substitution of vertical cast-ironrollers, which, in construction andmanipulation, differed little from theold wooden rollers, but added anextra fifteen per cent. to the totalof the juice extraction. The next.advance was marked by the intro­duction of steam-power, which per­mitted an increase in the size ofrollers; and finally this improve­ment was followed by the introduc­tion of horizontal instead of verticalrollers. These raised the efficiencyof extraction to sixty-five per cent.

[ii]

From Soil to Sack

Steel rollers are now used almostexclusively in the larger mills andthe number of rollers has increasedfrom one pair to three and from threeto nine. Many of the mills haveshredders or corrugated crushers,through which the cane is passedbefore conveying to the smoothrollers. Cane prepared in this wayyields from eighty to ninety per cent.of its total juice, while still higherpercentages are secured by saturatingthe bagasse, as the crushed cane iscalled, with water and passing itthrough the mill several times.

The process, despite this lengthydescription, is simplicity itself. Allthat is required is to extract thejuice from the cane by crushing­and with the present advance ofengineering and invention in thisline, the day is in sight when prac­tically all of the available juice canbe separated and saved.

[is]

Cuban Cane Sugar

In the case of beet sugar, theprocess is more difficult and expen­sive. First the beets must be thor­oughly washed to cleanse them ofthe quantities of field earth whichadhere to them. In the early daysof the beet sugar industry it was thecustom after washing to pulp thebeets and effeet the extraction of thejuice by pressing, much as cane ispressed. But this method is sowasteful and so inefficient, beeauseof the structure of the beet, that ithas been abandoned and a diffusionprocess substituted.

The first operation in the diffusioLprocess is to slice the beets into thE".thinnest possible individual pieceh'This is done by a machine whic~·cuts the beets with a multitude ofcurved knife blades, revolving rap­idly. When the beets are cut intothin, irregular slices on this machine,they are placed, in water, in the first

[14 ]

From Soil to Sack

of a set of cylindrical vessels calleda diffusion battery. These vesselscommunicate with each other bypipes so arranged that the juiceissuing from the bottom of one dif­fuser flows into the top of the next.By this means the sugar contentis dissolved and the sweet, viscousliquid or syrup which is the startingpoint of both beet and cane sugar issecured.

• • • •

If

IL

. This viscous liquid as it comesfrom the mill, whether from cane orfrom beets, is subject to almostimmediate fermentation, since itforms an ideal culture for the prop­agation of germs. H allowed to

b, stand, it will quickly sour andIf invert into single sugar.

It is a curious point about thesugars, well worth noting here, thatin weak solutions they are easilyfermented, while in concentrated

[is ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

solutions they are able to preservethemselves from the attacking germs.The grape, for example, soon decaysafter it is taken from the vine. Butif its sugar is concentrated, as in theraisin, it will keep indefinitely. Thesame is true of our other tablefruits. Fresh fnrits soon spoil; thosewhich we· protect by concentratingtheir sweets we call preserves, andthese we can easily carry over oneor more winters.

The susceptibility of freshly milledsyrup to fermentation calls for im­mediate attention; if left a fewhours it may sour. So the firstoperation is to boil it. At this stageit is a turbid, dark-colored liquid,full of woody and gummy constit­uents, wholly unfit to be worked upinto sugar without clarification.

Protection against micro-organ­isms, as stated, is accomplishedsimply enough by boiling. The

[ !!6 ]

From Soil to Sack

boiling kills the germs which arepresent, the evaporation concen­trates the sugar solution and pre­vents further invasion, and the heatcoagulates the albuminous constitu­ents of the syrup, forming a froth,which, when removed, has accom­plished much in the process of clar­ification.

Besides heat, which coagulatesthe albumen, another agent whichhas been used for clarification fromthe earliest times is lime. This pre­cipitates the gummy matters whichform into a muddy sediment at thebottom and into a top layer of frothbetween which the bulk of the juiceis clear and limpid.

Thus we see that the first stepa.fter the juice leaves the mill is toboil it and to add a measured quan­tity of milk: of lime, or in plainerEnglish, whitewash. This white­wash, much as we should dislike to

[i7 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

drink it, has no effect whatever onthe sugar. It attacks only theimpurities, both dissolved and sus­pended, but does not combine withor alter the sucrose itself.

When the syrup has been clarifiedby boiling and liming, it may be saidto consist of two elements-sugarand molasses. The sugar is repre­sented by that portion which canbe crystallized out, the molasses be­ing the residuum.

The sugar crystals are now sepa­rated from the molasses by whirlingit rapidly in a machine called acentrifugal. This machine consistsessentially of a perforated basket,revolving inside an iron casing. Thebasket is lined with finely perforatedsheet bronze or with woven wirecloth and may measure from four­teen to twenty-four inches in depthand from thirty to forty inches indiameter. Revolving at a speed of

[ is]

From Soil to Sack

from 1,000 to 1,400 revolutionsper minute, the molasses is forcedout through the fine openings, caughtin the iron casing and carried off ina conduit, while the sugar crystalsthemselves are retained in thebasket.The basket is spun until the sugar ispractically free of molasses; suchsugar is then known as raw, orcentrifugal, sugar. It is definitelycrystalline in character, but stillmoist and lumpy. Its color, dueto the impurities it still contains,varies from a light tan to a darkbrown.

• • • •The molasses which has been

carried off in a conduit is now boiledagain, replaced in the centrifugal forthe extraction of still more crystals,which are kept separate and called"molasses sugar." When this pro­cess has been carried to its profitablelimit, the final molasses is sold for

[i9 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

the manufacture of rum, whiskey,or other spirituous liquors, or for themanufacture of alcohol. There aremany other markets for molasses,including the manufacture of stockfoods, its use as a fertilizer, etc., butits conversion into alcohol and spiritsrepresents its chief use.

• • • •The raw sugar from the centrif­

ugals is still unfit for use, and mustnow be refined; in refining, it isfirst dissolved in hot water, theliquor thus formed being filteredthrough cotton bags to remove allinsoluble impurities. It is next runinto iron cylinders packed withcharred bones, bone charcoal havinga peculiar affinity for the solubleimpurities and leaving the sugar,after filtration, in a purified anddecolored condition. This purified,colorless, liquid sugar is now boiledin vacuum pans, refilled as evapora-

[80 ]

From Soil to Sack

tion sets in, until the crystals havebegun to re-form, when the mass isagain spun in centrifugals whichseparate the crystals from the liquoras before. These crystals, afterdrying in horizontal cylinders, aretumed out as the granulated sugarof commerce.

If soft white sugar is desired, theprocess is stopped after passingthrough the centrifugals. The granu­lated grades are obtained by control­ling the crystallization in a granu­lator and by sieve grading.

Loaf sugar is made by running themass from the vacuum pans intomolds, where it drains; and thenplacing the molds in ovens to besolidified. Pressed cubes are madefrom moistened granulated sugar.

The liquor taken from the centrif­ugal machines is reboiled and yieldsthe soft or brown sugars, and thefinal residue is sold as molasses.

[81 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

In teronical and trade descrip­tions of sugars we often find theexpression "960 centrifugal." The"centrifugaI," we now understand,refers to the process by which thesugar was mad~that is, as againstboiling, evaporating and draining,as is done in the case of maple sugarand as was formerly the practicebefore the days of improved ma­chinery in cane sugar.

The "960" refers to the quality

of the sugar and brings ~p thecurious method in vogue for deter­mining sugar quality.

Sugar is not, as might be sup­posed, tested by taste for its sweet­ness or by any of the chemical meanswhich might be suggested, but isjudged by the way in which it re­fracts light.

We know that when we poke astick into a pond the part of the stickbelow water seems bent and fore­

[5i]

From Soil to Sack

shortened; and that when we passlight through glass at an angle itsdirection is changed.

Similarly, sugar in solution hasthe property of bending the rays oflight which it refracts; differentsugars have different refractive prop­erties; and in actual practice sugar,instead of being tasted or analyzed,is examined by an instrument calledthe polariscope, designed to measurethe character of this refraction.

Fruit sugar bends the ray of lightto the left. Its technical name isLevulose, and is, in fact, called a left­hand sugar; cane sugar (aucroae),and grape sugar (deztroae), bend theray of light to the right, and areknown as right-hand sugars.

The polariscope readings of somedifferent commercial sugars are:Black Strap 71°, Cuban MolassesSugar 77°, Cuban 1st Sugar 96°,and Java White Sugar 99.6°.

[55 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

We have before us, now, a generalsurvey of the methods by which oursugar crop is commercialized. Thereare many by-processes not necessaryto describe here-many ingeniousshort cuts-and many efficient meansof utilizing the sugars in wasteproducts of manufacture, but theprocess as a whole follows the linesdescribed here.

Thus we see that the essentials ofsugar making are:

1. A plant such as cane or thesugar beet, which yields sugareconomically in crystallizableform.

i. A means for separating thejuice from the woody and otherconstituents of the plant.

s. A means for clarifying, purify­.\ ing, and making germ-proof this

JUIce or syrup.4. An apparatus for separating

the molasses from the sugar[S' ]

From Soil to Sack

crystals - a centrifugal ma­chine.

5. A means for washing and filter­ing the raw sugar thu~ pro­duced and of reducing it to theclean, pure, white crystals ofcommerce.

In the manufacture of beet sugar,these operations are frequently ear­ried on under one roof; the beetsugar factory may well be a com­plete institution, buying its beetsfrom the neighboring farmers (oftenfurnishing them the seed and super­vising their crops), and turning outa complete commercial sugar.

This .arrangement is possible, inthe case of beet sugar, because sugarbeets can be grown in climates andlocalities suitable for manufacturing.

In the case of cane sugar, however,the process is split in two. Cane isa product of the tropics and semi­tropics where sugar refining could be

[ SO ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

carried on, for several reasons, topoor advantage. The cane planter,therefore, converts his crop of caneimmediately into raw sugar on hisown premises, or in the neighbor­hood, and this raw sugar is sent torefiners in the country of consump­tion, where the after-processes arecarried out. .

• • • •The making of sugar, from the soil

to the sack, is a simple process, andan interesting one; considering thatit has only lately been rescued fromthe primitive, considering the ad­vancements already wrought, andconsidering its ever increasing im­portance among the world's produc­tions, one can but wonder what newefficiencies and what further econo­mies inventive genius holds in storefor it.

[ 86]

III. Cane vs. Beet-TheStruggle for Supremacy

We owe the discovery of cane sugarto the Bengalese in India; as longago as the third or fourth centuryA. D., travelers from India broughtback news of "Indian salt." Fromthe fifth century, we can trace itsspread into Arabia, Egypt, Spain,Portugal, the Canary Islands, Brazil,Cuba, and so on around the world.

But the making of sugar out ofbeets we owe distinctly to NapoleonBonaparte. It is just 110 yearssince Napoleon gave the beet itsimpetus, and the circumstances werethese:

In 1804-5 the business affairs ofEurope were in much the sametangle as they are in the war times oftoday.

Napoleon was successful in bat­[87 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

tering down the continental fron­tiers and in increasing his possessionsamazingly-but he met failure inhis principal task-that of humilia­ting his chief enemy, Great Britain;and, m1805, he was forced to giveup his intention of attacking thatcountry when Nelson destroyed theFrench fieet off Trafalgar, conse­quently preventing the landing ofthe French in England.

When, in the end, Great Britainestablished herself as mistress of theseas, and succeeded in opening traderelations with the continent, in spiteof Napoleon's strenuous efforts toforbid them, the French Emperordevised what was known as the"Continental System" which dealta disastrous blow to the cane sugarindustry.

Seeing that the struggle was notto be brought to an end by fighting,Napoleon tried to isolate his enemy

[ 88]

Cane vs. Beet

by forbidding commercial communi­cation between England and theentire continent of Europe.

When this decree was issuE'd andall British and Colonial goods wereconfiscated, England sought reprisalby prohibiting ships of any nation­ality from approaching French har­bors on the penalty of confiscation;whereupon Napoleon, in turn, de­creed that any ship which had eithersubmitted to English examination orhad paid dues in English harbors beconfiscated.

With both sides engineering bitterblockades, shipping came to a stand­still and sugar prices on the conti­nent went up, and up, and up toprohibitive figures.

Meanwhile, the lack of sugar be­came an important war-time problemwhich demanded immediate and vig­orous action. Napoleon set about,at once, to find substitutes for cane

[89 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

sugar which might be grown inFrance. In his search he learnedthat sugar could be produced fromgrapes and from beetroots, but hedid not confine himself to these,experimenting meanwhile with ap­ples, pears, plums, quinces, mul­berries, chestnuts, figs, sorghum,field com, and the saps of severaltrees.

Nearly sixty years previously,Marggraf, in Berlin, had shown thatvarious kinds of beetroot containedsugar which could successfully becrystalli1-ed out. Forty years laterAchard, a Frenchman, experimentedwith different varieties of beetroot;and, when his results became known,Frederick Wilhehn Ill, King ofPrussia, started experimentation ona large scale and contributed to­ward the erection of several sugarfactories, at the same time offeringbounties to farmers who produced

[~ ]

Cane v s . Bee t

more than twenty tons of beetroot·a year.

Mter a number of costly experi­ments had been directed. toward theproduction of grape sugar, with poorresults, Napoleon, in 1811, ordered.82,000 hectares--about 75,000 acres-to be planted with beetroot-dis­tributed. over the several provinces­and established four schools in whichsugar manufacture was to be taught.In the meantime, he stifled whateverlittle competition cane sugar mightstill be offering, by forbidding allfurther importation from the Eastand West Indies. In 1812 the num­ber of sugar schools was increasedand 100,000 hectares-247,100 acres-were planted and by that time884 factories were in operation.

The news of the new sugar indus­try soon spread and Austria andGermany vied with France in theirefforts to produce the crystals from

[ 41 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

beeb. In 1814 when Napoleon hadto abdicate, his "Continental Sys­tem" was abolished, and importedsugar was again admitted on thecontinent. This proved but a tem­porary set-back to the new industry,however, so rapid had been its riseand so great the enthusiasm whichattended the discovery. By 1880the beet sugar industry was in fullswing once more.

• • • •Cane, having always been con­

sidered the natural source from whichto expect sugar, received little atten­tion or promotion. While the bestminds of Europe were studying thebeet, improving the varieties, in­venting new and more efficient meansof extraction, and generally givingthe subject serious consideration,cane sugar continued to be produCedin the most primitive way.

It was not, in fact, until the early['2 ]

Cane vs. Beet

'80s that the cane planter woke upfrom his long sleep.

The typical owner of a sugar plan­tation lived in tropical style, well upto his income and invested the leastpossible money in improvt"ments.He was prone to spend all he madewithout thinking of creating a re­serve fund, and consequently, whenthe beet-all things considered, amuch inferior plant to the cane forthe purpo~began,by sheer dint ofscientific handling, to encroach uponthe cane, he was absolutely unpre­pared for the struggle for existencewhich lay before him. This condi­tion, however, did not continue long,and in the early 'SOs, capital, inmoderate amounts, began to beavailable to sugar planters, and canesugar manufacture began to shakeoff its primitive shackles.

In 1870 the production of canesugar was almost double that of beet

[48 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

sugar. By 1880 beet sugar hadclimbed up to a point of approxi­mate equality, and then, as stated,the struggle began.

The story of the race is indeliblywritten in the figures of World'ssugar production, (Mulhall and Wil­lett & Gray), which are quo~ here:

Years Cane Beet Total

1870 1,8.50,000 900,000 2,750,0001880 1,860,000 1,810,000 8,670,0001890 2,580,000 2,780,000 5,860,0001898 2,850,000 4,650,000 7,500,0001900 8,056,294 5,590,992 8,6417,2861902 4,079,742 6,918,5041 10,998,8461908 4,168,941 5,756,720 9,920,661 :1904 4,284,208 6,089,468 10,828,6811905 4,594,782 4,918,480 9,518,26i1906 6,781,165 7,216,060 18,947,2ili1907 7,8i9,817 7,148,818 14,478,1851908 6,917,668 7,002,474 18,920,1871909 7;6i5,689 6,927,875 14,558,5141910 8,827,069 6,597,506 14,914.5761911 8.422,447 8,560,846 16,982,7981912 9,006.080 6,820.266 15.886,2961918 9,282,548 8,976.271 18,208,8141914 9,865,016 8,908,470 18,778,486

(MJ

I.· ..

'"

, c

Ca ne vs. Beet

It will be seen that the race, asthrilling a one as was ever run inthe sport of Kings-started neck andneck; beet with its impetus was go­ing strong in the '90s, a length anda half ahead; by the middle of thenineteen-hundreds cane had regainedher wind and closed her decade inthe lead; since then beet has notbeen alongside; and if the final fig­ures for 1915-16 were known, herpercentage showing, partially 00-

.... cause of the curtailment of beet-growing in Germany, Austria, France.and Russia, would quite likely bethe poorest in forty years. The esti­mates of Willett & Gray and F. O.Licht are:

World's 1915-16 Sugar Crop:Cane Beet

10,888,000 tons 6,806,IOi tonsLet us look into the facts, then,

observing the fundamentals under­lying the struggle and see if we canforecast the outcome.

[45 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

Let it be stated at the outset thatthere is no difference between beetsugar and cane sugar when refined.In their chemical composition, intheir quality and taste, and in theircommercial value, they are identical.The only question is which can pro­duce a pound of crystallized sugar,delivered to the consumer, at theleast cost.

The climatic conditions requiredfor the profitable production of sugarbeets are entirely different fromthose required for the production ofsugar cane.

Sugar cane started in the tropicsand has never been coaxed very farfrom its native zone. It needs a ninemonths' growing season of hot daysand nights, and it will not standsevere winters. It requires bothmoisture and sunshine, and unlessirrigation is resorted to, needs anannual rainfall of from fifty to

[ 46)

Cane vs. Beet

sixty-five inches. Given favorablegrowing conditions, such as thecleared jungle of Cuba or Java, it re­quires a minimum of labor.

Sugar beets, on the other hand,constitute a typical temperate zonecrop. They require rich soil, andeSPeCially good drainage conditions.H there is not abundant rainfall, thebeets must be irrigated. Unless thesoil is very rich in natural fertilizingingredients, it becomes necessary toapply commercial fertilizer gener­ously.~The beet is a crop which re­quires. constant cultivation duringthe early part of the growing seasonand is subject to a number of ene­mies and diseases. It has been notedthat as the beet crop has increased,its enemies have become more wide­spread and destructive each year.

We see, thus, that the beet requiresland which is worth from forty totwo-hundred dollars per acre for

[ 47)

.Cuban Cane Sugar

other purposes, whereas, cane flour­ishes best in the tropics with land,which, 888uming that the Mahoganyand Cedar pays the cost of clearing,costs from six to fifteen dollars peracre and is good for little else.

The beet requires expensive irri­gation, cultivation and care, involv­ing high priced temperate zone labor;whereas the cane, in equally suitablesurroundings requires no irrigationand little or no cultivation--only

. harvesting by cheap tropical help ata few cents a week.

• • • •To put the comparison in money,

it may be stated that theaverage pro­ducer of beets in the United Statesrealizes an annual profit of from fif­teen to forty dollars per acre, withland costing from forty to two hun­dred dollars as his investment; whilethe average producer of Cuba real­izes an annual profit of from thirty

[ 48]

Cane vs. Beet

to eighty dollars per acre from landcosting six to fifteen dollars per acre.

Looking at the situation in thislight, it would seem strange thatbeet should have made the advanceit has. But there is another reasonfor this; the stronghold of the beetis in Germany, Austria, France, Hol­land, and other nations of CentralEurope. These nations have a four­fold reason for growing the beet;first, they are far removed from thejungles where cane sugar best grows;second, they have the added incen­tive of a hundred years of develop­ment, improvement and investmentin the beet; third, their labor costsare low; fourth, there are no U big­money tt crops competing with sugar­cane for the land.

As to labor, it will be readily un­derstood, that this is a most im­portant item of expense in beet sugarproduction.

[49 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

Where we, in the United States,pay one dollar to a dollar-and-a-halfa day for field labor, the average costin Germany and France is from fiftyto seventy cents 'per day; while inAustria farm and unskilled factorylaborers receive only fifteen to thirtycents per day.

H we add to these facts the furtherfact that, because of duties, taxes,bounties, and transportation, the re­tail price of cane sugar in CentralEurope is much higher than inAmerica, we will see the real under­lying cause of the rise of beet.

As to "big-money" crops whichwrest the land away from the beet,this is a condition met generally inthe United States.

Whether or not the production ofbeet sugar in any given section canbe made a permanent success hasbeen shown to depend largely uponwhether or not that section is adapt-

[60 ]

Cane v s . Be e t

ed to crops yielding a greater return.For example, land which could for­merly be bought in Idaho for $75.00to $100.00 per acre as beet land hasnow risen in price from $150.00 to$800.00 per acre because of its adapt­ability to fruit growing.

In Idaho, Colorado, and otherstates the beet crop, thus, is rapidlybeing supplanted by fruits and vege­tables with which the beet cannot beexpected to compete in earning power.

• • • •There are many other causes which

underlie the recession of the beet andfrom which its further decline maybe forecast.

Among these is the fact that themilling season is an extremely shortone, and because of this beet sugarfactories in many states import rawcane sugar to carry their productionperiod over into what would other­wise be idle seasons. In almost every

[ 51)

Cuban Cane Sugar

case where this has been tried theraw cane sugar has proven a betterprofit earner for the mill than thebeets which lay close at hand.

• • • •Summing up, we see that beet

stole a lead on cane because beet hadthe best minds of Europe improvingit while cane suffered from tropicalsloth. Beet is at the maximum of itsefficiency, while cane has just begunto take its first steps.

The same inventive genius is nowbeing applied to the improvement ofcane and when this improvementreaches its maximum, as it will dur­ing the next few decades, it may con­fidently be expected that beet willtake but a nllnor part in the produc­tion of the world's sugar.

[ 62 ]

Coogle

IV. Cuba-The SugarBowl of the World

H our sugar crop is to be multi­plied by seven as prospective needsseem to require, we must, in a surveysuch as this, see where the increaseis to come from; and, assuming thatbeet, under the double stress of everincreasing competition from better­paying temperate-zone crops andimprovement in the production ofcane, is to be less and less in evi­dence, we must see where cane, par­ticularly, can be extended.

After fourteen centuries of experi­ment with cane, two spots haveestablished themselves as pre-emi­nently suited to its culture-twospots have been found where soil,temperature, rainfall, and all of theother necessary elements seem to

[58 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

have conspired together to createideal conditions for cane.

These spots, both islands, one inthe West Indies, one in the East,are Cuba and Java.

Cane is raised successfully in India,in Australia, in South America, inSouth Africa, in Formosa, in thePhilippines, in Hawaii, in the gulfsection of the United States, inMexico, in Porto Rico, and otherislands of the West Indies.

But of all these localities, Cubaand Java seem, by nature, best fittedfor the production of this crop.

• • • •Cuba and Java are both long, nar­

row islands of about the same area,one lying about as far north of theequator· as the other lies south; bothhave about the same amount of heat,moisture and wind; but in the ex­treme fertility of its soil Cuba showsa marked superiority over Java.

l 54 J

World's Sugar Bowl

In our minds, quite likely, we pic­ture these islands as being smallerthan they really are. ,

. Cuba, for example, if laid downon the United States with its easternend at New York City, would extendalmost to Cincinnati. It varies inwidth from twenty-two to 160 miles.Its area is almost the same as thatof England; or to bring the com­parison nearer home, Cuba is largerthan Indiana, Pennsylvania, or Ohio-not quite so large as New York,Illinois, or Wisconsin. It is con­siderably larger than the combinedareas of Connecticut, Rhode Island,Massachusetts, New Hampshire, andVermont.

In population it is about the sameas California, Indiana, Iowa, or Wis­consm.

• • • •A glance at the figures showing

Cuba's present importance in the[55 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

production of cane sugar may be ofinterest.

Ccuntr,y Short TonsCuba 8,000,000British India (consumed locally) 2,400,{)()(..lava 1,264,000Hawaii 585,000Porto Rico 850,000Philippines 800,000Peru 200,000Brazil 194,000Argentina 175,000State of Louisiana 160,000State of Texas 1,000

The secret of Cuba's superioritylies in both the quantity and qualityof her soil.

With a depth, in some places, ofas much as thirty feet of soil, therichness is such that cane, with asingle planting, will bear its annualcrop for from seven to ten years;while in the two next important canecountries-Java and British India­replanting is done every year.

In Cuba, too, the seasons are idealfor the economical production both

[56 )

W"orld's Sugar Bowl

of cane and of raw sugar. The warm­est months are from May to October,and these are the rainy months. Thedistribution of the rain during thishot spell is such that a much smallerquantity of water is required thanwould be the case in other regionswhere the rainfall is less evenlydistributed.

When the six months' rainfall isat an end, and the cane is ready toharvest, a six months' dry period setsin; and with the resultant dry fieldsand dry roads, the operations ofharvesting and grinding are accom­plished under the most favorable con­ditions.

When the Cuban grinding season­December 1st to May 1st-is fin­ished, the fields are green again andthe cane is well on its way towardthe next season's crop.

There are, in fact, cases on recordof fields which still yield satisfactory

[67 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

crops, season after season, withoutfresh planting, after having been cutuninterruptedly for thirty years.

In Hawaii, on the other hand, longfamous for its sugar production, thecane not only must be planted forevery second or third crop, buteighteen months of continuous, in­tensive cultivation is required tobring a crop to maturity.

• • • •The history of cane sugar in Cuba

reads like a romance.About twenty years elapsed after

the discovery of Cuba, by Chris­topher Columbus, in 1492, beforesugar cane was sent by Spain toCuba for planting. The experimentshowed the Spaniards the perfectsuitability of Cuba's fertile soil forcane's growth and development; butthe Spanish government of the six­teenth and seventeenth centurieswas gold-mad and discouraged agri-

[ 58]

W"orld's Sugar Bowl

cultural productions of all kinds infavor of mining. Indeed, after a veryfew years, the cultivation of sugarcane in Cuba was forbidden, andeven after that prohibition was with­drawn, cane was permitted to begrown only under governmentalmonopolies and privileges which hadsuch a restrictive influence that noreal progress was made with cane onthe Island until about 1772.

Mter that year, however, anySpaniard was free to produce sugar,and this led to such an increasedproduction that the exportation morethan trebled in thirty years.

By 1800 Cuba had 870 sugar fac­tories and was exporting more than40,000 tons a year. Owing to Napo­leon's "Continental System" whichtook Europe out of Cuba's marketduring the first years of the nine­teenth century, the industry sufferedheavily; but after Napoleon's fall,

[59 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

with intercourse again established,Cuba's sugar began to expand ateven more than its former rapid rate.

Although the production thus in­creased, the methods of cultivationand manufacture remained crude andprimitive. During this period noreliable statistics were recorded., butit is known that in 1870 the yearlyoutput ran to 725,000 tons whichrepresented the product of no fewerthan 1,000 small factories. Thisperiod of prosperity was brought toan end by the abolition of slaveryand by the "Ten Years' War" withSpain. This war, one of great bitter­ness on both sides, not only paralyzedcommerce but led. to the devastationof much sugar property.

It was during this period, too,that the competition with beetrootsugar first became noticeably threat­ening. After the war was over,however, in 1878, the annual output

[601

World's Sugar Bowl

rose again so that, in 1890, 6!l5,OOOtons were produced from about 470factories. From this point, the pro­duction went steadily upward untilit reached a maximum of somethingover a million tons in 1894.

In the following year, 1895, how­ever, the final rebellion against Spainbroke out, and after much devasta­tion, it ended in the Spanish-Ameri­can War, and ultimately in theestablishment of the Cuban Repub­lic. This period of strife was theworst in the entire history of Cuba­on both sides property was burnedand destroyed, cattle were killed,and other reprisals put into effectfor the purpose of cutting off anopponent's livelihood-for the Islanditself was far from being a unit onthe question of rebellion.

Owing to the demolition of fac­tories, the burning of cane fields andthe destruction of work-cattle, and

[ 61)

Cuban Cane Sugar

the enlistment of citizens in thearmies, it became almost an impos­sibility to carry on the sugar in­dustry at all. In spite of the strictorders issued by the Spanish author­ities to continue grinding, the pro­duction, in 1897, went down nearlyto !tOO,OOO tons.

As can be well imagined, theindustry recovered but slowly whenthis period of misery and d~truction

had come to an end; factories hadbeen destroyed; the working popu­lation had been reduced and mademore or less unfit for work; work­cattle, representing the sole means ofcultivation and conveyance, had beenwantonly destroyed; the financialsituation was such that manufac­turers were unable to raise the fundsnecessary for rebuilding factories orequipping them; and a general periodof reconstruction and centralizationset in.

[ 6i]

World's Sugar Bowl

Notwithstanding this set-back,production rose from 2Ht,051 tons in1897 to 612,775 in 1901, passing themillion ton mark in 1908, the million­and-a-half ton mark in 1909, thetwo-million ton mark in 1918-and,with the 1915-16 season, passed thethree-million ton mark.

• • • •There are other islands in the West

Indies and surroundings which, byreason of location and climate,might seem as well suited to sugarproduction as Cuba.

There are several reasons whythey are not-but the chief of theseis that the United States Govern­ment has stamped out the old politi­cal unrest-the wars and revolutionswith their bloodshed-which, form­erly kept Cuba down, while all ofCuba's neighbors, save Porto Ricoalone, are still living, politically, in

[6S]

Cuban Cane Sugar

the tempestuous pirate-times of cen­turies ago.

B we look at Cuba's less fortunateneighbors-and at the sugar beltwhich girdles the earth-it wouldseem as if the same tropical rains andsunshine which are needed for theproduction of cane also conspire toform an ideal atmosphere for foment­ing political unrest. Hayti, Guate­mala, San Salvador, Honduras,Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Colombia-all of these are sugar producingcountries on a limited scale, but sosubject to outbreaks are they, that

. their sugar industries have neverpresented an inviting appeal to thecapital necessary to bring them totheir maxima.

In Mexico, from which much mightotherwise be expected, there is chaos,and the threat of continued chaos,while Cuba, much better suited bysoil and climate to sugar production,

[M]

World's Sugar Bowl

with the United States Governmentfostering her, and irrevocably boundto contiriue safeguarding her, enjoysa stability which may well be com­pared with the stability, for example,of the State of New Jersey.

Cuba has always had her soil; shehas always had a market for moresugar than she could produce. Yetin her first century of sugar produc­tion she reached a bare million tonsof production; while in the seven­teen ~rs since she has been aRepublic, in spite of the set-back ofa reconstruction period, her produc­tion has jumped to three million tons.

• • • •The chief problem in sugar growing

(as in the manufacture of any com­modity) is the cost of production.

As to Cuba's cost of production,Willett & Gray quoted in 1910 thefollowing figures: Cuba sugar, to.b.Cuba, costs $.0185 per pound or

[ 65)

Cuban Cane Sugar

'.0195 per pound c.i.f. New York.They fixed '.02 per pound as themaximum f.o.b. Cuba cost price, and'.015 per pound as the minimum.

Undoubtedly, in the six yearswhich have intervened, the cost ofproduction has been still furtherreduced; and with American capitaland ingenuity going into Cuba asthey are, another decade or so mustsee production costs brought downstill nearer the irreducible minimum.~ .But if no further reduction couldbe wrought, Cuba stands and alwaysmust stand in an enviable positionwith relation to the largest buyer ofsugar in the world.

Spreading out over and around her,within easy access, lies the UnitedStates which buys and consumesabout four million tons of sugar ayear. Less than one-fourth of thiscomes from Porto Rico, Hawaii, andthe Philippines; less than one-sixth

[66 ]

World's Sugar Bowl

is beet sugar grown within her ownborders; less than one-twentieth iscane sugar of her own growing.

The figures of Willett &Gray showthat in 1914 the United States im­ported 2,066,912 tons of cane sugarin addition to all the sugar produc- •tion of her own states and territories.Cuba, therefore, had at her very doora ready market for practically four­fifths of her 2,597,78~ ton crop.

The United States, of course, isnot her only market; Cuba is nearerto England than India; nearer toCentral Europe than Java. And therecent past has shown that theslightest strain in Europe pulls in­stantly on the Cuban sugar supply.

• * * •Porto Rico cannot much increase

her output; her total area is con­siderably less than that of NewJersey, and only a small portion ofthis, on the coastal regions, is suited

[ 67]

Cuban Cane Sugar

to cane-growing. Hawaii cannotcompete with Cuba's natural ad­vantages to the point of muchfurther extension; the Philippineshave not shown much progress, theirsugar industry is still in its experi­mental stage; and Mexico is out ofthe sugar race for many years tocome, even if ideal political condi­tions could prevail and continue.

• • • •It would seem that nature had out­

done herself to make Cuba the sugarbowl of the world; and that civili­zation had done her part in settlingthe world's largest market for sugarright at her shores.

What further the future holds instore for Cuba and her sugar, de­pends now on the skill and enter­prise of man.

Cuban Sugar can be as big as Mindand Capital can make it-and there­in lies America's Opportunity.

[68 ]

Coogle

v. Cuban Cane Sugar­America's Opportunity

An English physician living onthe little island of Trinidad observedone day that grass-like plants werecoming up here and there in the canefields.

The planters whom he asked aboutit told him it was grass, and showedno further curiosity. The physician,however, unable to account for grassseeds having fallen there, suspectedthat these were really the shoots ofseedling sugar-canes.

It developed later that both theplanters and the physician were right.The little shoots were young sugar­cane plants; but since sugar caneitself is a giant grass, there was nomistake.

The importance of the physician'sobservation lay in the fact that sugar­

[69 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

cane had been believed, for ages, tobe sterile; no such thing as a seed­ling of sugar cane had ever beenheard of.

There is, be it known, a smallcompany of cultivated plants whichhave almost altogether given up thehabit of seed-production. The horse­radish, for example, has so long beenseedless that offers of $50,000 havebeen made for a thimbleful of itsseed. Similarly, the common potatohas almost abandoned the habit, andthe marked improvement in ourpotatoes as against those of thirtyyears ago is due wholly to the factthat some seed-bearing potatoes wereaccidentally discovered.

The cane, for ages, has beenpropagated in the same way that thepotato has. When potatoes areplanted, one of the twenty-seveneyes of a potato is merely placed inthe ground and left to sprout; when

[70 ]

America'sOpportunity

cane is planted, one of the shortsegments of the stalk is placed in theground and soon throws out rootsof its own. When plants are prop­agated in this way, there is nochance for variation and consequentimprovement. It is the same oldplant growing over and over again­there are no new combinations ofheredity to combine in working thewonders of variation.

The discovery of cane seedlings,thus-although undoubtedly therehad been many such seedlings, un­noticed, before-was one, therefore,of the utmost importance.

The Trinidad physician, full ofenthusiasm at uncovering one ofNature's secrets, transplanted a num­ber of the cane-seedlings, broughtthem to maturity, and found severalnew and apparently superior vari­eties of the cane among them.

One of these was carried subse­[ 71 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

quently to the Hawaiian Islandswhere it was propagated in the usualway, 80 that, in due course, sufficientplants were raised from it to betested as to their qualities of growth,hardiness, and sugar-production. Itwas soon discovered that the prog­eny of this seedling constitutedvirtually a new race of sugar cane;one that would grow on land so poorthat it had been allowed to remainfallow. The new variety, indeed,was found to produce more sugar oneven the poorest land than theordinary variety produces on goodland.

The impetus which this discoverygave to the study of improving thecane may in a large measure accountfor Hawaii's great superiority, in thequality of cane raised, over othercane-producing countries.

In Hawaii, today, not only is theacreage output the highest of any

[7i]

America'sOpportunity

cane-growing country, but the sugarcontent of the cane itself is higher.Hawaiian cane averages more thansixteen parts of sugar to 100 parts ofcane, whereas Cuban cane averagesless than twelve parts of sugar to100 parts of cane. Hawaii, with cer­tain natural disadvantages, couldnot, in fact, market sugar profita­bly with less efficient production.

• • • •This brings us to the first great

sugar opportunity of Cuba-im­provement in the kinds of canegrown, and improvement in cane­growing methods.

In spite of the fact that Cubancane-growers have long known ofbetter varieties which might easilybe procured for planting, yet theseinnovations have not been welcome.The planters are familiar with thevarieties now in use, while new kinds,of course, must first be tried out.

[78 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

In countries where planting is doneevery year, such trials entail littlerisk; for should the crop be a partialfailure, it affects only that year andinvolves no further loss. But inCuba, where planting is done butonce in from seven to ten years, theselection of the wrong kind of canewould bring ruin.

So Cuba's cane-growers, withneither the land nor the resources,nor the enterprise to experiment,have sat idly back, planting, in mostcases, the same old varieties whichthe Spaniards brought over decadesago.

Since there are varieties of caneknown which produce about twenty­five per cent. more sugar than thepresent Cuban cane, there is ob­viously incentive, a-plenty, for ex­perimentation with better varietiesof cane-if the experimenters operateon a scale large enough to insure

[ 74 ]

America'sOpportunity

constant earnings while the experi­.mentation takes place.

Nor can it be doubted that thescientific plant-breeder can work amuch greater increase, even, than isrepresented by the best varieties nowin existence. By cross-breeding andselection, if enough experiments betried, it will be possible to evolve avariety of cane which will get theutmost out of the wonderful soilCuba offers as a habitat.

To the hand-to-mouth owner of asmall plantation, such experimentsseem out of the question. But to acompany with a 100,000 to 500,000ton production, experimentation up­on a scale bound to bring successwould cost a mere fraction of a percent. of its eamings.

The result, on the other hand, if,for example, a twenty-five per cent.increase of sugar per 100 parts ofcane were secured, would represent

[ 75 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

not merely a twenty-five per cent.increase in earnings, but might meaneven trebled or quadrupled earnings;for-since it costs no more to plant,or cultivate, or harvest, or crush thecane-every additional per cent. ofsugar secured can be counted netgain.

• • • •The development of better suited

varieties of cane, however, repre­sents but a small part of the oppor­tunity offered in improved sugarproduction. Equally great advancesmight also be attained through bet­ter methods of soil tillage, main­tenance of property and plantationmanagement.

As matters now stand, deep plow­ing is almost unknown in Cuba­scratching the soil has alwaysbrought a crop, so surface scratchingis all the soil has had. Once thesame thorough methods that are the

[ 76 ]

America's Opportunity

rule in Iowa, or the Dakotas, or Cal­ifomia, are introduced into Cubancane culture, amazing results mayreasonably be expected.

The truth is that the land is sorich and the climate so well suitedto cane, that those simple methodsof making agriculture pay, whichevery other farmer employs, havebeen neglected and shunned; andthe cane crop has been left to thegraces of a too bounteous Nature.

•• • • •A story is told of an undertaking,

some years ago, to provide theAmerican Indian with better meaDSof eaming his livelihood. The ques­tion was asked of a wise Indiancommissioner if, in his estimation,the Indian could successfully engagein raising sugar beets.

"Yes," was the reply, "if hecould do it on horseback."

Very similar, indeed, has been the[ 77 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

attitude of the Cuban cane-growertoward his cane.

• • • •Great as is the opportunity of

improving Cuban agriculture, greaterstill is the opportunity of improvingCuban manufacturing.

In Hawaii, for example, wheresugar efficiency, both in growing andin manufacturing has always to beat its best, as high as ninety-five percent. of the sugar in the cane isextracted. In Java, Cuba's nearestcompetitor, the extraction averageswell over ninety per cent. But inCuba, in spite of much modem ma­chinery, the extraction is materiallyless. While the definite figures arenot available, there is good author­ity for the statement that the aver­age loss of sugar in Cuba exceedsthat of any other cane growingcountry.

One reason for this wastage is[ 78]

America's Opportunity

the Cuban climate. The same welldistributed rains which make thecane grow as it does, serve also tomake the cane fields and the roadsimpassable to the harvesters. Thegrinding, therefore, is limited to the,six months' dry season. Duringthis season the sugar content varies,from eight per cent. at the beginningof the season up to twelve and fif­teen per cent., and even more, atits end.

The same hand-to-mouth policywhich has been in evidence in Cubancane-growing here comes to the sur­face in Cuban raw sugar manu­facturing. Instead of properlyplanning the grinding of the crop soas to distribute it over the grindingseason, thus gaining the highest per­centage of extraction, growers havebeen in the habit of holding theircrops as long as they dared for ahigher sugar content, while the mills

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Cuban Cane Sugar

lay idle; much good cane has thusbeen lost because in the final-mo­ment rush the mills were taxed farbeyond their capacity. It has be­come the practice of mills, thus, tobend every effort toward handlingthe largest quantity of cane, payinglittle attention to the wastage whichsuch high pressure methods involve.And the net result has been thatCuba has wasted a considerablepercentage of her sugar which, sim­ply by efficient management, mighthave been saved.

• • • •Sugar-growing, and sugar-growing

in Cuba, particularly, must, essen­tially, be a large scale operation.

The small grower, today, findshimself unable to compete with eventhe few moderate-sized. sugar under­takings which have sprung up inCuba; and with production be­coming better and better organized,

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America's Opportunity

as it must, his position will becomemore and more difficult.

Quite clearly the tendency towardcentralization in the business hasbeen written into the figures: in1800, with a ~4,000 ton productionof sugar, there were 870 factories inCuba; by 1870, with a 7!l5,000 tonproduction, there were 1,000 fac­tories-a 8200 per cent. increase inproduction with only a sixteen percent. increase in the number of fac­wries-already centralization on asmall scale had begun to set in; in1890, with a 6~5,000 ton production,there were but 470 factories; whilein 1911, with nearly a 2,000,000 tonproduction, there were but 168 fac­tories.

Yet organization and centraliza­tion, which, as can be seen, have beenthe tendency for more than a cen­tury, are really only at their be­ginning in Cuba--sugar operations

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Cuban Cane Sugar

from this time forward must beupon larger and larger scales, andthe trend of developments give prom­ise that they will be.

Cuba has much modem sugarmachinery and many modern sugarmills; she needs all these, and morelike them; but Cuba's big opportu­nities are not alone for the machinerysalesman; the big opportunities shepresents are for enterprise and effici­ciency; the same kind of enterpriseand efficiency thathave placed Ameri­can steel, American automobiles,American farm machinery and otherAmerican products in the forefrontof the world's markets. And forsuch enterprise and efficiency, hersugar can afford to pay, as neithersteel nor automobiles nor farm ma­chinery have ever been able to pay.

• • • •Just as Cuba has conducted her

cane-growing and her milling in a(8~ ]

America's Opportunity

hand-to-mouth fashion, so too hasshe conducted the marketing of this,her most important crop.

Cuba's cane-growers have alwaysbeen at the mercy of the fluctuationsof the market-at the mercy, some­times, of artificial conditions createdfor the purpose of making the mar­ket fluctuate. The growers, in timesof plenty, have been compelled to sellat a low market, and have foundthemselves, later, in times of scarcityand with prices soaring, without aproduct to deliver. The producerthus has suffered, at no advantageto the consumer. Nature has madeCuba strong in sugar, but ineffi­ciency has made her weak in finance,and she has been pinched andsqueezed in times when she mightas easily have dictated.

• • • •Cuba's great opportunity, thus,

will belong to Capital-fearless capi­[ 83 ]

Cuban Cane Sugar

tal which shall lift her chief industryout of its Spanish lethargy-capitalto provide improvements in agricul-

'ture and in manufacture--capital,v.ith confidence, to create marketingconditions, instead of being the slaveof them.

Already American capital is work­ing wonders for Cuba in other lines­already it has spanned her lengthwith a modem railroad and broughtthe island within train and ferrydistance of New York; and alreadyAmerican investment in transport­ation is beginning to reap its reward.

• • • •Improved methods of cane-grow­

ing-up to date agriculture; im­proved methods of sugar-making­up to date manufacturing; improvedmethods of marketing-up to datemerchandising; these are the definiteways in which Cuban cane sugar canbe placed ona higher plane. These

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America'sOpportunity

are the definite opportunities, there­fore, which are now opened up toAmerican industry, efficiency andcapital.

[THE END]

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