TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3145, 27 July 1881, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1881.

The beet-root su£»ar experiments in the United Stare a have failed, and the manufjctr.r<i of sugar rYcu that source has proved a disiytnnu; failure. The want of Siiocess is traced directly to the high rates of ordinary wages. A Boston journal asks: What are the causes of the failure of this industry ? And in replying to it says : —" It has been conclusively proved that our soils are adapted to produce beets containing a fair per centnge of sugar; it is proved that the yield per acre in many instances is a 9 great as is grown in France or Germany ; it is proved that we can manufacture sugar and syrup as good as has been produced in any country in tbe world. Where, then, is the difficulty which at present seems to edge up the way to success in this important industry ? It is manifestly in our failure to raise the beats cheaply and in large quantities, and to pursue the business as a permanent department of labor." Our American contemporary goes on to say that in France and Germany women and children of both sexes do most of the labor in tbe raising of beets and all other agricultural products. They work in the fields incessantly, from very early morning until late in the evening. Wages are very low, and it is only by many hours of labor that a meagre livelihood can be secured. The beets for the factories are raised in most instances, in close proximity to the mill, and the pulp is consumed on the farms. The cheap labor brings the cost of the beets at about one half what they cost under our | nyatein. The notion that we <jan pay

men $1 or $1.20 per day of ten or twelve hours to cultivate sugar beets is fallacious; and so is the idea tint that fanners living remote from a factory can cultivate a little patch of sugar beets, at a profit, in connection with tbe general crops of a farm. It is deeply to be regretted that such are the results of great enterprise r.nd pecuniary risks on tbe part of farmers and capitalists in different sections of New England. The Portland sugar factory was the 6rat established, and the first to succumb ; the machinery has been taken out of tbe building, and it -will be devoted to other purposes. The mill established in Franklin County, Mass., owned largely by farmers, cost $131,000, aud is as perfect in all its parts as any iv Germany, from which country the machinery was procured. The mill has run one season, but it is doubtful if it will run the next, as the business is seen to be unsuccessful in a pecuniary noinr. of view. The farmers have not been able to obtain pay for the beets delivered at the factory, but it is expected that ultimately all will receive their money. The number of beets worked ud was 3321 gro3s tons of 2240 pounds. 'These cost the company, delivered at the factory, 520,300 or about $611, per ton. The product was 235 tons sugarand 180 hogsheads of syrup a portion of which had been sold for $21,000 and the balance on hand was believed to be worth $15,000 to $16,000 making the income from $36,000 to $37,000, or between $10 and $11 for each ton of beets worked. It should not have cost over $3 per ton to work the beets up into sugar, which would have left a margin of between $8 and $2 profit for the company; but owing to delays which were unavoidable, the beets had to be pitted, at a cost of about a dollar per ton or over $3000.