BEET SUGAR IN THE UNITED STATES

While the manufacture of sugar from beet-roots is one of the foremost industries in the United States today, the early stages of its growth and development were marked by numerous failures and setbacks. The first beginning was made by a company headed by John Vaughn and James Ronaldson, which built a small factory in Philadelphia in 1830, where a few hundred pounds of sugar were produced. Owing to lack of knowledge of beet culture and extraction of sugar from the roots, the venture proved unsuccessful and no further attempt has been made in Pennsylvania.

Northampton, Massachusetts, was the scene of the next experiment in 1838 and 1839 by David Lee Child, who had studied the growth and manufacture of beet sugar in Europe for a year and a half. He succeeded in getting 6 per cent of sugar and 2½ per cent of molasses from the beets and his estimate of the cost of the sugar per pound was eleven cents. After producing 1300 pounds of sugar he abandoned the enterprise.

A report made in 1838 by the Committee on Agriculture, a government body, contains the following statement: “From all the information which the committee have been able to obtain, they are induced to believe that no country in the world is better adapted for the production of sugar beets than most parts of the United States, whether we consider the soil, the climate or the people.”[28]

In 1851 John Taylor, who afterward succeeded Brigham Young as president of the Mormon church, was carrying on missionary work in England, and in September of that year hemet Elias Morris, whom he engaged to go to Utah to establish a plant for the manufacture of beet sugar.

Machinery for the purpose was purchased in France and sent to Liverpool, from where it was shipped to New Orleans in charge of Morris in March, 1852. From New Orleans it was taken up the Mississippi river to St. Louis, thence to Kanesville, Ohio, where it was loaded on wagons for transportation across the plains. The journey from the river was begun on July 4th, with oxen as the motive power. It proved long and arduous, but the members of the party reached Green river, Wyoming, four months later, having suffered much from hunger and cold. There they were met by a detachment sent out from Salt Lake city by Brigham Young and they finally arrived at their destination about the middle of November.

The original intention was to start operations at Provo, and the sugar machinery was taken there, but the company that John Taylor had organized was dissolved and the machinery turned over to the church, under whose direction it was installed in an adobe building still standing in Salt Lake city.

Once more lack of knowledge resulted in failure. Instead of sugar, the Mormons only succeeded in making a massecuite that was utterly inedible.[29]

In 1856, a coppersmith named Bepler erected a small beet-sugar factory at Ocean View, near San Francisco, California, but the enterprise was unsuccessful.[30]

The next noteworthy attempt was made at Chatsworth, Illinois, in 1863 by the brothers Gennert, who came from Braunschweig, Germany, and who were familiar with the methods of beet-sugar making. They formed the Germania Beet Sugar company, planted a thousand acres of land in beets and sent to Europe for machinery, but their highest extraction of sugarfrom the beet-roots was only 5.5 per cent. Weather conditions were unfavorable and the soil they selected was not suited to beet culture, so six years of effort ended in failure and the loss of more than a quarter of a million dollars. The plant was removed to Freeport, Illinois, where the final result was disaster.

Otto and Bonesteel, two Germans, established a factory at Fond-du-lac, Wisconsin, in 1866,[31]and during the two following years they achieved some measure of success. Subsequently, they moved to Alvarado, California, where they began operations in 1870. They managed to keep their factory running for a few years, but finally gave up the struggle in 1876.

In 1872 the state of New Jersey passed a law providing that all capital and property employed in the raising of sugar beets should be free from taxation for ten years. New ventures were undertaken in California, Delaware and Maine, and these states stimulated the industry by bounties, or tax exemption, or both. A factory was built at Hartford, Maryland, in 1879, but it was afterward abandoned, and the only going concerns engaged in the manufacture of beet sugar east of the Alleghanies during recent years were the small plants in New York at Rome and Lyons. Dismantled in 1905 and 1911, respectively, part of the machinery of the former was moved to Visalia, California, and the latter plant in its entirety to Anaheim, California.

All of these failures were traceable to the lack of practical knowledge of beet culture and the making of sugar from beet-roots. Then, too, the agricultural lands at first selected were unsuited to the purpose and the seed used up to the year 1890 gave beets of a low sugar content, from 6 per cent to 8 per cent. The development of the Western states gave the beet-sugar industry a permanent place in California, and a little later in Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

BUILDING IN SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, IN WHICH THE FIRST BEET-SUGAR MACHINERY BROUGHT TO THE WEST WAS INSTALLED

E. H. DYER. THE FATHER OF BEET SUGAR IN AMERICA

The California Beet Sugar Manufacturing company was organizedby E. H. Dyer and C. S. Hutchinson in 1869 with $250,000 capital and a factory was erected at Alvarado on Mr. Dyer’s ranch. Otto and Bonesteel were induced to leave Fond-du-lac, Wisconsin, and come west to assume the management. Operations were begun in 1870 and on November 17th of that year the first beet sugar was made in California. The factory and equipment cost $125,000; the daily capacity was fifty tons of beets and one hundred and twenty-five men were employed. Between one thousand and fifteen hundred acres were planted in beets, the factory paying $3.50 per ton for them. The finished product cost about ten cents a pound, while the market price ranged from twelve to fifteen cents a pound. The first year’s output was 250 tons, the second 400 tons, the third 562 tons and the fourth 750 tons. Then financial troubles came and the plant was closed. The machinery was sold to a new concern, which built a factory at Soquel, Santa Cruz county. This enterprise failed in 1876, but the plant was put in operation again in 1880, when 150 tons of sugar were produced. That was the end of the Soquel venture.

In 1879 Mr. Dyer bought the buildings and land of the old California Beet Sugar Manufacturing company, and, with O. F. Giffin, formed the Standard Sugar Manufacturing company, with a capital of $100,000. Subsequently a reorganization was effected under the name of the Standard Sugar Refining company and the capital was increased to $200,000. The machinery and diffusion batteries of a plant built at Brighton by some Sacramento people about eight years previous were purchased and installed at Alvarado in buildings newly erected for the purpose. While it is true that in the operation of this company there was a constant struggle to overcome obstacles and difficulties, it is nevertheless a fact that it achieved success from the beginning. In 1884 the capacity of the mill was increased to 100 tons of beets per day, but disaster overtook the concerntoward the end of 1886. Two of the boilers exploded, making it impossible to operate during the season of 1887-88.

Nothing daunted, Mr. Dyer grappled with the problem once more and succeeded in floating a new corporation, the Pacific Coast Sugar company, with $1,000,000 capital and headed by John L. Howard as president. In 1887 and 1888 this company built the middle part of the present factory at Alvarado, where it installed most of the machinery from the old plant, together with some new apparatus. The campaign of 1888 was barren of results and in March of the following year the Pacific Coast Sugar company sold its property to a new concern, the Alameda Sugar company, whose first president was M. H. Hecht. In 1890 two additions to the factory were built, one at each end.

From small beginnings, this Alvarado enterprise, the pioneer of American success in the production of sugar from beets, continued its yearly operations from 1879 until 1914, with the exception of the year following the boiler explosion. In 1889 the output was 872 tons, in 1911 it reached 9966 tons. At the beginning of 1914, sugar prices were low and tariff prospects very discouraging. Under such conditions, the owners of the plant did not believe that they could make sugar at a profit, and the factory remained closed during that season. The sharp advance in sugar values, due to the war in Europe, completely changed matters; beets were planted and 6363 tons of sugar were produced in 1915.

For a long time Mr. Dyer was looked upon as an enthusiast and a dreamer whose sincerity was unquestioned, but whose energies were misdirected. In the midst of the gloomy forebodings of those around him, he held tenaciously to his purpose and devoted his brains and his money to the solution of the problem confronting him. That the beet-sugar industry of the United States proved a success when it did is due to his unfailing courage and persistent effort.

A year before the Alvarado factory was built, a number of moneyed men of Sacramento, head by Julius Wetzlar, then president of the Capital savings bank, conceived the idea of starting a beet-sugar plant there. After some experimenting with local beets, the Sacramento Valley Sugar company was organized and machinery for a seventy-ton plant was ordered from Germany. Construction was delayed for a year, and thus the Sacramentans lost the honor of being the first in the field. In 1871 they built a factory at Brighton, six miles east of Sacramento, near the American river. An expert was brought out from Germany and work was begun on November 18th. The first diffusion battery used in the United States was employed in the extraction of sugar from the beets. The season of 1871 gave good results, but the following year the crop suffered greatly from the ravages of the army worm. The campaign of 1873 opened on August 5th, lasting until November 22nd. The yield of beets was ten tons per acre, the average sugar content 8 per cent and the total output 982,120 pounds of sugar, including all grades.

This enterprise struggled along until 1875, in spite of troubles from drought, army worm, grasshoppers and last, but not least, lack of experience. The plant was then closed and the equipment put up for sale. Briefly, it may be said that at the outset very poor sugar was turned out, and later, when the quality was improved, the cost of manufacture was found to be greater than what the sugar would bring. The final outcome was that the stockholders lost nearly all the money they had invested.

About 1874,[32]the California Sugar Manufacturing company was formed. Sixty-eight acres of land at Isleton were bought, a factory structure of brick was erected and machinery installed, the total expenditure being about $250,000. Sugar ofgood quality was made, but the financial result was disastrous. Isleton land was ill suited to beet culture, as when the Sacramento river was high the beet fields were covered with water. One authority states that the original idea was to manufacture sugar from watermelons, and when it was found that this was not practicable, attention was turned to beets.

In 1876 numerous mechanics’ liens were filed against the company. Later, the factory was leased to H. M. Ames of Oakland, who operated it during the campaign of 1880. Two years afterward the entire plant was sold at sheriff’s sale for $10,000. The land and building were purchased by P. H. Gardiner of Isleton and the machinery went to a San Francisco junk dealer. This venture is said to have caused financial distress to many of the farmers in the vicinity.

In 1888, Claus Spreckels, so long a prominent figure in the sugar world, established a beet factory at Watsonville, Santa Cruz county, in the rich Pajaro valley. At first its capacity was 300 tons of beets per day, and, the result of the operations being favorable, this was increased from time to time until it reached 1000 tons of beets per day. The Watsonville factory developed into the largest beet plant in America and remained so until 1898, in which year Mr. Spreckels erected a modern 3000-ton plant at Salinas, fifteen miles distant. Since then the new factory has sliced all of the beets grown in that territory and the old one has been dismantled. The capacity of the Salinas plant now is greater than that of any other beet factory in the United States, being 4000 tons per day.

The Oxnard brothers, Henry T., Benjamin, James G. and Robert, with J. G. Hamilton, W. Bayard Cutting and R. Fulton Cutting, organized the Oxnard Beet Sugar company in 1889, and in December of that year broke ground for a beet-sugar factory of 350 tons slicing capacity at Grand Island, Nebraska. In 1891 they built two more, one at Norfolk, Nebraska, and oneat Chino, California, both of the same size as the Grand Island plant. The machinery for the first two factories was bought in France and that for the last one came from Germany. Toward the end of 1897, construction at Oxnard was begun, and in 1899 a consolidation of all these factories was effected under the corporate title of the American Beet Sugar company.

At the close of 1890, sixty years after the first experiment at Philadelphia, there were only three beet-sugar factories in operation in America; those at Alvarado, Watsonville and Grand Island. The total capacity of the three plants was eight hundred tons of beets a day, or ten thousand tons of sugar a year. France in the same period increased her production from 5000 to 770,000 tons a year through favorable legislation providing for the payment of bounties.

In the United States, whenever beet-sugar enterprises have been started, there has generally been some legal provision for payment by the state of bounty on the quantity of sugar produced. The story of how this responsibility was evaded is hardly a pleasant one. In Nebraska, for example, three different legislatures enacted laws providing for bounty on beet sugar, but in each case the following legislature either repealed the act or failed to make appropriations for the necessary funds. In the early nineties, Michigan passed a bounty law which resulted in several beet factories being established in that state, but when the claims for bounty were presented for payment, the state auditor refused to honor them, and his action was upheld by the state supreme court on the ground of unconstitutionality. A similar condition arose in Idaho. Minnesota paid bounties in 1890 and 1899, after which the law was declared unconstitutional.

The McKinley bill of April, 1891, was the first national legislation to encourage the beet industry. It called for a bounty of two cents on each pound of domestic sugar produced testingover 90 degrees, and admitted beet seed and sugar machinery free of duty. This encouraged the Oxnards to build the factories at Norfolk, Nebraska, and Chino, California, of which mention has already been made. At the same time Thomas R. Cutler and his associates put up a beet factory at Lehi, Utah, which state offered a bounty in addition to that granted by the Federal government.

The tariff act of August 28, 1894, abolished the bounty on sugar and fixed an ad valorem duty of 40 per cent. As a result of the loss of the bounty and the financial stress that reigned at that time, no beet factories were started except that at Menominee Falls, Wisconsin, which was a flat failure.

The following résumé of the United States tariffs on sugar since the year 1846 may be found useful for purposes of reference:

Tariff act July 30, 1846: All sugars 30 per cent ad valorem.Tariff act March 3, 1857, to be effective from and after July 1, 1857: All sugars 24 per cent ad valorem.Tariff act March 2, 1861, effective April 1, 1861: ¾c per pound on raw, 2c per pound on refined.Tariff act August 5, 1861: 2c per pound on raw. Sugars above 12 D. S. and not yet refined, 2½c per pound. 4c per pound on refined.Tariff act July 14, 1862, effective August 1, 1862: Sugars not above 12 D. S., 2½c per pound. Sugars above 12 D. S., not above 15 D. S., 3c per pound. Above 15 D. S., not above 20 D. S., and not stove dried, 3½c per pound. Refined and above 20 D. S., 4c.Joint resolution of April 29, 1864, in effect for sixty days: Sugars not above 12 D. S., 2½c per pound plus 50 per cent equals 3¾c per pound. Sugars above 12 D. S. and not above15 D. S., 3c plus 50 per cent equals 4½c per pound. Sugars above 15 D. S. and not above 20 D. S., 3½c per pound plus 50 per cent equals 5¼c per pound. All refined sugars 4c per pound plus 50 per cent equals 6c per pound.Tariff act June 30, 1864, effective July 1, 1864: Sugars not above 12 D. S., 3c per pound. Sugars above 12 D. S., not above 15 D. S., 3½c per pound. Sugars above 15 D. S., not above 20 D. S., and not stove dried, 4c per pound. All refined sugars and all sugars over 20 D. S., 5c per pound.Tariff act July 14, 1870, to be effective on and after December 31, 1870, which means January 1, 1871. Later amended by tariff act of December 22, 1870, to be effective immediately: Sugars not above 7 D. S., 1¾c per pound. Sugars above 7 D. S., not above 10 D. S., 2c per pound. Sugars above 10 D. S., not above 13 D. S., 2¼c per pound. Sugars above 13 D. S., not above 16 D. S., 2¾c per pound. Sugars above 16 D. S. and not above 20 D. S., 3¼c per pound. All sugars above 20 D. S. and all refined, 4c per pound.Tariff act March 3, 1875: Sugars not above 7 D. S., 1¾c per pound plus 25 per cent equals 2.19c per pound. Sugars above 7 D. S., not above 10 D. S., 2c per pound plus 25 per cent equals 2.50c. Sugars above 10 D. S., not above 13 D. S., 2¼c plus 25 per cent equals 2.81c per pound. Sugars above 13 D. S., not above 16 D. S., 2¾c plus 25 per cent equals 3.44c per pound. Sugars above 16 D. S., not above 20 D. S., 3¼c plus 25 per cent equals 4.06c per pound. All sugars above 20 D. S. and all refined sugars, 4c per pound plus 25 per cent equals 5c per pound.Tariff act March 3, 1883, effective June 1, 1883: Sugars not above 13 D. S. and not above 75-degree polarization, 1.40c per pound and .04c additional per degree or fraction thereof.Sugars above 13 D. S., not above 16 D. S., 2.75c per pound. Sugars above 16 D. S., not above 20 D. S., 3c per pound. Sugars above 20 D. S., 3½c per pound.Tariff act October 1, 1890, effective April 1, 1891 (McKinley bill): Bounties effective July 1, 1891. Bounties declared unconstitutional by the United States supreme court: Bounty on domestic productions, sugars testing 80 degrees to 90 degrees, 1¾c per pound. Bounty on domestic productions, sugars testing at least 90 degrees, 2c per pound. All sugar not above 16 D. S., free. All sugar above 16 D. S., duty ½c per pound. All sugar above 16 D. S. from bounty-paying countries, duty ⁶⁄₁₀c per pound.Tariff act August 27, 1894, effective August 28, 1894 (Wilson bill): Bounty on domestic production repealed. All sugars 40 per cent ad valorem. All sugars above 16 D. S. and all sugars discolored, 40 per cent and ⅛c per pound. All sugars from bounty-paying countries, ¹⁄₁₀c per pound additional.Tariff act July 24, 1897 (Dingley bill): Raws not above 16 D. S. and not above 75-degree polarization, .95c per pound. Each additional degree or fraction thereof, .035c per pound additional. Sugar above 16 D. S. and all refined, 1.95c. All sugars from bounty-paying countries, countervailing duties equal to bounties additional.Tariff act August 5, 1909 (Payne-Aldrich bill): Raws not above 16 D. S. and not above 75-degree polarization, .95c per pound. Each additional degree or fraction thereof, .035c per pound additional. Sugar above 16 D. S., and all refined, 1.90c per pound. All sugars from bounty-paying countries countervailing duties equal to bounties additional.Tariff act October 3, 1913, effective March 1, 1914 (Underwoodbill): Raws testing not above 75-degree polarization, .71c per pound. Each additional degree or fraction thereof, .026c per pound additional. No. 16 D. S. clause repealed. All Philippine sugars to be admitted free. After May 1, 1916, all sugars to be admitted free of duty.

Tariff act July 30, 1846: All sugars 30 per cent ad valorem.

Tariff act March 3, 1857, to be effective from and after July 1, 1857: All sugars 24 per cent ad valorem.

Tariff act March 2, 1861, effective April 1, 1861: ¾c per pound on raw, 2c per pound on refined.

Tariff act August 5, 1861: 2c per pound on raw. Sugars above 12 D. S. and not yet refined, 2½c per pound. 4c per pound on refined.

Tariff act July 14, 1862, effective August 1, 1862: Sugars not above 12 D. S., 2½c per pound. Sugars above 12 D. S., not above 15 D. S., 3c per pound. Above 15 D. S., not above 20 D. S., and not stove dried, 3½c per pound. Refined and above 20 D. S., 4c.

Joint resolution of April 29, 1864, in effect for sixty days: Sugars not above 12 D. S., 2½c per pound plus 50 per cent equals 3¾c per pound. Sugars above 12 D. S. and not above15 D. S., 3c plus 50 per cent equals 4½c per pound. Sugars above 15 D. S. and not above 20 D. S., 3½c per pound plus 50 per cent equals 5¼c per pound. All refined sugars 4c per pound plus 50 per cent equals 6c per pound.

Tariff act June 30, 1864, effective July 1, 1864: Sugars not above 12 D. S., 3c per pound. Sugars above 12 D. S., not above 15 D. S., 3½c per pound. Sugars above 15 D. S., not above 20 D. S., and not stove dried, 4c per pound. All refined sugars and all sugars over 20 D. S., 5c per pound.

Tariff act July 14, 1870, to be effective on and after December 31, 1870, which means January 1, 1871. Later amended by tariff act of December 22, 1870, to be effective immediately: Sugars not above 7 D. S., 1¾c per pound. Sugars above 7 D. S., not above 10 D. S., 2c per pound. Sugars above 10 D. S., not above 13 D. S., 2¼c per pound. Sugars above 13 D. S., not above 16 D. S., 2¾c per pound. Sugars above 16 D. S. and not above 20 D. S., 3¼c per pound. All sugars above 20 D. S. and all refined, 4c per pound.

Tariff act March 3, 1875: Sugars not above 7 D. S., 1¾c per pound plus 25 per cent equals 2.19c per pound. Sugars above 7 D. S., not above 10 D. S., 2c per pound plus 25 per cent equals 2.50c. Sugars above 10 D. S., not above 13 D. S., 2¼c plus 25 per cent equals 2.81c per pound. Sugars above 13 D. S., not above 16 D. S., 2¾c plus 25 per cent equals 3.44c per pound. Sugars above 16 D. S., not above 20 D. S., 3¼c plus 25 per cent equals 4.06c per pound. All sugars above 20 D. S. and all refined sugars, 4c per pound plus 25 per cent equals 5c per pound.

Tariff act March 3, 1883, effective June 1, 1883: Sugars not above 13 D. S. and not above 75-degree polarization, 1.40c per pound and .04c additional per degree or fraction thereof.Sugars above 13 D. S., not above 16 D. S., 2.75c per pound. Sugars above 16 D. S., not above 20 D. S., 3c per pound. Sugars above 20 D. S., 3½c per pound.

Tariff act October 1, 1890, effective April 1, 1891 (McKinley bill): Bounties effective July 1, 1891. Bounties declared unconstitutional by the United States supreme court: Bounty on domestic productions, sugars testing 80 degrees to 90 degrees, 1¾c per pound. Bounty on domestic productions, sugars testing at least 90 degrees, 2c per pound. All sugar not above 16 D. S., free. All sugar above 16 D. S., duty ½c per pound. All sugar above 16 D. S. from bounty-paying countries, duty ⁶⁄₁₀c per pound.

Tariff act August 27, 1894, effective August 28, 1894 (Wilson bill): Bounty on domestic production repealed. All sugars 40 per cent ad valorem. All sugars above 16 D. S. and all sugars discolored, 40 per cent and ⅛c per pound. All sugars from bounty-paying countries, ¹⁄₁₀c per pound additional.

Tariff act July 24, 1897 (Dingley bill): Raws not above 16 D. S. and not above 75-degree polarization, .95c per pound. Each additional degree or fraction thereof, .035c per pound additional. Sugar above 16 D. S. and all refined, 1.95c. All sugars from bounty-paying countries, countervailing duties equal to bounties additional.

Tariff act August 5, 1909 (Payne-Aldrich bill): Raws not above 16 D. S. and not above 75-degree polarization, .95c per pound. Each additional degree or fraction thereof, .035c per pound additional. Sugar above 16 D. S., and all refined, 1.90c per pound. All sugars from bounty-paying countries countervailing duties equal to bounties additional.

Tariff act October 3, 1913, effective March 1, 1914 (Underwoodbill): Raws testing not above 75-degree polarization, .71c per pound. Each additional degree or fraction thereof, .026c per pound additional. No. 16 D. S. clause repealed. All Philippine sugars to be admitted free. After May 1, 1916, all sugars to be admitted free of duty.

In April, 1916, a bill was passed by Congress repealing the free-sugar clause of the tariff act of October 3, 1913. The President signed the bill on April 27, 1916.

The Democratic party was defeated in 1896 and the following year saw the passage of the Dingley bill, which levied a duty of 1.685 on 96-degree raw centrifugals under 16 D. S. in color and 1.95 on raws over 16 D. S. and on refined sugars. Under the beneficial influence of this law the industry revived and within a period of about two years from the enactment of the bill twenty-four beet factories sprang into being. One-half of the number were unsuccessful[33]because the stimulating provisions of the new tariff caused ventures to be made hastily and without regard to actual conditions. Of the twelve factories that survived, nearly all were situated in California and Michigan.

From 1900 to 1902 the building of beet plants was not so rapid, for the reason that the failures just mentioned and the popular demand for preferential terms for Philippine and Cuban sugars were not exactly encouraging. A 25 per cent preferential was given to Philippine sugars March 8, 1902, and a concession of 20 per cent of the duty was allowed Cuba December 27, 1903; still, notwithstanding the failures and the political agitation, five or six beet factories were erected each year during this period. The number of beet factories operating in the United States in 1915 was sixty-seven and the total daily slicing capacity was 73,320 tons. The acreage harvested was 611,301 acres, ninety-three per cent of which was worked by independent farmers and seven per cent by the factories. Thetotal amount of beets sliced during that season was 6,150,293 short tons, which produced 874,220 short tons of sugar.

The following is a list of the factories themselves:

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