Food Guide for War Service at Home / Prepared under the direction of the United States Food Administration in co-operation with the United States Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Education, with a preface by Herbert Hoover

by United States Food Administration; Katharine Blunt; Florence Powdermaker; Frances Lucy Swain

WHY IS THERE A SUGAR SHORTAGE?

Sugar is scarce for two reasons—much less beet-sugar is actually being grown, and some of the cane-sugar is too far away to be available. The sugar-beet, grown in temperate climates, and the sugar-cane, native in tropical and semitropical regions, are the only two sources of sugar large enough to be of more than local importance.

Before the war, 93 per cent of the entire world crop of beet-sugar was grown in Europe. The industry was started by Napoleon in the early nineteenth century when he was at war with most of Europe, and France was shut off from her supply of cane-sugar from the West Indies. The industry spread over the great plain of Central Europe, from the north of France over Belgium, Germany, Austria-Hungary to Central Russia. In 1914 all of these countries were producing enough sugar for their own needs. England produced none at all, but the continent, especially Germany and Austria, supplied her with about 54 per cent of what she needed.

MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF EUROPEAN BEET SUGAR FACTORIES—ALSO BATTLE LINES AT CLOSE OF 1916
ESTIMATED THAT ONE-THIRD OF WORLD'S PROOUCTION BEFORE THE WAR WAS PRODUCED WITHIN BATTLE LINES

The beet-sugar industry in the United States started in 1863 and has grown rapidly since 1897. In 1917 it supplied 22 per cent of the consumption.

Sugar-cane is grown in tropical and semitropical countries all over the globe. Cuba leads in the amount produced, and consumes only a small fraction of her production herself. Java, too, is a large exporter. India raises millions of tons but has to import some to fill all her needs. In the United States, Louisiana, Texas, and some parts of Florida produce about 6 per cent of what we use, but our dependencies, Porto Rico, the Hawaiian Islands and the Philippines all export to us, and together with Cuba, make up the deficiency.

The war has changed entirely the peace-time distribution. The map shows what the battle-lines have done to the beetfields of Europe. Belgium and the northern part of France, in which practically all the beets were grown, are in German hands. In 1914 the battle-line eliminated 203 of the 213 French sugar-factories. In 1916-17 the falling back of the Germans had returned 65 factories to the French, but now again some of these have fallen into the enemy's hands. The French crop in 1915-16 was only one-fifth of the crop before the war and the following year it was only a fourth. Italy's crop was 25 per cent less in 1916-17 than before the war and the estimated yield for this year is 50 per cent less. England, of course, can no longer get sugar from the continent.

So the allied world must import cane-sugar or have almost no sugar at all. The cane-sugar supply is largely dependent on shipping. Ships cannot be spared to go to the East. Therefore the sugar of Cuba and the rest of the West Indies, our main source of supply, must be shared with the Allies. It is to the credit of all involved that every effort is being made to see that the division is a fair one. A commission representing the Allies, the United States, and Cuba apportioned the 1917-18 Cuban crop and fixed its price. Competitive bidding by the many purchasers, with the danger of forcing up the price of the limited supply, was in this way prevented.