o harm
to regard it so again.

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.

[Illustration: 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 wa