THE phenomenal growth of the beet-sugar industry in the United States and the importance given to it in late congressional considerations, together with the recent action of France in so modifying her laws as to remove 6o per' cent. of the customs and internal-revenue tax on sugar, and the relation which this is likely to have upon the readjustment of the world's sugar supply, make a consideration of the desirability of the United States producing her own sugar especially pertinent at this time. This action of France, and. the more recent utterance of the Berlin Conference, classifying Russian sugar as "bounty-fed," and fully sustaining Secretary of the Treasury Shaw in his recent contention with the Russian government over the same point, has probably sounded the death-knell of bounty-fed sugar, for we may reasonably expect that an action similar to that of France will be taken by the other states of continental Europe. Should this course be followed in Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary, it is inevitable that there will be an entire readjustment of the world's sugar conditions. The very natural question is, then: What may be the effect on this promising new industry of the United States? Our people have become so accustomed to the term "cane sugars" that they do not realize that within the last few years the source of the world's supply has been largely shifted from cane to the beet plant. In i853 the world's sugar supply was I,48i,ooo long tons, of which 304,000 tons is accredited to the beet, or about