The 6,511,274 tons of beets harvested in the United States during the season of 1915 contained an average of 16.49 per cent of sucrose, of which 14.21 per cent found its way into the sacks as white sugar. The difference, 2.28 per cent, represented the loss in working up the beets. As only a few factories, however, were using the Steffen process, a considerable amount of sugar was left in the waste molasses. For the same period, the beets produced in California contained 17.82 per cent of sugar, of which 15.64 per cent found its way into the sacks, showing a loss of only 2.18 per cent. This may be accounted for by the fact that probably more of the California factories were equipped with the Steffen process than the average for the United States, and that the purity of the juices of California beets was higher than the average for the United States. A factory equipped with the Steffen process and running on beets containing 17.82 per cent sugar, with a purity of 82, should lose not over 1.9 per cent of the sugar in the beet. The same factory without the Steffen process would probably lose 5.04 per cent of the sugar. It is interesting to know that, according to the testimony given before the Hardwick committee, the average cost of producing and selling one hundred pounds of white beet sugar in the United States today is about three dollars and fifty cents. The selling price, which is from ten to twenty cents per one hundred pounds less than the selling price of refined cane sugar, fluctuates with the value of raw cane sugar. For instance, if raw cane sugar is selling in New York at four dollars per one hundred pounds, the selling price of refined cane will probably be four dollars and eighty cents. Beet sugar, therefore, would be four dollars and seventy cents or four dollars and sixty cents. On the other hand, if raw cane were selling for three dollars per one hundred pounds, refined would probably be three dollars and eighty cents and beet sugar three dollars and seventy or three dollars and sixty cents. In the one case the beet factory makes a large profit; in the other a very small profit. As the value of raw sugar is determined absolutely by the law of supply and demand in the world’s markets, it is clear that the fortune or misfortune of the beet-sugar producer is beyond his control. [Illustration: _By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq._ THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL BEET-SUGAR FACTORY IN AMERICA—ALVARADO, CALIFORNIA] [Illustration: _By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq._ A MODERN BEET-SUGAR FACTORY] PART II _History of the Industry_ EARLY HISTORY