Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 116, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1918 — Consumption of Sugar Goes Up to 84 Pounds Per Capita Since Revolutionary Period [ARTICLE]

Consumption of Sugar Goes Up to 84 Pounds Per Capita Since Revolutionary Period

. The American who during the world’s greatest war must get along with one lump of sugar instead of two in his coffee will be interested in the fact that the Revolutionary patriots had much less or none at all of the sweetening food material. A century ago, says the United States department of agriculture, the people of this country consumed less than one-tenth as much sugar as they do now. In 1791-1795, just after the Revolution, the estimated annual consumption was 7.5 pounds per capita. In 1821-1825 the average per capita consumption was 8.3 pounds and was practically the same 20 years earlier. But in the five years ending with 1915 the total consumption in the United States was approximately 8,000,000,000 pounds, a yearly average of about 84 pounds for each person, or 378 pounds for an average family (4.5 persons). Reasons for the Increase can be found not only in many new and extended uses for sugar but also in numerous sources of the product. Domestic cane and beet fields supplied 23 per cent of the sugar we used in 19111915; the planters of Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Philippines furnished 26 per cent; while .Cuba, supplemented by small amounts from other foreign countries, furnished 51 per cent. During these five years the sugar consumption of the United States averaged almost 160,000,000 pounds per week. The supply for 27 weeks came from foreign ■countries, our island possessions furnished supplies for 13 weeks’ consumption, while the product of the United States proper was equivalent to 12 weeks* average consumption.