human
We often melt down as many as two million pounds of raw sugar a day, said Mr. Hennessey.
gpt
The United States, you know, is the greatest sugar consuming nation in the world. No other country devours so much of it. One reason is because here even the poorer classes have money enough so they can afford sugar for household use; in many countries this is not the case. Only the well-to-do take sugar in tea or coffee and have it for common use. Our Americans also eat quantities of candy. At the present time children eat three times as many sweets as did their parents, and the amount is constantly increasing. Doctors tell us sugar is one of the fuels necessary to the human system; it generates both heat and energy. Possibly it is because our people work so hard and are driven at such high nervous tension that they demand so much of this sort of food.
human
I never knew before that candy was good for us,
gpt
Oh, bless you, yes! But you must take it in moderation if you wish to benefit from it and escape illness. Used intelligently sugar is an excellent food, but of course you must prescribe it for yourself in the proper proportions, laughed Mr. Hennessey.
human
We all constantly take more or less sugar into our systems through the ordinary foods we eat. But here in America over and above this each individual annually averages about eighty pounds of sugar. You will agree that that is a good deal.
gpt
I should think so! Why, that is a tremendous amount!
human
It seems so when you see it in figures, doesn't it? returned the superintendent.
gpt
Next to the United States in sugar consumption comes England, the reason for this being that the English manufacture such vast amounts of jam for the market. England is a great fruit growing country, you must remember. The damp, moderate climate results in wonderful strawberries, gooseberries, plums, and other small fruits. With these products cheap, fine, and plenty, the English have taken up fruit canning as one of their industries, and they turn out some of the best jams and marmalades that are made.
human
The Germans and the French are much more frugal than we Americans, went on Mr. Hennessey.
gpt
Sugar is not so common in their countries. Often when in Germany you will notice people in the restaurants and caf廥 who carry away in their pockets the loaf sugar which has been allotted them and which they have not had occasion to use. It is a common occurrence, and considered quite proper, although it looks strange to us. Doubtless, too, if you have traveled abroad you have discovered how few candy shops there are. Foreigners regard the wholesale fashion in which we devour sweets with wonder and often with disgust. They consider it a form of self-indulgence, and indeed I myself think we are at times a bit immoderate.
human
My father says we are an immoderate people,
gpt
I am afraid he is right, nodded Mr. Hennessey.
human
We seem to proceed on the principle that if a thing is good we must have a great deal of it. However, the vice--if vice it be--is good for the sugar business.
gpt
You can't see the steam coils that are melting this raw sugar, he remarked.
human
They go round the inside of the tanks. But after the liquid is drawn off you can see them. When first melted the sugar is far from pure; you would be astonished at the amount of dirt mixed with it. Many of these impurities boil up to the surface and over and over again we skim them off. But even after that we have to wash the sugar by various processes. After it has been separated, clarified, and filtered it comes out a clear white liquid, and is ready for the vacuum pans, where the water is evaporated and the sugar crystallized.
gpt
How do you get the liquid clear?
human
After it has been skimmed as carefully as possible we first settle it through the agency of chemicals, answered Mr. Hennessey.
gpt
We use milk of lime as a foundation, but we put other things with it. Our exact formula is a secret, but since you are in the family I guess there would be no objection to my telling you that we use---
human
Don't tell us! Don't tell us! cried Van suddenly.
gpt
I don't want to know. I'd rather not. I mustn't listen.
human
Don't tell me, Mr. Hennessey, he pleaded.
gpt
Don't tell me anything that is secret. I can't listen. It wouldn't be right.