Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1879-12-27

which is Better for the Far mer?-COm.
par1son OF Yield and Cash Value
Misstatcments Corrected.


parison Of Yield and Cash Value
Nlisssatements Corrected
To the Editor of the Allegan Journal.
Having recently come into possession
)f what is called "The New Rocky Noun
tain Tourist. Arkansas Valley and San
Juan Guide" by J. G. PangbOrn, and be-
lleving that persons who read the same
without referring to official reports
Will be very much misled, / ask for space
In the Journal to review some of the
Tourists statements. Undoubtedly Mr..
z. is writing in the interest of the At
Crimson, Topeka & Santa Fe railway,
md he has performed his task admira-
bly,. He takes the report of the statisti-
clan of the department of agriculture
tor 1876, to prove that Kansas is, or soon
will be, the first state in the Union. Now
have no desire to discourage people
who contemplate going to Kansas, but
as there are two sides to every question,
and MIR. P. has shown one side only,
propose to show the other and also point
out some of the Misrepresentation of
the Tourist. Mr.. P. takes for his proof
the number of bushels produced, while
take the cash value, believing that Mich
iganians, as rule care more for the
number of dollars their product will
bring than the number of bushels har-
vested.
The Tourist seems to speak with pride
OF the 431a bushels of corn per acre Kan
saS harvested in 1876, but does not tell
us that the average price was only "a
cents, which is the highest price obtain
ed for corn in that state in several years,
In 1875 the average price having been
23 cents, and in 1877, Fl cents per bushel;
while in Michigan the average price for
corn per bushel, for the three years
named, was as follows: 1875, 81 cents;
1876, 81 cents; and in 1877, 80 cents. But
let US take up some of his statements
and pass them in review, On page of
the Tourist Mr.. P. says: kansas led
every state in the Union i'm corn average
to the acre, the product of Kansas being
upward of twenty-One times greater than
the combined product of the two states
following her in ratio of average. In
number of bushels Kansas ranked fifth,
her S2,S36,000 bushels being nearly ten
times greater than the combined product
of the New England states. upward of
100000 bushels greater than the COM
bined product of the middle states, which
include, of course, both the great COM
mOnwealths of New York and Pennsyl
vania; within 2,2o00O0 bushels of as
much as the New England and middle
states combined; greater by 100000 bush
els than the aggregated product of the
ten states of New York, Connecticut, New
Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachu-
setts, Rhode Island, Michigan, Minnesota
and Nebraska, and seventeen times great
er than the combined product of the Pa
cific states, with the territories thrown
in; and all this with but One-tenth of
the tillable land of Kansas under culti-
vatiOn. The product of Kansas was one
third that of the entire south. OF the
western states. Kansas had as much as
Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota to-
gether, and considerable more than 27,-
100000 bushels to spare" These are
some of the statements Mr.. P. makes in
the Tourist. Now let us compare these
statements with the official reports. He
says i'm number of bushels Kansas rank
ed fifth. This statement is true; but in
cash value she ranked eighth, and when
we take into account the number of
acres cultivated we find Kansas ranked
twenty-secOnd, while Michigan ranked
fourteenth. Again we are told that her
S2,S36,0OO bushels is greater by 100000
than the aggregate product of the ten
states named above. In the following
table we give the number of bushels OF
each of the ten states, and also the cash
yalUp.