The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-07-26
pUzzLINe REVELATIONS.

The impression has been quite generally
entertained that in the United States that
the point Of overproduction in agricultural
pursuits has been nearly or quite reached.
1t has been held that as q rule the prices OF
agricultural products are not fairly remun-
erative, and that in many parts of the
country farming has been losing business.
The inference has been quite natural that
production has more than kept pace with
the growth of population.
But the revelations of the census ere Civ
ing negative to this idea In the country
as . whole the most reliable estimates
place the increase of population at about
thirty per cent This ratio is exceeded by
the increase of so per cent. in hogs and 40
per cent. in the numLer of beef cattle. but
those are about the only lines of farm
products which have kept up with the
human increase, and it is doubtful whether
the great collaborating business Of the
of farming.
The increase in mich cows closely APP
proximates the growth of population, be-
ing about as much below as the latter is
above 30 per cent-a small fraction each
way. The gain in cotton product has been
considerable, but falls about 6 per cent.
short of the human ratio. Wheat. "the
staff Of life" the greatest of all the staples,
has barely increased ten per cent, only
about one-third of the increase in people,
which would make heavy reduction in
the per capita supply which would seem to
call for correspondingly heavy enhance
ment of price, instead of the reverse.
In cereals of all kinds, including wheat,
in dairy products and wool, the per capita
production is very considerably less than it
was ten years ago. which again, according
to the philosophy ordinarily applied in
such cases, would suggest corresponding
appreciation in prices. though to large
extent the contrary Is the fact.
The truth is, the alleged facts seem to set
at defiance all the rules of philosophy
which have commonly been applied to such
cases. That there has been an enormous
and unprecedented appropriation of wild
lands during the past ten years is undeni-
able. 1t is equally patent that there has
been extraordinary improvement in farm
ing machinery and methods, which would
account for q vast increase of production
with only the same number of acres titled
and the same number of persons engaged
In farming. All of which, added to SUPER
fetal appearances, fully justified the i'm
preston that the country had reached or
was tending toward the point of overpro-
duction in agriculture.
But unless there have been grievous mis-
takes in the census of population on the
one hand, or in bureau statistics of produc-
ton on the other hand, this impression has
been all wrong, and there is still room for
more rapid increase of areas devoted to ag-
riculture and improvement in agricultural
methods. The figures go far toward con-
frming the theories of writer of recent
magazine articles that the time is rapidly
approaching when, in respect to agricui-
tural products, the home demand will
equal or exceed the home capacity to
supply. Therefore, while the figures are
puzzling, they are not, il accurate, at all
calculated to discourage the farmer as to
the future