Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1890-09-20


pounds OF potatoes, Which could easily
have been raised in the canonE and on
the loot hills. At every annual ar, the
wonderful exhibition OF onions, so large,
so fair, so mild in flavor, has excited ad
miratiOn, and they grow so POLITICALLY
here, that it has often been said that
single acre well cultivated would support
the owner; vet even Of onions YOU i'm
ported 1000 pounds from abroad. And
so OF all kinds OF vegetables, which you
should be supplying to Colorado and the
north. A can OF tomatoes o. peaches
seem small thing, but when you are
told that in Albuquerque you imported
1872 900 cans last year, you can imagine
how many canned products were con
sumed in the whole territory, and wonder
WHY they were not raised and prepared
on our own soil. For Albuquerque is no
exception among New Mexico towns. At
Springer, close to the wheat lands OF the
Maxwell grant, they used SO 900 pounds
of foreign flour and 100000 pounds OF
corn; at Wagon Mound, near the Mora
valley, whose wheat fields are wonders OF
produciveness, the leading dealer i'm
ported $4,000 pounds Of flour, and writes
that 'almost every merchant from
Las Vegas northerly gets his flour
and grain from the east and in Las
Vegas, the Getty of the Meadows" it is
estimated that 200 car loads OF flour, 100
of corn and IS OF vegetables are consumed
each year.
The fact is that
EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR,
trains of cars roll into the territory,
through the Ration tunnel and across the
Colorado of the west, laden with the
products OF other states, which we are to
consume and for which we are to pay,
while every one of them could be pro-
duced in great abundance and of better
quality by our own people. The sum
which we annually pay fOr simply the
articles which | have enumerated during
these remarks amounts to over ) 200 900.
These would be sad facts, if caused by
any lack of capacity for production ID
New Mexico; rs it is they are simply
suggestive and instructive ones. And
the lesson which they teach is a double
one.
Firstly, they should be an insp'-
ration and incentive to our own peo-
pie to utilize to a far greater extent the
resources and advantages which they pos
sess.
And secondly, they show by absolute
figures that can not lie, that New Mexico
presents attractions to the industrious
and energetic immigrant which are I'M
known elsewhere.
The man who goes to Dakota, may
raise an abundance of wheat, but there is
no local demand for the crop when ma
tured, and in order to find a market he
muat send it to Chicago or some other
center of trade. lie is at the mercy OF
the railroads, for his product has to bear
long transportation, before it reaches any
consumer. The value OF that product on
the ground is the price in Chicago, less
the freight and various charges.
The raiser Of corn in Kansas, is in a
similar plight.
There is no home demand for his prod
uct Every one has the same, and
all have surplus. To turn into money,
it also must 60 to more eastern market
and be governed by prices there. lie, as
well as his Dakota brother, is at the
mercy of those who control transporta-
ton, and the value of his corn is the price
in the eastern market, less the cost OF
transportation, the commissions and
charges. Many time, as is well known,
= corn is so cheap and coal so high, that
its most profitable use is TO be burned as
fuel
} In New Mexico all this is reversed.
HF.E IS AN ACTUAL DEMAND
for nearly 2O,00O,OOO pounds OF flour,
which must be filed from somewhere,
and now is supplied from abroad. This
demand does not have to be created, nor
does it depend on the crops of Russia or
India, but it exists right here in New
Mexico. The raiser Of wheat therefore
runs no risk. He Is sure of q market.
And the market is at home. There is no
long transportation involved and SO the
railroads can not control or overcharge.
} The price IS the price in Minnesota or
Dakota, plus the cost OF freight from
there. The freight alone constitutes an
ample profit.
! And so OF corn. The market is already
here, and must be supplied. Over 5000
, tons are necessary for that purpose, and
] the man who produces up to that amount
D is sure Of a sale, close to his farm, and at
4 the prices in Missouri or Kansas plus the
r freight and charges involved in bringing
y it from there.
g These are but examples. The same
}. general facts exist as to the other articles
y that have been mentioned. In every case
s there is an actual home market existing
" in New Mexico, waiting for some one to
g supply it from our soil, and mean hi e
G being filled from abroad. All Of the pre-
s ducts named are among those most sue
y cessfuly raised in the territory, and the
!, only reason for the shortness of the supply
|. is that no one is taking the trouble to
o raise them in sufficient quantity. This
" inadequacy of supply is increased in New
/ Mexico on account of the large mining
: industry, which employs great numbers
e Of men, who continually consume all
y kinds of food products while producing
u none.
n Through most of the agricultural sec
n tons of the United States the farmer has
U great difficulty in finding some article
e which he can raise at a profit and with
which the market is not already greatly
: overstocked and after year OF toll is
y liable to find the general supply of his
= produce so great and the price conse-
q quently so low, that he receives little or
h nothing for his labor and the use OF his
land. Here the market is ready and
ample, ana only awaits greater energy on
"a the part of those already here and the in
fux OF intelligent and industrious pro-
- ducers to supply it. Nowhere is the re-
e ward OF agricultural and horticultural en-
n terprise so great and so certain.
e The New MEXICAN has facilities for do
9 ing first-class job work Of all kinds and as
u u cheap as can be had in any city in the
n country. There is no excuse for sending