Wichita eagle., 1890-02-26
New Haven, Conn.
CORN AND HOGS.
The Dark Cloud and the Silver Lining.

To the Editor of the Eagle.
In a residence of many years in Kan
sas l have observed that the Torerunner
| OF general prosperity to the people OF
this commonwealth, after period OF
depression, has been the possession of an
| abundance of corn and hogs Depres-
sion, as applied to the farming COM
nlunitv, set in when the hog cholera
began its work of destruction in 1856.
1t swept from the face OF the earth
entire herds of swine and left many
farmers with scarcely a brood sow as
reminder of what might have been.
It reduced breeders of fine stock who
had invested largely of their means, and
devoted all their energies in building up
herd that should rebound to their
credit, benefit their fellowmen and put
shekels in their pockets-reduced them,
| say, from comparative affiuence to
Strengthened circumstance and sub
stituted. if you please, a few silver
threads for the golden. 1t was like
cyclone that left death and destruction
in its wake. 1t made farmers hard up,
for it cut off the source from which
and lift mortgages.
Ordinarily farmers will recover from
backset of this kind in a year or two at
herds, like pestilence pursuing famine,
cane the repeated loss of their corn
crops, and as consequence Kansas is
not producing at this time One-third the
number of hogs that should stand to her
DIT fEa rvh
brings the farmer uppermost again with
such stores of yellow ears as was never
dreamed of by Joseph or Pharaoh In
their philosophy.
But, how about the price of it? Well,
ave shall let the hog speak of the price.
The trouble is not that corn is so low,
but because the farmers are short on
hogs The farmer that has all the hogs
that he can take care of is getting Sc
cents a bushel for his corn, and on land
worth $50 per acre, and two hogs to the
acre, worth SEQ, why should there be
weeping and wailing and gnashing OF
teeth?
A few DAYS ago visited two different
sections of Ohio for the purpose of
''whetting my bili'' on the hog raisers Of
those famous localities. ! found there
but little discomfort among the farmers.
Some of them were selling corn at %
cents per bushel raised on land worth
500 per acre, others were feeding this
% cent corn to hogs that were selling at
So. so per hundred, or about the same
price as obtains at Wichita.
What we want is more hogs to eat up
the corn, and the sooner farmers recog
nlze this fact and strain every energy IN
procuring breeding stock and enlarglng
their herds the sooner will prosperity
come to them-barring of course disease
and the sooner will the cloud of de-
preston that has envelOped us for years
be dispelled.
One of the most encouraging features
of this whole business Is the present at
titude of Europe as regards the purchase
of hog products. Cheap corn has neces-
sariIy made hogs cheap, and cheap hogs
in the absence of speculation has
produced cheap meats. and the cheap
Johns of Europe have tumbled to
the racket, and such stream of cheap
| hog products, as the world has never
! seen is steadily flowing from this favor
/ ed land into the markets of the Old
/ World. and the millions of Door people
/ 10 whom meat of late years has been as
/ sour grapes can now more than feast
/ their eyes and tantalize their stomachs
! gazing on ''streak of lean and a streak
of fat''-they can actually be "a chaw
( in of it." / quote from the Cincinnati
Price Current:
The weeks exports of product were sur
/ prisiugly large, probably exceeding any
| single weeks clearances previously In the
/ history of the trade. Official Yeturns OF ex-
ports 10 February indicate that the ex-
! cess in the movement abroad of nest pro
ducts for three months was equivalent TO
/ 450. 600 hogs in excess OF the corresponding
/ time last year, the gain in the quantity be-
| ing 30 per cent, while the lard exports in
creased about 40 per cent. The gain in ex-
ports OF this article for the three months
was greater than the increase in the manu-
| facture of it will be in the west for the
four months ending March /.
find that the total number Of hogs
packed in this country from November
( 1st to February 10th approximates six
millions one hundred and forty thousand,
of which Wichita contributed forty
thousand and Hutchinson eighteen
! thousand one hundred and twenty-eight.
NJ STEWART.