Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1891-10-08

ruthfully as he knew how the one side OF the
question In which the farmers OF Iowa, who are
smajority OF the people. are intensely inter,
fact upon his own authority. but thss he used
statistics that we're furnished TO him by the
Iowa bureau OF labor statistics, aud he reaf
stated ID New Yor K .0''i Tnis Is T IN sue g
stance that corn, being the most prontab q
crop o.. In ana the stats n,So, was produced q,
must have also been produced Al loss have
been led 20 make an examination into the data
from which this statement 10 made and also ~
well as could into the basis for this alta, ali OF
which 10 found In the fourth biennial report OF
the oommissioner OF labor statis,ios l wish u
face II bears out the statemsn mt OF the governor
but before doing go assert that the basis of this
data is absolutely nni ellabie l Ia not the state
ment OF farmerr, but contests of averages made
upon averages covering period OF nve years
The Inquiries made are produced 10 the report
In the tables from which IL appears tina the
farmers are r, Quired 10 answe r certain uues
tons as to cost for period OF nye care, aver
aging that cost so as 20 aato IL for each OF III,
we're asked to report the oost on foity acres OF
tertillEing, cutting stalkr, blowing ground, tor
narrowing ng twice, planting cost OF seed corn
coat OF crib room, Smelling, including hands aud
machine, hauling TO local Market average dis
fencing. repairs, etc, tax on land tax on horses
ate, per cent 20 cover Investment In land
These various estimates, with the exception 4
the interest on corn lart, are added together
and divided by the number In each county, auc
taken as the cost OF producing forty acres OF
corn. The cost OF one acre Ia then a, or
"a bushels Ia tho Ayersge yied per acre
The cost OF producing one acre Ia found
Ta ,s SO inquiries Ss were sent out 70 every county
Der from every county In tho STATE, some
counties having eight answer, some ten, som,
twenty and so on. These answers are tabulsted
by counties and ~ there are eip hi am era in,
result or those eight answers 10 averaged as Il
each item OF inquiry aud then all the counties
Gov iloles says that according 10 this result the
oost OF producing corn is o. per acre without In
olntipg Interest on tho value OF tho land or the
into the accuracy OF this statement doiive
from the labor commissioners report, turn
there stated Ia SITS per acre and not ss per sers
as stated by Gov. Boies. Here Ia an error OF ..
cents per acre covering 37OOO,OO0 OF acres al
table. hut Gov Boies s,ates that this 10 made
upon the tasis OF an ayerap c,ot 80 Ia bush.l |,
poe sore; turning 10 page l0l OF Tho report II vii
be- teen that an average OF % bushels per acre
was uted by tho oommissl ner and not 80 10 bu sh
els a. stated by Gov. Boes. Hut " you will turr
%s no for e! reeS Sn wiz zee sat The
a fraction over, bushels per acre Ms the yield
shown In the report; therefore Gov, Boics Ia his
30 cents an acre as TO tho total cost aud In error
nearly one busshol per acre az TO the avorah q
ANIMAL pIoduotiV on per acre. Therefore, l repeat
Instead OF & Tho Same data shows that "a 81
bushels per acre, which at ~ cents q lushel
amounts cunt TO 100 an acre or loss or sSH cents
stated by Gov, Boies IN New York and repeat 4
In Cherokto as shown BY tho figures Of his own
cured. Why this oHapgeration in New YORK and
Cherokee OF the cost beyond the tab es In tho re,
portp And why is not tho u ne sum of s7.b2
given In New York; Hut this Ia not tho onIy
error hat have dis overed In the examina tlon
OF this report. The report on page II gives tho
number OF bushels produced for each OF tho
years 1885 1885. 1887 1893 and 1880 and gives The
prices each year per bushol. From this you VII,
and ~" p hS ses sr1P bn y 1850
year at II cents pei bushel, Allowing, as stat, Il
this extraordinary low price for the whole orop
OF being az cents as stated by Governor Boies, 10
20 ! 10 cents por bushels so allowing the avera,
oil bushels ~ shown In the report AT % 10 cent
stated, the value of the corn crop Ia o. 80 per
acre, or profit of VI cents per acre instead al
Sn loss OF Sah cents per acre. az shown by the
by Governor Boies' tpeechts and deriy, d from
no source apparently, II must bo borne In
name "a ~. ms price ionnd on page u lhe only
average price OF corn por bushel for ave yeaIp,
and unless this data Ia taken the fixing OF I'd
cents per buthel IN purely arbitrary, aud can
md no data as respects the price but tho data
Tho report shows a series OF quotations. nd.
dress d to farmers, but not o farmer Ia ASK cd
the price OF corn In mis- noip hboi hood or county
or what no sold corn FOR, or wfat was tho aver
s sse Yield ,d per acre An b ness inquiry would
they do not appear so that there are no stats
tics or the prloo OF corn except what are shown
and not ~ cents as stated by the governor The
total number OF acres planted for the nve y, are,
Ia UO3I,S1s; The total number OF butbels pro.
duced In the Ave years as shown on page Ia OF
the report is l,207, 3s2, 0i0.
THE TABLES AND DATA EXAMINED.
Now wish 10 examine this table u little moro
In detail covering tho items OF cost of corn per
acre by which this to'al Of s77B per acre Ia pro-
duoed. The FIRST item Ia fortilixioE which is put
down at an average of NJ cents per acre. This
cost In the details by oounto, Ia shown 10 have
ranged all the way from no hiug 10 " an acre,
average for each year, and by this process
divided nrst by counties ranging from TO ~
persona IN each county where the range OF cost
OF fertilzing 10 from nothing TO % per acre, and
then another division by counties with range
or fro IN VI ~ por acre In Clayton county 70
70 Gems AN acre In Fremont county, leaves The
mai average 80 cents an acre for each OF The
hve years. According to ibi, hTst item tho
fertilization averaging IS cents per acre ~ aus
per acre Of every corn producing acre IN tho
state; the average number OF acroa planted for
each of the Ave years IL IiOl,b77 acres, which
gives the average COST each year for feriil ZstiOn
at ~ cents per acre, total cost OF o. 6d7 70.
or Tor the ive years total cost for forulizaiinn
of . 1853, 1888 10. Is there any man In Iowa whl
believes that we have expended In hve years
for the fertilization OF T0OO,OU OF acres 81 Iowa
land this enormous sum, or any considerable
srsIson OF afooFSaT 70 tho
In the whole state OF Iowa $4,000
for fertilization. and venture 10 say, al,hnug "a
be greatly eIc eeded for tue yoar $780, From this
II must DO seen that there is a manifest error IN
thus nrst item OF 81 cents per acre. IL would be
an enormous and extraordinary allowance to
say that one NTH of this sum or II cents per
acre has thus been expended, and have no
doubt that this latter was intended by the iarm.
average method suggested by The commfsloner.
In other words he gave the cost OF fertilizlng
Won subrsot T cents from IS cents pei acre
and you reduce the cost from. e7.7S an acre TO
G.01 6lO cents per acre. thus showing u clear
reply TO this that have assumed that every
acre planted I'm corn the fret year was repIanied
the second, and so on through the whole period
OF ave years. | do not assume this. i presume
that q large majority OF the number of acres
were re planted, but new ground was opened up
and there was undoubtedly more or less rotation
OF crops In the meantime. but this report pro
ceeds wholly upon the basis OF full replanting,
for the very NEXT item 10 the cutting Of stalks or
al ss Of e per GeG
acie for each year of this whole period
II the. acreage was not replant, q
tai o IL that the fertilIzlng alluded TO must be
the ordinary fertilIzlng that comes from the
barn, and II so IL is an item TOO small to be NJ all
estimated In the cost OF production, because IL
Ia O fertiliz,ng of tho land for the benefit of all
the crops and not for the beneht o. any particu-
lar crop, and cannot extend beyond . few acres
each year, certainly not 10 one-fourth OF the
forty acres planted. Tho usual mode OF feIt liz.
Ing as understand Il. is by rotating the crops,
and 10 represented In all the crops and In he
value OF the land. Cutting stalks is the next
item, at 70 cents per acre for each OF the nye
years. THIS / submit has no place In the esti-
m ste as not ono tenth of the stalks are so
treated, the next item 10 blowing the ground,
which is averaged at e.l3 per acre, or as 20 Tor
forty acres. All these estimates being made for
n field of corn of forty acres. One man with q
fair team of horses will plough two and one.hslf
acres per day with an ordinary hand plough;
that would require sixteen days 10 plough the
field which gives the value of q man and u am
At o. 80 per day. whether this is reasonable
leave IL 10 you 10 determine. IL q sulky plough
is used, with three horses and one man and a
boy, tho ground Ia ploughed In ten days, WHOM
Yields o. 81 per day as q sum paid for poug hing.
A 4 these sulky poughs have O corn cutter at
Iach mani for Gle airing the Atalka. RA do mnht of