The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1895-04-16
Not Only i'm Wheat and Wool
but i'm Cattle.
CHEAP LAND AND CHEAP LABOR.
The Vast and Fertile Plains Adapted
10 Bonanza Farming.
shiploads Of Italians Brought Over as
All the Modern Machinery Il Used.
and All the United states PRODUCES
Can Be Grown.

Washington City. April l5.-An offic ial
of the agricultural department. discussing Z
the recent incFeg Sc al the price of cattle
which is said TO be the primary cause for
the increase in the price or beef
In the country, says that ii inay
fbe occasioned by the decreased
corn crop OF the past few years
The last great crop or the country was
that grown In 1891 and available in 1882
IL amounted 10 ,2,ooo.o1.0 bushels. The
crop of ls92 was lse,gto, 900; that OF iS4s
was l,e20.ooo,o1o bushels. and thar OF lSl4
less than !. III. lso. Geo Ii Is true that farm
ers have used wheat for feeding cattle
during the depression of price OF this
cereal, but the falling on of the corn crop.
In the opinion of the official. may have
had more 10 do with the rise than any
thing else Lack OF the principal food Cor
cattle may have Induced stock raisers to
put upon the market more cattle than
formerly. Another reason for the de-
crease In the number of cattle is given
In the fencing in and closing up of many
OF the stock ranges and ranches. The
settlement of the Western states by small
farmers has made stock raising in great
herds less profitable and IL is said that
the increase in cattle has not nearly kept
pace with the increase in population CT
TIA country. Where the price of cattle
was very low and the. market crowded, il
is supposed that the stockmen sold not
only the steers, but large numbers o. the
females. which would tend to check the
increase in the following years.
The competition In cattle from Argen-
tine ana Australia has been something
OF drawback to the cattlemen in This
country. In both countries cattle can be
raised much more cheaply than In the
United States. The great plains OF these
countries have not been invaded by set
tiers The cattle may roam at will, as
they did for twenty-five years In the west
ern part Of this country. Labor cuts a
small figure. hut that which is necessary
Is much cheaper In both Argentine and
Australia than I'm the United States
This same official said that Argentine
Is the great agricultural rival of the
United States. IL Is far enough south OF
the equator to grow all food product =
produced In the United States Its north
ern borders are about as tropical as the
southern borders OF the United States
It's soils are rich. and the great fertile
plains offered many advantages 10 the
bonanza farmers. They are opening up "A
country such as tho United States was
twenty-five years ago, starting where we
did then, but with all the modern i'm
provemeats and the experience wthie,h this
country has given them. In the harvests
Argentine has the advantage OF cheap
labor. Shiploads of Italians are brought
over at every harvest and returned after
IL is over II takes eighteen days for
these ships TO make the trips, hut the i'm
ported laborers are carried very cheaply.
and II is found profitable by the Argen-
tine land owners to make use of them
during the harvests. even boy paying their
passage both ways. The markets CT the
world have already been affected by the
food products of Argentine. II ts still
"a question OF whether the great farm
owners. with all the advantage OF cheap
labor and the concessions granted by the
Argentine government. viii be able 90
make a lasting success of their agrlcult-
ural ventures The big bonanza farmers
of our West have found they could not
make a success OF their operations. and
Il ia now the policy OF most of them TO
divide their farms UP and sell them, and
IL they are not able To sell, 10 lease them
upon advantageous terms TO the men VINO
wish To operate smaller farms. The
bonanza farmers OF Argentine have the
advantage of reaching the seaboard more
quickly and at a small cost compared 10
the transportation of products from the
great plains of the United States. where
farming operations have been tried on a
large scale hut where the distance by
sea 10 the markets of the world IL roua7h
greater. But with water transportation.
distance does not count for much In get
ting staple products in the markets
II is the opinicn OF the official who
smoke on this subject that the United
States will In the future find formidable
connection in agricultural prosfucts in the
Argentine Republic.