Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1896-11-24
REPORT
OF Secretary Morton, Of the
Department of Agriculture.
Great Economy in the Management
Without Loss of Efficiency.
The inspection of Animals Intended for
Food-The Cost Should he Paid for
by the Packers-The Distribution
of Seeds-Clyil Service.

WASHINGTON, Nov 23. In his fourth
annual report the secretary of agri-
culture shows that with $3.50, 900 which
may be saved from the appropriations
for the current fiscal year, there will
have been converted back into the
treasury since March z, 1893, over ST.
600, GOO.
That this great economy was effect
ed without any loss of efficiency he at
tributes in large degree to the i'm
provemept of the personnel of the force
under the civil service rules.
One more step Secretary Morton
deems necessary to complete the sys-
TEN of civil service in his department
This is the appointment of director
in charge of bureaus and scientific in
vestigations who shall be designated
to serve as acting secretary in case of
the absence simultaneously of the Sec
retary and assistant secretary.
He declares that the chiefs of the
scientific bureaus and divisions and
their assistants do the actual thinking
and reasoning for the development of
agricultural science, and adds that the
persons are not adequately compen-
sated. He states that during the past
few years no less than 80 skilled ex-
perts in the department service have
left it to take positions in institutes
of learning at salaries averaging fully
SO per cent. higher than they were get
ting from the government
The inspection of animals intended
for food is treated at length. Mr.. Nor
fN, bot opf mi
should be extended to all animals in
tended for human food, whether for
consumption in the United States or
abroad, but he maintains that cost of
this inspection should be paid by the
packers.
The total consumption of meat in
Great Britain for the year was /, 1,100,-
900 tons, rs per cent. of which was pro-
duced at home, the remaining 25 per
cent of which was produced abroad
Of the live meat arriving in Great
Britain during the first half of the
year of 1896, the United States supplied
rs per cent. of the cattle and As
per cent. of the sheep. The
testimony of the department rep
resentatives abroad is that cat
tie from the United States arrive in
English ports in excellent condition.
The Glasgow market is especially COM
mended 10 American shippers, as in
that city cattle from the United States
compete with the very highest quality
off British animals: American pack
ers Lare not participating in the
profits of the growth in consump-
tion of swine flesh and hog products
in Great Britain as much as they
ought to, y because they do not euro
meats to suit the British demands; on
the other hand, Danish and Canadian
packers are increasing their shipments
every year. American bacon averages
about two cents per pound below con-
tinental Irish bacon, and about three
cents below English.
The shipment of American horses to
England is steadily increasing.
The seeds distributed gratuitously
by the government during the present
fiscal year weighed $50 tons and occu-
pied 80 mail cars in transit. The cost
of carrying them through the mails
was over $4,000. Enough seeds
was sent out gratuitously to
plant 115 square miles of gar
den. Each congressman received
enough to plant 1881 acres. For the
current year at present prices the
amount required by congress to be ex-
pended in the purchase of seed will
make each congressman's quota double
what it was last year. The secretary
regrets this unnecessary and wasteful
expenditure of public money, and
hopes congress may in good time put q
stop thereto.
During the fiscal year just ended the
exported products of American farms
aggregated $50, 600, 900, an increase of
S17, coo, 900 over the preceding year. In
spite of this, there was falling off in
the per centage of agricultural pro-
ducts exported to the total exports,
but this was due to the unprecedented
sale abroad of American manufactured
goods,
The principal market for American
products is found in the United King
dom of Great Britain and her colonies
These English speaking people bought
IS per cent. OF exports from the United
States during the fiscal year 1896. To-
gether with Germany, France, Holland
and Belgium. they purchased 8l.9 per
cent. Of our entire output, leaving 1871
per cent for tha rest o. the world.