Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1896-11-28

About Western Mortgages.
WASHINGTON, Nov. %. - Secretary
Morton of the department of agricul-
ture in his fourth annual report, just
made public, shows that with $3.50, 600
which may be saved from the appropri-
alton for the current fiscal year, there
will have been covered back in the treas
ury since March :, 1898, over 81, oOO, 900
out of a total appropriation of 81, 49,,
ass. As. That the great economy was
effected without any loss of efficiency
he attributes in a large degree to the
improvement in. the personnel of the
force under civil service rules, which
he declares to be absolutely indis-
pensible to the maintenance of an eco
nomic and efficient administration of
the public service
Mr.. Morton urges strongly that gov
eminent inspection should be extend
ed to all animals intended for human
food, whether for consumption in the
United States or abroad. The cattle
and meat trade of Great Britain is re-
viewed at length OF live meat arriv-
ing in the United Kingdom during the
first six months of 1896, the United
States supplied rs per cent of the cat
tie and As per cent of the sheep. The
testimony of the department repre-
sentatives abroad is that cattle from
the United States arrive in English
ports in excellent condition. The Glas-
gov market is especially commended
to American shippers
The report shows steadily increas-
ing demand in England for American
horses. During the first nine months
of the present year more of these ami
mails were shipped to that country than
for any previous entire year.
The secretary again takes occasion
to express his opposition to the
gratuitous distribution of seeds, and to
express the hope that the practice will
be discontinued. The report concludes
with a comprehensive review of the
condition of American farmers. Seven
ty-two per cent. of the farms in the
United States, occupied by their own
ers, are absolutely free from mortgages
or other membranes. The secretary
refutes the idea prevailing, that the
farms of the west and south are more
heavily burdened with mortgages than
those of the east and northeast
Referring to the stress of COMPETE
ton which the American farmer is
compelled to endure, Mr.. Morton calls
attention to the nearly 2. 600, 900 farms
of 80 acres each given away by the
government under the Homestead act
y
to the amount donated under the tim
Der culture law, equivalent to over
$50, 900 more farms of the same size.
Lands long titled and rendered partial
ly infertile could not, of course, en-
nance in value and sell in competition
with virgin soil donated by the govern
ment. No legislation relative to the
public domain has been SO directly in
imical to farmers who had bought and
paid for the lands upon which they
had lived and labored. It was impos-
sib1e for farmers in the old states to
profita bly, sell their products in compe-
tition with those of the newer states,
grown upon lands which cost their
owners nothing.
During the fiscal year just ended the
exported products of American farms
aggregated S57o, 900, 600, an increase of
ST., 900, 900 over the preceding year. In
spite of this there was falling off in
the percentage of agricultural prod
this was due to the unprecedented sale
abroad of American manufactured
goods.
Secretary Morton asks if a nation
which, like the United States, pos
sesses the greatest power and facilities
for producing and manufacturing
things which the world demands, is
not destined to monopolize the mar
kets of the globe. With the most
favorable conditions for varied and
successful agriculture and the lightest
burden of national taxation, what
country, he asks, can compete with
this in developing the best results of
human toll with a minimum of effort.