The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-09-04


From the st. Louis Globe Democrat
SPLENDID AMERICAN PLANT.--lt
is gratifying to know that there is an in
creasing foreign demand for corn Our
American maize Is truly wonder In the
vegetable world, phenomenal gift of ma
ture. 1t is doubtful II this country could
have been colonized from Europe without
its aid. or the wilderness subdued without
its ready and wholesome abundance Maize
is one OF the few plants botanists have
never discovered in a Wild state or In the
original type. 1t enters history In the full
armor OF a cultivated crop. and one used
TO fill national and tribal granaries. But
though it Is appreciated everywhere in
America, the rest of the world has been
slow to give IL place among the best and
most nutritious cereals. In this country
| 1t has developed fine race OF men and
women, comfortable farms and thriving
| communities. yet when foreign nations are
| snort OF food they neglect maize for more
| costly products Of the SOIL and this through
| lack OF knowledge or n caprice of taste
In the fiscal year 1877. when the crop OF
wheat was short, our exports of corn ex-
| ceeded those of wheat, The same thing
| happened again, by n slight margin In
| 1890. ordinarily corn has been sighted in
the foreign demand. and IL Is still to an
unreasonable extent unappreciated abroad
| But there Is 4 change for the better The
exports IN 1896 OF wheat and flour were
l2b 1925 bushels. and OF corn and corn
meal 10l 100.315 bushels In the fiscal wear
ending in 1897 corn took the lead. reaching
total export of 17S.Sl7,417 bushels. while
mat OF wheat was li5 .0S2 GIG bushels 1t
| mas been noticed in recent years that when
tnc price OF corn is less than half that
OF wheat the exports OF corn Increase
Present conditions are favorable to a heavy
| foreign demand for corn, and the best thing
apout larger demand is that 1t leads to a
| pelter acquaintance with maize as an un-
| surpassed article OF food. Ii needs only
TO be known to be valued as such through
| out the world
our corn crop sometimes amounts TO
|ouo,ooo'oOO bushels, and this could be Ia
| uetinlttly increased II the markets offered
suitable reward to the farmer In any
| case tho tiller OF the soil in America ts
familiar with its great advantages If he
can not sell 1t at a fair price he can feed
| 1t, and thus enrich his soil. a form of
wealth not identified with raising wheat
| In an extremity, always to be regretted n
serves as fuel. which again is not true Of
! wheat. growth in the foreign demand
Tor corn, with tairer proportionate prices
! Is SO much added TO the resources Of our
farmers and basis OF steady prosperifv
pr Aheiean agriculture Everything that
tends TO proclaim the merits of maize as
loou Strengthens the world against famine
mere was time when the starving Irish
| rejected corn meal because methods OF n,,o.
pairing 1t were unknown to them. and thew
nad always regarded IL as a grain for cat
We; Many places still exist where on.
lishtehment Ia needed concerning the prod
net of magnificent plant,
From the New York Journal.
WHO PAYS FOR DOLLAR WHEATe-
me CONSERVATION among the poor at the
prospect of dearer bread has suddenly
awakened the public to the fact that there
are two sides TO tho prosperity caused nv
the rise In the price OF wheat We have
been so accustomed. from the beginning OF
our existence as people, TO regard the
farmer as the backbone of the community
that we find II hard to realize that thsre
can be popular interests seriously conflict
ing with his. We have been accustomed to
consider high price for wheat as a trib-
ute which America in bulk leyies on Eu-
rope We arc beginning to discover that
II is only part Of America that has wheat
TO sell. and that the rest OF the American
people are in the position OF the European
consumer We are learning 10 appreciate
this fact now for two reasons-one that
the rural population is continually dimln-
ishing as compared with the urban, and
| the other that for the first time We have
great masses OF people 50 poor that dear
| loaf Is MS serious a subject for thought TO
| them as IL is 10 their congeners abroad
The first fact that confronts us when we
begin to study the relation OF the price OF
wheat to the welfare OF the public is that
IN an average year only nineteen States
and Territories out OF forty nine produce
enough wheat for their own consumpticp.
THESE nineteen commemorative contain
about 900 out OF the $4,000, 900 inhab
i,ants OF the Union, The other 60 900 900
are situated as they would be in England
or France. There is a solid block OF States
In the Northeast. with q. 600 900 Of ,nhahs