The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-02-17
KING OF ALL CEREALS
NATIONAL CONVENTION IN THE IN
TEREST OF CORN AND ITS USES.
Magnitude and Value of the CrOp
Made Apparent by Comparisons with
Wheat and output of silver.

CHICAGO, Feb. 16.-The first corn con-
vention ever held in the United States be-
gan to-day at the Great Northern Hotel.
About 80 delegates are present and more
are expected. Nearly all the middle West
ern States are represented, as well as a
few of the Western commemorative. Ar
rangements have been made for giving
practical demonstration of the value of corn
as food, a kitchen having been opened,
where bread, crackers and number of
table delicacies are to be bad for the
asking.
Mr.. II. d. Coburn, secretary of the Kan
sas State Board of Agriculture, was chosen
chairman of the convention He said: 1.-THE
object of our coming together is to confer
about the ways and means by which Amer
icas premier crop and wonderful cereal
may be better understood and appreciated
by the world at large. We are satisfied
that scarcely person in hundred
thousand comprehends the magnitude of its
product, it's money value, its innumerable
uses and possibilities or its wholesomeness
as a universal food for animal and man.
The central Western States are the home
and habtation of Indian corn. Government
statistics show the acreage devoted to corn
to have been in recent years about 10 per
cent. greater than the aggregate devoted
to wheat, oats barley, buckwheat and po-
tatOeS. In 1896 the acreage was IL per cent.
greater. We hear much of the wheat crop,
and the casual reader of the newspapers
would suppose there was no other which
could rightly be compared with it. StatiS-
tics, however, show that during the last
decade the value, one year with another, of
our corn crop has been nearly doubled-99
per cent. greater than that of our wheat.
The value of the corn crop in this decade
has been about the same as the combined
values of wheat, oats, barley, buckWheat
and potatoes produced in the same period.
I'm the last three or four years we have
heard much of silver and its Importance,
and from the attention, oratory and print
ers' ink devoted to it we might suppose
that it was the one interest before which
we all paled and sank into insfgnificance.
The average annual product of American
silver mines, however, during the three
years ending 1895 was less than $46,5O0 900,
while the average value of American corn
for each of the last ten years has been
nearly 1886 600. 900, or more than thirteen and
a half times the value of all our silver,
which in the minds of so many is endowed
with well-nigh god-like attributes. Adding
to the silver the output of gold, We annu-
ally produced corn worth more than seven
times as much as both these precious and
much-coveted metals. These few simple
facts afford ample justification for our
meeting here to devise ways and means by
which corn shall obtain wider recognition
and the appreciation which its merits
should command
Twenty-one States were represented at
the meeting After Chairman Coburn had
addressed the convention, j. j. Murphy, OF
Chicago, presented Information regarding
the corn movement Mr.. Murphy is the son
of Col Charles j. Murphy, of New York,
who was the first to introduce American
corn foods abroad, and to whom it is as
serted the corn growers are largely IN
debted for the increase of the consumption
of corn in Europe, the exports having in
creased in four years from 100000 bushels
to 1SS COO. 900 bushels. Colonel Murphy's at
tention was first called to the value of corn
by ex-Mayor Hewitt, of New York A ma
tional executive committee was selected, of
which John b. Conner is the indianapolis
member. The executive committee elected
officers, as follows: President, Col Clark
T.. Carr, of Galesburg ILL.,; vice president,
John Cownie, South Amana, Ia; secretary,
b. w Snow Chicago treasurer, Andrew
Langdon Buffalo Plans were mapped out
for extensive exhibits of corn products at
the Omaha and Buffalo eXpositions and at
the Paris exposition in 1900 The executive
committee will meet in Omaha next Novem
lo.s