Middletown transcript., 1898-04-16

money, its innumerable uses and poss-
Utilities, or its wholesomeness as a uni
versal food for animal and man. The
Central Western States are the home
and habitation Of Indian corn. The
governments statistics show the acre
age devoted to corn has been in recent
years about 10 per cent. greater than
the aggregate devoted to wheat, oats;
barley, buckwheat and potatoes; in 1896
the acreage was Is per cent. greater.
We hear much of the wheat crop, and
the casual reader Of the newspapers
would suppose there were no other
which could rightly be compared with
it. Statistics, however, show that DUR
ing the last decade the value, one year
with another, of our corn crop has been
nearly double-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 in the sam period"
"Ln the last three or four years we
have heard much Of silver and its i'm.
portance, and from the attention, ora.
tory and printers ink devoted to t, we
might suppose that it was the one in
terest before all others paled and sank
into insignifcance. The average an
nual product of American silver mines
however, during the three years ending
in 1895 was less than SAG. 500, 900. while
the average value Of our American
corn for each of the last ten years has
been nearly 1886, 600, 900 or more than
thirteen and one-half times the value
OF all our silver, which in the minds Of
so many, is endowed with well-nigh
god-like attributes. Add to this silver
the output of gold, ,and annually we are
producing corn worth more than seven
| times as much as both these precious
and much-coveted metals combined.
II am proud to come from state
regarded by many Of the benighted and
unsophisticated as something Of a
desert, which, while being transformed
from buffalo range into the wonder
full garden it is coming to be, has pro-
duced corn that, in the fields where
grown had a value of more than 1926, !
600 900, aud in the last two years bad
a crop of 375, ,000, 900 bushels. The few
simple facts that have presented, !,
which would be amplifed indefinitely
it seems to me, considering even the
ignorance that obtains in our own
country, to say nothing Of Other
parts Of the world, in reference &c
this wonderful grain, afford ample
justification for our meeting here to de-
wise ways and means by and through
which it shall attain wider recognition
and more Of the appreciation its merits
must command. l consider it not only
a great pleasure and great honor. hui
patriotic duty as well, to be identified
with such an effort, which 1 and the
people / represent wish hearty God
speed.
"The American Maize Propaganda
as organized by this Congress, may vel
begin Its work by holding at the Tram
Mississippi exposition at Omaha thi'
summer and fall an exhibit Of corr
plant in all stages of growth and O
every kind and variety both ancien
and modern; also exhibits of every pos
sible use OF corn fodder, cor, fiber, corr
husks, cobs, etc. The manifold useI
of the grain would be shown by exhibf
of all forms of corn-food preparations
also STOCK feed by-products, such al
maize feed, gluten meal, etc. Th'
manufactured products from corn grair
would also be shown, such as alcohol,
spurious liquors. sirups and the like
Liberal prizes should be offered t,
stimulate the demand for new ant
larger use of corn and for machinery
used in its culture or manufacture.
: "All this work should be repeated il
improved form at the Pan-Americal
exposition at Buffalo in 1899, but th
greatest effort of all should be made a
the Paris exposition in 1900. Itshoul'
be followed up by persistent propa
ganda throughout Europe and then II
India, China and japan. In time a
entirely new market may thus be de
veloped in the orient"