Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-20
WHERE CORY is KING.
Extent of the Domain, the Harvest
NoIne.

and Its value.
John Gilmer Speed in Ainslee's Magazine
The great corn states, according to the
statistics OF last year, are In the order
named, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri,
Kansas Indiana, Texas and Ohio. Each OF
these states grew in excess OF 100000
bushels. while the total OF Iowa was 254,-
999, $50 bushels. This year we are promised
from Kansas alone in excess OF 100000. 600
bushels. Montana, among the new states,
grew the smallest amount of corn last year,
and Rhode Island among the old states. In
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massa-
chusetts, Connecticut, North Dakota, Mon
tana, Wyoming and Washington all OF the
corn grown was consumed at home. prac-
tically none OF 1t being transported beyond
the county in which 1t was produced. The
other states, according to the amount grown,
shipped corn to other parts OF the country
and abroad In price the corn on the farms
realized all the way from 66 cents bushel
in Montana to % cents In Iowa, the general
average throughout the country being rs 7-lO
cents per bushel. In 1897 this general aver
age was 26 $40 cents. in 1896 1t was 81 5-l0
cents, in 1895 1t was % $40 cents and in
1894 it was 45 7-l0 cents. In the latter year
1S9) the production was short, being some
what more than 20 per cent less than last
year. -
Now, let US look at the value OF corn to
the farmers as a product and compare the
crop as to acreage, yield, and so forth, with
other bread making cereals and also with
cotton. The last complete statistics avail
able for this purpose are those OF 1898, as
the crops OF this year have either not been
harvested or reckoned.
in 1898 there were 77,721,7S1 acres planted
in corn and the production was 1924 $50
,l,alz = 10
In the same year the wheat acreage was
44.455,27s acres; production, e75,14s,7o5 and
value, 1892. no, 800. The value OF the oats
crop was sls6, 6,4O5, 1854; of the barley crop
1923, AGA, $780, of the rye crop $11,s75 $50; OF
the buckwheat crop s5,271462. The cotton
crop was the product Of 24,319,5s4 acres, and
was worth 1919, ,491 ,412. Here we see that
the total value Of all the other bread making
cereals only exceeded that OF Indian corn
by about II per cent, while the value of
the cotton crop was only about 571a per cent
that Of Indian corn.
Let US look over the corn crops Of other
years. The season Of 1891 was the banner
year, however. That year the corn crop
OF about 10000, 900 acres was worth $685.
439,22S. This value was due to the price,
however, rather than the size of the crop,
for in 1889. with larger acreage and L.,
100000 more bushels of yield, the value was
only s597,91s,S29.
The market price has much to do with
the value OF the crop, and sometimes, un-
fortunately, when the crop has been very
large, the price has been discouragingly low.
Indeed, 1t has now and then been 50 low
that farmers in the parts of the west where
fuel is scarce have used corn instead OF
wood for coal. Such facts have given fiimsy
excuse, II not warrant for the agitators who
have advised the western farmers to "raise
less corn and more hell" This picturesque
formulation of grievance was the work OF
woman orator.
THE smallest corn crop in thirty years
was that Of 1869, when there were only
S74 900 bushels produced The price of
corn, however, was high, SO that the total
value was within 100000, 900 of last year.
In 1872, with an increased production, the
price had fallen so considerably that the
corn crop was worth only 1886, 5,736,210. We
were getting down to hard pan, and the de-
preston Of values beginning on the farm
extended throughout every kind Of property,
and there was a general liquidation prepara-
tory to fresh start. There is no better
barometer by which commercial men and in
vestors can be guided than the size and
value Of the corn crop in the United States.
The present year promises to be the great
est corn season ever known. The acreage is
larger. the yield larger and the price is
likely to be good. This means tremendous
lot to the country at large, but it has
peculiar significance in those states par
ticularly devoted to the cultivation Of this
cereal. In Kansas, where only little while
ago every kind of calamity was anticipated.
the corn crop is more abundant than ever
before, and there is actually a boom--a boom
in bleeding Kansas The poets are making
verses to celebrate the great good fortune
which has come to people who had been
persuaded that they were oppressed and
down-trodden."