Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-08
CAUSES OF APATHY
Why There is Not Much Political
Activity Now.
TIE FARMERS ARE TOO BUSY
Immense Extent of the AgricuI-
tural Interests.
UNEXAMPLED PROSPERITY

Within two months the American cleo
torate will decide the momentous question
Of who shall rule this Union for the next
four years. Whether President William
Mckinley of Ohio shall continue as the
executive head Of the nation. or whether
William Jennings Bryan of Nebraska shall
succeed him at the White House. will be
determined by the voters at the polls. The
American voter is easily interested, quick
to arouse, responsive to appeals to senti-
ment as we'll as reason, and altogether an
excitable person The presidential cam
paign every four years is usually a ma
tional hysteria. But this year the party
managers and the ehairmen of the national
committees have raised a cry of warming
Apathy, they say, prevails to an alarming
extent everywhere. Party spirit is lacking
Political enthusiasm is not aroused. The
"spelbinder' returns from country cam
paign discouraged and dusty. The crowds
of four years ago, whose hoarse acclaim
insured him steady employment until the
polls closed. do not attend his meetings
this year. He tells his story to the chair
man at national headquarters, who has
heard the same tale of woe from various
sources In his alarm the chairman raises
the cry of apathy among the farmers, and
insists that the conditions are without pre-
cedent in presidential campaigns OF the
past.
Business, Not Apathy.
The cause of the slim attendance at po-
litical meetings In the rural districts thus
far is not apathy. It Is business. Pros
perity's welcome load has staggered even
the broad-shouldered American farmer.
There is unexampled prosperity In all parts
of Uncle Sans broad agricultural domain.
The home market of the American farmer
has the trade balance on the right side of
the ledger. With substantial evidences OF
prosperity in his granary, his bank book,
his growing crops and his well-filled store
house, the farmer is too busy to give much
time to politics. He is blowing and sowing
for his next years wheat crop. 1t is task
so big that for the time 1t requires his UNI
divided attention. He has 80, 100000 acres
to pillow and seed before the vagaries of the
spellbinder will interest him. This task
| accomplished, he may give some heed to
the noise and uproar of the great political
contest. But he knows now how he In
| tends to vote in November. Seed time and
harvest Uncle Sans national wheat
farm dovetail closely that the hum of
the thresher turning out a stream of gold
en- grain mingles with the throb of the
steam pillow preparing the soil for new
crop Frequently the seed wheat for the
new year is taken direct from the thresh-
ing yard to the field prepared for seeding,
| without having been placed in the grain
bin. There are 52O,OU.OoO bread-eaters In
100000 bushels of wheat every twelve
months to supply their tables with wheat
| bread. This means that the individual
bread-eater must have an average OF near
| ly five bushels of wheat each year for his
| loaf of bread. And the consumer is al
ways treading at the heels Of the producer.
asking for more grain.
Consumption of Wheat.
| It Is shown by statisticians that Great
| Britain eats its entire wheat crop within
| fifteen weeks after 1t Is harvested. For
the rest Of the year it must depend upon
India Russia and the United States. The
| consumption Of wheat and wheat products
| in this country is steadily increasing. In
| 1894 1t reached the low ebb Of 3.41 bushels
| per inhabitant In 1895 it increased to AIS
| and In 1893 it was 424, while last year it
| was sos bushels per capita This year the
average is expected to exceed six bushels
per inhabitant. While the American farmer
is banking the $3.50. 1000 which his wheat
crop will bring him, he is actively prepar-
ing for the fall seeding OF the new crop.
busiest months following harvest Last
year Uncle Sans wheat farm comprised
total Of nearly 100000 acres. Next year
about 100000 acres will be seeded to
wheat. For feeding his family-which each
year demands a larger supply OF wheat
products-Uncle Sam must keep at home in
the national granary nearly 4OO,0OO.OOO
| bushels 1t requires 1900 600 bushels to
| seed his wheat farm of so, 600, 900 acres, al
lowing one and a half bushels per acre. SO
| that for domestic use alone ATE, 600 BUSH
| els are required.
| Wheat for Export.
This leaves for export approximately $50
600 600 bushels which goes abroad in the
| grain and in -four products. While the hum
Of the harvester and the steady wnirr of
the great threshers separating the grain
from the chan are still reverberating
throughout the grain section. stirring
scenes are being enacted on the 5,O0O,0 600
farms under the eve Of Uncle Sam. Two
kinds of wheat-wfnter and spring-are
grown In the United States Winter wheat
| is exclusively grown through the central
and southern states, while Minnesota and
the two Dakotas produce 200. 100000 of the
harvested in this country. All winter
wheat must be seeded in the early fall.
September and October are the principal
seed months for the winter wheat section,
the seeding extending well into November
for the central tier of hard wheat states.
Broadcast sowing of wheat, almost univer-
sal two decades ago, has been abandoned.
The invention of the mechanical seeder has
increased the acreage by one-third, and has
made possible, in connection with the steam
pillow and harrow, the vast wheat area of
the west and northwest, where wheat
farms Of 5000 to 10000 acres are not I'M
common. In 1850 there were 1,449. O73 farms
in the United States. The number had
grown to 4,564,641 In $780, and 1t will ex-
coed the 100000 mark in the twe.--n CEN
sus. But while the average size of the
farm in 1850 was 2O3 acres, it had declined
to 1877 acres In 1890. The value of the real
estate of Uncle Sans farm is computed at
$13,279,2 52. This shows the radical i'm
provement in farm machinery brought
about by the inventive genius Of the --meri-
can Yankee Uncle Sans model farmer
may now pillow, SOW, reap and harvest his
so 900, OOO-acre wheat farm entirely by ma
chinery. There is no necessity for him to
touch the product with his hands. The
farmer whose exclusive attention Is de-
voted to the raising of wheat uses complex
machinery for all purposes But he also
utilizes large per cent of the IL, 8S7, 524
head Of horses on the national farm in his
preparations for seeding
Rotation of Crops.
AS soon as the standing grain has been
harvested and long before 1t is threshed,
the farmer must prepare his ground for the
new crop. Rotation Of crops is almost uni
versally followed on Uncle Sans big farm
and only where the ground is either fresh
and strong or remarkably free from the
particular pests which follow seeding
ground to ore grain too long Is rotation ig-
nored. In the middle west and the south
uaSf wheat usually follows a corn crop