The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-10-14
WHAT CORN MEANS
When the Crop Is Large It Stands
- for Material Well d .ssa1ss
49,. Being. .~..s -
History of the Grain and Its Grow
ing Prominence in the Mar
kets of the World. *,,-. ~.

r'ron, The journal Bureau. loom A5. I'os'
Building. Washi'.gton.' d. : -
Washington. Oct. 1.-the old employees
OF the treasury who have watched the
movement of national finance. say that
the thing they watch most in forecasting
money conditions and general prosperity,
is not the gold output, or the close Of
the Transvaal wars. or the exports of
steel. but the crop Of corn. If that is
large. they know that it certainly means
a great deal of material well-being. So
large a part of it goes into beef and pork
and domestic animals generally, that its
| influence is diffused along many lines.
When other cereals fail their place can
be taken in a measure by corn. which is
| cheaper; but when corn fails, it's substi-
tutes entail added cost and so consider
| able arrangement of the agricultural
markets.
The pre- emnence Of corn among agricul-
tural crops is one Of the extraordinary
facts Of our national life. Our corn kitch-
ems at the Paris and other eXpositions
deserve to be there not only to educate
| Europeans in the of corn as food, but
as an eXemplihcation Of our own domestic
resources The simple grain which Pow
haitian brought in his basket to the James,
town colonists was destined to outrank
many fold in Importance to their prosper
ity the gold for which they Vainly sought
| Corn was the last of the worlds great
grain crops to be brought under the do
minion of civilized agriculture. Its adap-
| tation to the uses Of the white race seems
| to date from the discovery of America.
1t is probably indigenous in Peru or the
Central American region. 1t is found In
| the old Aztec graves. Americans have
| failed to realize their special ownership
in corn by reason of the confusing use
! of the word to mean different things in
different countries In Great Britain the
word is generally applied to wheat, rye,
oats and barley, while when Scotch
man says corn he means "oats." OF
maize, to which we apply the word, we
produce three fourths of the worlds crop.
| This worlds crop, although exceeded oc-
casionany by the wheat crop, and more
often by that of OATS has now obtained
such proportions that it seems likely soon
to be recognized as the worlds greatest
| cereal The climate places some limita-
| tions upon its culture. Prejudice among
many foreign peoples as it's use for food
for human beings has also limited its
range of usefulness. But both these In
| fuences are losing their force. Corn,
originally indigenous to semltrOplcal
zone, responds readily to processes of &C
china tization. while the European preju-
dice seems to be abating.
| A striking feature Of the corn crop OF
this hemisphere is the predominance of
| the United States. The entire continent
of South America has produced for the
| last five years on an average about the
same number of bushels as the state Of
Ohio. During that period the United
States has produced 80 per cent OF the
corn Of this entire hemisphere. With us
the crop practically averages. in quantity
from two to three times that of wheat
| Austria Hungary Is the second corn
| producing country Of the world; in Rou-
mania it is the principal cereal crop. In
| Parts Of France, Spain, Portugal, Italy,
| Servia, Bulgaria and in southern Russia,
| it has become an important product. Corn
| is cultivated in this country from the most
| easterly country in Maine to Puget Sound
| and from the valley of the Red River of
| the North almost to the very Everglades
of Florida. It's production Is more gen.
orally distributed than anything except
grass, and yet at no agricultural census
ever taken has less than about 40 per cent
of the total been produced in four great
corn states. OF recent years these four
states have produced more than half the
1 American crop. 1t Is the opinion Of John
Hyde, statistician of the department Of
agriculture. as expressed in a paper be-
fore the International Statistical Insti
tute, that the year 1879 witnessed the
Highly water mark Of the tendency to con-
centrate the production Of corn in a. few
states. In that year Illinois and Iowa
alone produced one-third of the American
crop. The census Of 1890 found half Of
the total crop produced in four states,
Notwithstanding that there was an aver
age Of production of at least One-tenth of
bushel for the land surface from the St.
Lawrence to the Gulf and westward to
the foot Of the Rocky mountains.
At the Paris exposition and American