The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-09-16
Effec| Of Republican Policies in the Corn Belt
and Wheat Growing States.
VALUE or LANDS GREATLY INCREASED
Prices of Cereals i'm "Lean" and 'Fat'' Years
Market Demand Affected by Action of Ma
tional MISUNDERSTANDING in Values.

1t has been sahe customary for Dem
ocratic writer's aud speakers to attribute
the extraordinary prosperity of the last
eight years TO Providence, and to deny
that the Republican party could be cspe-
cially allied with Providence.
In answer to this contention President
Roosevelt. in one of his campaign
speeches in 1880, made the witty remark
that the Democratic party had FUSED
with about everything except Provi-
dence."
In relation TO the remarkable increase
in the agricultural prosperity of the
United States during the years of Re
publican luh subsequent to the last
Democratic administration QS93-lS9N,
il is the Democratic policy to snecringly
ask il the Republican party produced the
bountiful crops, or had anything to do
with the drougAts, the rust, or other in
tluences bullishly affecting the prices of
commodities the farmer had to sell.
Such sneering remarks, however, cam
not suppress the fact that while there
have been many vicissitudes during the
last eight years in crop conditions, yet
there has all this time been a more or
less steady and big increase in the cash
income from American farms.
In 1901, for instance, owing to hot
winds and drought. there was u lean
year in corn, and yet the farmers of the
United States GOT S921,5o5, TGS for their
corn of that Republican year as against
$491, DOC, 9G7 Cor their corn of the Dem
ocratic year 1856, which was a fiat
year" as regards naturally splendid
crop conditions. but u lean year indeed,
as regards prices. The Republican year
1901 was thus a year in which prosper
ity for the Corn Belt farmers was pre-
served, despite a great natural disaster
to the corn crop, while the Democratic
year 1896 was a year in which there was
no prosperity in the Corn Belt despite
the especially bsHntiful size of the corn
crop.
Dollar Wheat We. Fifty centwhcat.
AT THE PRESENT WRITING
THE CASH PRICE OF WHEAT AT
CHICAGO Is ABOUT S1.1O. In Au-
gust, 1908. it was T7A to 90A cents;
iii August, E9e2. it was 6S1A to &c cents;
in August, 1901, it was G69s to a cents;
in August. 1909, it was Tlsl to 7Gh
cents; in August, 1899. it was 90 to 74h
cents; in August. 1898. it was 65la to
10 cents; in August, 1897. it was 1914
to S1.07; in August, 1885,. it was 80 to
63B cents: in August, 1895. it was 5SA
to q oeMs: IN AUGUST. 1894, IN
WAS sly TO 5SH CENTS.
AT PRESENT WRITING THE
CASH PRICE OF CORN AT CHI
eCAG0D1S' sc CENTS. In August, 1903,
it was 50h to SD cents; in August, 1902.
it was so to 60 cents; in August, 1901,
it was 53M to 57lla cents; in August,
1900, it was 37A to 41A cents; III >Au-
gust, 1890, it was 301h to SO cents; in
August, 1891. it was 29M to 33M cents:
in August, 1897. it was 2Gl.a to 1895
cents; In AUGUST, 1896, IT WAS
2Oh TO % CENTS.
lard Stick of Republican Prosperity.
The general drift of these price fig
ures, covering a period of about eight
years. has been Of course significant NOT
merely of the size OF the crops of these
particular years, but of the general
steady increase in market demand.
Wheat is not only a staff of life" but
it is also, as regards its consumption. a
yara-stick of national progress. The
more people advance in civilization and
i'll prosperity the more wheat four will
they consume. The present great awak-
ening amongst the Oriental races is syn
chronous with the development of an
enormous trade In Pacific Coast wheat
eour through the open door to these ma
( tons Of the Orient.
\ In the case of corn it is certainly a
fact worthy of much attentive interest,
= that despite the high prices for corn dur
ing the last three years, the demand even
at these high prices has not abated. And
Notwithstanding we seem likely to have
this year a crop Of 2,500,0 100000 bush
els, corn is now about SO cents per
bushel at Chicago. In 1896 the total
crop was 2.2S2,S75 165 bushels, but the
price in August of that year was 2Oh
to 25 cents ut Chicago--not half what
1t is nowl
Per Capita Con.n M ption of Wheat
Increases.
The Republican policy of building up
the manufactures Of the United States
OF placing the factory beslue the farm
accounts for the broader and better
market he farmer during the last eight
years has been steadily getting for his
products This is noticeable in the case
of practically everything lie has to sell
increasing consumption making prices
relatively better no matter what the size
os his crops
Figures Of the Bureau Of Statistics
show that the wheat consumption of the
United States in the fiscal year 1904
was the largest in the history of the
country. The table which follows shows
the quantity of wheat retained for con-
sumption In total and per capita in each
fiscal year from 1890 to and including
1904:
Wheat and wheat flour retained for
home c~onsumption:
Fiscal Total Per Capita
Year. Bushels. Bushels.
$500 >. .......3S1,120.5 33 6.O9