Daily Kennebec journal., 1904-10-22

| sumption of this cereal grow normally
nearer, may be counted as certainty.
How much longer the American peo-
pie will be able to raise their own
wheat has for years been much-dis-
puted question, and upon its answer
depends the degree of "prematureness'
of the writer in bringing forward the
striking political consequences OF
transition, which, so far as known,
have thus far escaped attention. 1t IS
safe to say that statisticians every
where now make a much more mod
| crate estimate of the number of years
| longer in which we shall be wheat eX-
porters than they did five years ago.
Persons who look at the amount OF new
| land available by irrigation. and the
| increased yield through greater fertillZ-
alton as postponing that day. overlook
the tendency of the American farmer
to change from wheat to corn. wher-
ever he can do so. Wheat is the more
aristocratic cereal and yet its produc-
ton represents vastly simpler stage
of agriculture than that of corn. The
farmer who raises corn is. practically
speaking, in the meat business; he is
raising beef and pork. Relatively little
of the corn crop of the great corn
States goes out beyond their bound
aries as corn. The fertility of the lana
can be much better maintained by rals-
ing domestic animals on the product or
the SOIL and hence there is a tendency
to plant new acres the world over to
wheat, in proper climatic conditions.
| and aside from the ordinary application
of the rotation principle, to gradually
work over to corn as the maintenance
of the fertility of the soil becomes more
of factor. Hence it is that great
stretches Of our own West which were
once in wheat have now gone almost
wholly to corn, and with the increase
of population and of financial re-
sources, with lower rates of interest
available to the young farmers. this
tendency will increase, except of course
as checked by the operation of an i'm
| port tariff.
The poor farmer can raise wheat; IT
| takes the well-to-do man to raise corn.
| The pioneer on fresh soil can with very
small capital turn his labor into wheat,
| and that into money: wheat is a quick
| crop; he can put it in himself, and the
| moment it is threshed he can haul it to
cattle he must accumulate herd.
| which takes years, unless he happens
TO have the capital to buy into the
| business at the start. While the wheat
harvesting machinery of the present
day is elaborate and expensive, the
| pioneer has not needed to invest in that
| while getting his start.
While the discussion continues as to
how the American wheat product may
| be increased over its present propor-
tions, and all will agree that it can be
| very materially advanced, it is obvious
| ly nearer a natural limit than the
American wheat consumption. which is
| going steadily forward not only with
population but much faster than popu-
| lation. In 1880 the American people re-
| tanned for domestic consumption 26S-
| 600 900 bushels of wheat: the population
| of the country was then slightly more
| than fifty millions. 1t is today not
| more than 60 per cent larger, and yet
| the same figures of wheat consumption
for 1902 are given at 100000, which is
| nearly double. This was an abnormal
year but the average year will show an
increasing standard of wheat consump-
| tion. Population is steadily pushing
forward. Heretofore, there has been
an abundant supply of new land, and
| whenever the farmers got crowded on
one meridian they could push West a
few degrees and open up another state.
| This has kept the price of farm pro-
ducts down to just about the cost of
production, allowing the farmer little
more than living wages for the labor
which he actually expended. Now the
tide is turning. The farmer expects to
earn interest on his acres, the posses
sion of which has now a value from
limitation of supply.
The present irrigation enterprise, under
| the Government auspices, is the only
large sized tendency which, is checking
| this movement at home, but irrigated
| land. in case the Government persists in
| its policy of compelling its occupants to
make good the cost OF the plant and to
maintain the work when once con
structed. will be higher priced obviously
| than that which the original settlers of
the great valley found all ready for them
with an irrigation service provided by
| open up but an extremely small fraction
| of the arid section, as it appears on the
map The greater stretches will remain
hopeless, or if irrigated at all at a cost
whcn would be prohibitive so long as fer
tile wheat soil exists anywhere in the
| and of the Argentina, Whose product
could get into the United States for a
| duty of only twenty-five cents a bushel.
| Economic rent is thus becoming viSibly
effective regarding the wheat lands Of
this country, while in the past it has been
hardly observable. because of the con-
stant supplies of new soil "a little farther
on The accOmpa nying law of diminish
ing returns will show itself in the price
of our great farm supplies, and is indeed
already doing so.
So long as the price of food in this coun-
try was practically unaffected by the pro-
tective wheat tariff, the system could not
be regarded as burdensome The poor did
not need to buy foreign-made clothes. or
those containing foreign woods. COmpe-
tition at home made all others reasonable
in price. The effects of the duties on lum-
ber were so diffused in long house rentals
as to be relatively little felt. But when it
| comes to All operative protective tariff
on the food of every day life. protection
Will assume a new meaning for the aver
age American. 1t must be obvious that
as soon as we cease to be wheat export
ers. This twenty-five cents a bushel duty
! VIII show itself in the price of flour and
bread. Any considerable importation,
aside from mixing purposes, would raise
the general price here by just that
amount. and in those circumstances. the
Western farmers would be lacking in
tlNnx- -