Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1904-09-16

4 Lesson In Potatoes.

The last annual report OF Secretary
Stone, of the Chicago Board of Trade.
makes some significant remarks regard
ing these steady gains in the cash value
of our crops. 1t says:
"Onr production OF wheat in 1908
aggregated 63T So. 900 bushels; Of corn.
2.244. 177, 600 bushels: Of oats. TS4.o94,-
600 bushels: Of rye. %, $685. 900 bushels;
Of barley, l31.SG1. 900 bushels, showing
total yield Of the principal cereals OF,
in round numbers. 3,3S7,31T,0 600 bush
els. valued on the farm at SLI3s, lo,-
416, grown on 112,0a5,11T acres, Our
crop OF hay aggregated 61.306, 900 tons.
The yield Of potatoes aggregated 24s.-
12S.000 bushels, valued at $151. 63S.o0o,
produced on 2.9l6S55 acres: the yield
was 31,505, 900 bushels less than that
Of the preceding year, but the value was
S1I.527 600 greater. showing the larg-
est valuation recorded In any year. and
MORE THAN TWICE THAT OF
1896.
THE farm value Of the chief cereals.
of hay and of potatoes. raised in 1903.
amounted to 50, Al. 100, $50. The crop
of wheat was 32,24l,o00 bushels less
than that of the preceding year. but its
farm value was S20S41, 900 greater; its
valuation was in excess of the value of
the crop Of any year excepting that of
1901"
What Makes Prices Higher.
The purpose of this article has thus
been to show that while crops may vary
in size from year to year. the cash in
come from them seems in . general way
to increase from year to year what
ever the size Of the crops. Last year
(1903) the total farm value Of the chief
cereals and Of hay and potatoes was
nearly two billion and half dollars.
and this year it promises to be much
greater than last.
So far as the mere size Of the crops
is alone concerned, it would seem unreas-
onable, for instance, that a crop of
wheat Of 460,267 600 bushels (the crop
of 1894 should, in January, 1895. have
sold so low as 4Sk cents per bushel,
while the 1904 crop of wheat, which at
the lowest present estimates is 100000
600 bushels, should now be selling at
81. 10 per bushel
But it is evident that there are causes
at work to make our farm products sell
better from year to year. While sup
plies fiuctuate the market demand
steadily increases. This fact should
be considered very strong bull
argument not only on land values.
but on the general future business con-
dition of the country, for every increase
over this two billion and half dollars of
farm land income of last year means just
so much more increase in the purchasing
power of the American people, and just
so much more business for all our in
dustries, and just so much more work,
wages and profits for all our people
anxious to better their condition of life.
The causes that are at work to make
farm products sell better from year to
year are undoubtedly connected with the
general policies Of Republican admins
tration.
When William Mckinley, in 1896,
said it was better to open American
mills to American labor than to open
the minis of the United States to the
silver of the world, he expressed the
policy that transformed bad times for
the entire people under Democratic rule
to good times for the entire people under
Republican rule. With the people in the
cities more prosperous, because of the
policies of protection and of sound
money, the people in the country were
bound to be more prosperous, too, be-
cause there was an improved market
for what they had to sell. This, in
nutshell. is the secret of the constantly
increasing agricultural prosperity of the
United States under Republican rule.