The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-09-16
POTATOES.
Total Value.
15l,83S,O04
l34,111,43G
90,Sl1,167
S0,32S.S32
7%9,574,772
89,643,O59
72,1S2,350
TS.9S4.ml
A Lesson in Potatoes.

Ihe 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:
Our production of wheat In 1903
aggregated G37,S22.OO0 bushels; Of corn,
2,244.177,OO bushels; of oats, 7S4,O91,-
GOO bushels; of rye. 29,3G3,O 600 bushels;
of barley, 131,S6l,O 600 bushels, showing
n total yield of the principal cereals of,
in round numbers, 7,317,0N bush
els, valued OF the farm at 81, 139, 49,
41G, grown on 172, OBS, III acres. Our
crop of hay aggregated 81, 306,00e tons.
The yield of potatoes aggregated 2I7,-
l2S.OO0 bushels. valued at $151 ,G3S, 600,
produced on 2,91G,S55 acres; the yield
was 37,!505,O0O bushels less than that
of the preceding year, but the value was
S17,521.O00 greater, showing the larg-
est valuation recorded in any year, and
MORE THAN TWICE THAT OF
1896.
1.-The farm value of the chief cereals,
of hay and of potatoes. raised in 1903,
amounted to S2,447, 73o.45O. The crop
of wheat was 332,241.O 900 bushels less
than that of the preceding year, but its
farm value was $20.S41,O 900 greater; it's
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
i'll size from year to year, the cash in
colne from them seems in a general way
to increase from year to year what
ny-ar tho Siya ~ Tho u, oct 1-on,
Q903) the total farm value of the chief
nearly two billion and n 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-
enable, for instance, that a crop of
wheat of 4GO.2G7,000 bushels (the crop
Of 1894 should, in January, 1895. have
sold so low as 1875 cents per bushel.
while the 1904 crop of wheat, which at
the lowest present estimates is 53O,00O,-
600 bushels, should now be selling at
S1.1O 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 fluctuate the market demand
steadily increases. This fact should
be considered a 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 a 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 mints 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 Il
increasing agricultural prosperity Of the
United States under Republican rule.