New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-09-11
MOVING THE CROPS.

There are certain countries which nave re-
| nowned places in history, and even IN current
| world politics. of whose agricultural resources
II is entirely practicable toeobtain an accurate
view when they are marshalled in hgures- But
the figures as to the grain crop, for instance ol
the United States require something more ps
WOW or erucidation in order that their full I'M
mort may be grasped. This desluera'ulh na.
haen s,,nnlied by railroad statisticians VINO nave
49, s+,,d1-inr the work their companies will be
ceIlad unon TO do Their estimate or that part
of the great grain crop for which they wiz
have to provide moving facilities Is i'ooo'ooo
carloads They have further inquired 1t ouI
that were all this grain marketed at once u
would REQUIRE a solid train of frelgnt cars win
the 81. 500 locomotives necessary to move IT,
whose total length would be lZ'Zoo Hlles' VI
half the circumference Of the earth fut III
other terms the cars and engines would practi-
calIy occupy every foot of four paraliel trachS
stretching from New-York to tie Golden cate.
Naturally. large part of the enormous grain
cron of 1907 will not have to be moved IN
freight cars. Much of it will be consumed on
the farms by the farmers own famliles ana
by the livestock, in many cases 1t VIII De
moro nroftable to dispose of it in that way
than to send 1t TO market by rail- Another
large part will be hauled from the Farms 10 the
nepbboring towns and cities for local use. Inc
remainder, about one-tnlro OF the lotdl tiop
will tax to the utmost the railway facilities OF
the country and drain the banks of smaller
cities and towns to move it; and this IN turn
will cause a movement of money from the great
financial centres of New-York and the East
such in fact as has already been going on for
weeks-to Chicago, Duluth and Omaha and
other Western cities which act as distributing
centres for the money to start the crops 70
market Were all this grain put upon the mar
ket at once the railroads would literally be
swamped and the banks drained of money.
Fortunately the large crops of recent years and
the continued prosperity of the country have
left the farmers with money in the banks, and
the marketing of their grain will be largely
matter of convenience rather than of necessity
Yet even under these circumstances the rail
roads are making unparalleled preparations for
the enormous task of moving the big crops OF
1905
Descending to particulars and to individual
states, the statisticians say the wheat and oats
crop of Minnesota and the Dakotas alone will
aggregate 326OO0,OOO bushels, of which the rail,
roads will be required to move 10000 600 bush
els. They place the total yield OF corn at
2. 500 100000 bushels, of which 10000 900 will
railroads On this basis from these three states
alone there will be 1925 trainloads of forty
cars each of wheat and oats and 10000 train
loads of forty cars each of corn. The statls-
ticians give other figures and other ways OF
conveying to the mind some idea of the i'm
nensity of Americas agricultural wealth. but
these will suffice to show on what a solid
foundation Americas prosperity is based.